A WARNING about bed rail tire carriers

Dead thread revival!! I was looking into this style spare tire carrier. And I would like to mount it in the same location as OP. I obviously don’t want my bed to crack and was wondering people’s opinions or if anyone has had first hand experience with using a bed stiffener such as total chaos. Would it/ does it prevent this from happening?

 

That's some embarrassing steel...

 

The bed stiffeners help, but our beds are pretty flimsy.

Can see how I have a bed stiffener installed, yet the bedside has pulled away from the brace
Was getting tough to close the tailgate because of the spreading of the bed.

 

Damn, that’s crazy!

 

Cap + cap rack + RTT + no locker = skinny peddle up just one to many things you should'nt with that much weight on the back

That is really the equation for @tacoma16 and his separated bed.

He is now full retard mode....

 

Wow, people still use ‘retard’. For real??

 

Yes to retard your engine with braking, aka engine breaking.

Has the word changed?

Why what are you referring to?

 

Funny you went with that example. If you meant it like that, disregard my comment.

I guess some folks don't know or don’t care.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retard_(pejorative)

 

Some people have spoken french as a child, and the word is not at all offensive

https://www.google.com/search?clien.........0i67j0j0i131j0i10j0i30j0i13.qxh80ckFK7Y
The term is actually commonly used where I live, maybe most of the time in a derogatory way.

It does'nt really matter how it is meant, it's how you take it in that counts. Not everything needs to be offensive. Things can be funny.

 

yeah. Any weight on the bed rails does have a potential for some damage. As mentioned, I did have a cap, a homemade roof rack on the cap, and the rtt (which isn't an uncommon setup). Some bumpy roads, a few ledges, and it took two years for the bed to split to that extent.

In all honesty I may have gotten away with leaving it, but my fear was a major failure while on a trip in the middle of nowhere. So...

Don't know how common this problem is (major splitting to the point that the tailgate won't close), but as this thread has outlined, the beds are susceptible to damage from simply adding weight (in my case it may have been excessive perhaps) and rough roads, or off-roading.

 

I built a mount for a customer that was essentially half of a prerunner style tire carrier. It bolted to the bedrail in two locations (almost the width of the tire) and had a third mount that went to the bedbolt. This spread the weight of the tire out and it didn't cause any bed flex issues. Super sturdy and most likely overkill but an option if you want a vertical tire mount.

 

Pics or it didn’t happen

 

No pics. Its out in the wild somewhere.

 

Wilco makes this. Tire sits flat up against the front of the bed and the base. You can adjust it for different size tires. You could also throw a strap over the top, but I don't think it's necessary. I just picked one up and only time will tell if it's going to be a problem. Anyone else running this setup?

 

At the very least, add these: https://www.relentlessfabrication.com/collections/toyota/products/05-tacoma-bed-tie-down-bracket
They should greatly reduce the flex from the heavy tire.

 

Got a pic of these bolted on?

 

Freshly pilfered from the net. I was thinking of going this same route.

 

Ok, now I see. Those are real nice. Thanks.

 

Caused from that HEAVY tire going up and down slightly with every little bump you hit,the damage is most likely on you not Toyota.