Bed stiffiners are a gimmick...I think...

Damn you beat me to it.

 

LMAO

 

Good info. Something to consider. Thanks!

 

waste of money and space. Send me yours

 

Tank or compressed air possibly, but in this situation I don't agree.

 

Another thread I chimed in on. If you use your truck bed a lot, drive off road, or have a cap bed stiffeners are well worth it. Not all racks are designed equal, they may be pushing out on your bed rails when loaded.

At a minimum they apply weighted leverage above the bed rails that introduce stress on the bed when in movement, braking, accelerating, turning all included.

 

Columns, trusses, pipes, poles, hoses, submarines, trees... but in this situation, flat stock is strong enough.

 

I haven't had any issues so far... I have had 400#s or more loaded on top of that rack.

 

I've been looking for a rack that works with my folding tonneau. Is this made to order or readily available somewhere?

 

Custom built. I asked a local fabricator to build it like this. 1/4" steel plate to replace the plastic, rack welded to it.

 

Not sure if we are talking about the same thing here. I am referencing the shape of the structure, not what it is made of. ie it is made out of flat stock not tubing, in the shape of a triangle.

 

If the bed warping frame rusting was really a problem wouldn't Toyota have stiffened fixed it at the factory? The fact the composite bed frame has been virtually unchanged for 20 years tells me it isnt a problem.

I'm not feeling so hot on that statement based on a similar one

 

With a more solid rack like what BAMF makes they would probably not be as needed unless you're hitting some uneven whoops at high speeds frequently. The cracks you'll see that bed stiffeners prevent are going to be in the metallic area in the rear of the bed. You could also see some warping of the composite bed but not cracking as it's not a very hard material.

I've seen people with less rigid racks like what RCI makes, crack that area.

The stiffeners don't have to be large but the further inboard they protrude the more stiffness they will provide. There's a reason all of the stiffeners you see are welded into an L shape after being bent into an L (order isn't important). What is important is the cross section of the stiffener, what would be even better than all of the L angle welded Ls that are available now would be a L shaped U channel or square tube as it would have a better moment of inertia.

Bottom line they really do work, they're going to stiffen the bed and make it able to handle higher abuse loads and more cycles of abuse before anything cracks. I what I think is a better idea at a way to stiffen the bed up that would be a bit easier to install, but I'm not really a fabricator so I just bought some cali rased stiffeners (they're the best value in my opinion).

 

The bedsides are basically unsupported at the rear by the tailgate. Tying them together with a rigid rack does seem like it would improve things and it will to some degree in a static state. But when you add a heavy load like a cap or an RTT and you drive where the load weight is now dynamic, say turning a corner or pulling into a parking lot, or bouncing around on the trail, it can apply a significant lateral force on the unsupported rear bedsides. Having two unsupported bed sides tied together isn't much good, because in that cause you are not just trying to prevent the bed from spreading but also keeping the bedsides shifting in the same direction. Bed stiffens are designed not to flex and bolt to the frame and bedside, ending the flexing that leads to cracking. A well designed set of stiffeners can also add extremely useful rear tie down points at the very back corners of the bed where the Tacoma lacks them. I find they are worth the tie down points alone, but also cheap insurance for carrying my RTT.

 

Did not cost $150.00 for the set. They provide extra tie-down points, they don’t get in my way, and they give me peace of mind with the cap’s extra weight bouncing up and down on those side rails.

 

Mindy originally drove a Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser, so this is all coming full circle.

 

There's nothing that a good heavy ratchet strap around the whole back of the bed couldn't pull back in line if it splays out.

 

I thought they were gimmicks as well. Have the bakflip Mx bed cover and it would never latch one side without pushing down or opening the tailgate.

Once I installed the total chaos bed stiffeners it closes and latches both sides easily.

 

There was a member who converted to a flat bed because his bedside pulled away from the reinforced part. He had TC bed stiffeners.