Tie Down Cleats

I have a 2010 Tacoma. I purchased a GemTop one piece tonneau-bed cover (metal). This required removing the adjustable cleats/tie downs that sit in the rails at the top of the bed walls. The rails are now occupied with metal bars that hold and keep the cover aligned over the bed.

Needless to say, I am unable to us the cleats as there is no place to mount them. My question is; does anyone sell an after-market cleat that can be mounted over the bar that is blocking the rail? Thanks for any info.

 

1. Does the bar that is now slid into your rail take up the whole rail or just a couple of places?

2. Is there clearance to still use the bed cleats with the cover?

There are recesses in the rail that let you put your cleats back in. My ARE Shell connected to my rail system in 4 places by sliding a 2 bars per side to attach the shell. Afterwards I snapped the cleats in where the recesses were. You can feel the indentations in the rail.

If it is a longer bar filling the rail or no clearance, you could add the d-ring mod to your bed bolts. That gives you tie down points throughout the bed. Anything else attached to the side needs to be re-inforced from what I read here due to the composite nature of the bed.

I do not know if this helps, maybe someone else has a similiar setup and chime in.

 

I have the same issue with a LEER canopy - and found these...

http://toyotaofmcdonoughparts.com/deck-rail-mini-tie-downs-set-of-2.html

I have not ordered them yet - but probably will soon. Best of luck!!

 

Thanks for the info Simon. There is NO spaces in my rails for the cleats. I even contacted GemTop, to no avail. The D-ring option sounds like my best bet. Thanks again!

 

Guys, After some thought this is the Solution, that I used--

I installed 5/16"x3-1/4" Eye Bolts W/Nut in the rail connections at the midway and cab locations of the rail (using the existing Washers) and a Nut at the base of the Eye Bolt.
For the connections at the tail gate locations I installed stainless steel chains (3 links long each side), using the existing bolts.
All six areas now have a place to connect a rope, cable, or bungee cord and none of the modifications interfere with the operation of the cover.