New player in the bed stiffener game...?

oh, yeah, those suck. no hippos and welded on the short arm. I guess moments and arms are unknown to their "engineers" they really took the cheap way out.

 

I went out and looked at my truck (I've only had it for 2 months and I'm the 3rd owner), and I saw some separation on the driver side. I also saw a wire lead tucked in the upper corner of the bed that I hadn't noticed before, which I think would be for connecting a bed topper brake light.

I pulled the trigger on Amazon and ordered a set of these bed stiffeners. Amazon had a coupon for 8%, making my total right around $78 (sales tax is 6% here). Delivery is a few weeks out, but I'll report back when I get them.

 

If you do a lot of off-roading or have a camper shell...especially fiberglass (heavier), the sides of the bed can start to bend outward. Look at the line between your tailgate and the bed/taillight...if it's nice and even, then you're good so far. If there's ever been a lot of weight on your bedsides, for long periods of time, the gap may be wider at the top than the bottom. Bed stiffeners MAY correct that, and should definitely help to stop it from happening if the first place.

 

I got the Cali version from an eBay vendor last year. I got them primarily to mount a lighted whip; the bed stiffener feature was a welcomed benefit, but they do affect putting wide items in the bed. For my whip, it provides a solid base.

 

I would lean more towards because they are cheap. It's like a chinese buffet, you get to eat alot of mediocre food but it gets the job done. Unfortunately, you may or may not experience diarrhea afterwards.

 

LOL!!

 

Second this. TC are great. And they go up the full bed side.

 

They'd be fine as a bed stiffener. As already pointed out, they're just knock offs. That said, a large benefit of a bed stiffener is adding a place to hook tie-downs too and these holes appear too small.

 

@Taco Wake ordered some, maybe he'll measure hole size when he gets them

 

Has anyone had the bed off or had access to the area between the bed liner and outer fender? I'd like to reinforce these corners but I don't want the obstruction of the corners, especially on the lower surface. I have a bunch of 3/16” & 1/8” steel plate that I could use to fabricate something if there is a space to make something substantial.

 

You'd have to go pretty low to find something to weld it to. It's not a bed "liner"...it's just the bed. The outer fenders are steel, of course, but anything bed height inboard of that is plastic...or composite, AFAIK.

 

Yeah, that whole inner bed is composite I'm pretty sure. I wasn't going to weld anything to the truck parts, just bolts with large area washers or a piece of flat plate steel on the top side of the composite.

 

After reading this thread, I realized my bed was spreading a little. Even though I don't run a camper shell. I'd considered the Hooke, Cali and Total Chaos and wasn't 100% happy with any of those. The Hooke and Cali models just seemed to intrude into the bed too much. I like the fact that the Total Chaos stiffeners go up the side of the bed more but didn't seem to have enough bracing in the corner. Although I'm sure all of these would work just fine. I decided to go with Rago Fabrication stiffeners. They seem less intrusive and still have good corner bracing. A little more than Hooke and Cali but cheaper than Total Chaos.

 

Let us know what you think when you get them installed.

 

This is my unproven likely debated observation with owning a bed rack. I would think any bed rack would serve the same purpose because how would the bed sides separate with steel bars attached to them?

 

Thats a pretty good point.....

 

Because steel flexes to some degree. I understand what you're saying and at a glance it makes sense, but it's not that simple unfortunately. Posts on here prove that.

 

Weight on the bed rack pushes the sides apart like this.

 

Do the manufacturer's who design and make those bed brackets actually perform any failure analysis testing with published results to show the actual improvement?

 

That's a good one! Ha!

srs answer - No. They are a simple design performing a simple function. R&D is limited to fitment and feedback I would assume.