Bed stiffeners...yay or nay??

To make a hidden, outside the bed, brace you could use an outside gusset L-beam design and get way more stiffness than necessary provided that there is sufficient room to work with.

 

Like this?

 

That looks like just flat bar welded at a 90. Probably helps, though.

There is no room between the bed and body panel in front of where the taillight mounts?

 

Well sheet .....speakin of the el diablo

 

Lol...

Please tell me thats made of wood.

 

Just looks that way because of the bedliner type of paint...

 

Darn

 

I would be glad to critique things y'all have made for your tacos
The size is only 1 x 2 from left over material.

 

Never had bed stiffeners and have ran a leer fiberglass topper and now a go fast topper on plenty of rough roads. No issues or widening gaps. I’ve come to the conclusion if you drive the vehicle normally (no high speed rallying) you will probably be fine in saving your money.

 

YAY - Your truck, your money!

 

I always figured any toppers or bed bars that boxed in the bed across the top would do far more to support the sides and stiffen the structure than any pieces of L bracket with a tiny gusset. I have no experience with toppers, though. I just assume they are structurally sound on their own so when attached they should help. Not saying that to project judgement, just my thoughts.

 

The problem with that theory is this... (please excuse the hasty drafting)

Here is your topper sitting square on your bed... Bed sides are vertical and topper sitting square on top of the bed.



You are correct, the topper will prevent the sides from doing this... both bed sides cannot splay out, due to the topper keeping the sides equal distant apart. Assuming the topper or rack doesn't fail on it's own.



However, even with a topper or rack (attached to top of bed rail), the topper can move to one side or the other, and the only thing resisting that movement is the bed of the truck, which has proven to fail in some instances.



Note how the topper maintains its shape, but it pushes both bed sides equally to one side or the other.

The problem is, once the bed starts failing, there's no good way to save it. These tiny gussets may do nothing (other than provide tie downs), but for my sanity, I'd rather have them than not...

It's a personal decision that others can't answer for you... get them or don't, but at the end of the day, in my opinion, it's a cheap $90 peace of mind.

 

That would mean both sides of the bed, when boxed in with another structure at the top, still can't support the weight. If that's the case, holy shit.

 

What's needed here is a bed from the 1950's.

 

I'm not sure what's "holy shit" about that explanation, but yeah, dynamic loads are a bitch. I might only weigh 150 lbs, but if I jump up and down on a scale, I can smack the needle on both sides of the scale. Offroading is not gentle on a vehicle, and despite what the marketing department says, your truck was only designed to be "on-road"... sorry.

 

Did you cut your bed rug around the stiffeners, or just install the stiffeners over it? I’ve been considering how I could make stiffeners work, because I really want a bed rug for my upcoming truck.

 

This was the first time that I had ever installed a Bedrug. I cut too much carpet to enable the re-installation of the brackets. The brackets were on there before the carpet so replacing them over the carpet would have meant the drilled holes would not re-align. Can you/should you install the brackets after the carpet is installed? I believe it would leave too much squirm negating the purpose of the brackets, but I could be wrong. If I could do it all over again I would install the brackets first but be more careful where to cut the carpet. Definitely where the bracket sits against the plastic bed and metal sides but don’t completely remove material, just cut carefully and try to lay carpet over the bottom horizontal section. Solely my opinion of course.

 

Installed the CaliRaised bed stiffeners after @tonered recommended their design. Been wanting some for my truck as I've run a camper shell for almost 3 years. Install process was easy, and I did notice a little less bed shake over my gravel road after installing. A little concerned about rusting because apparently CaliRaised has a reputation for that. Fingers crossed but love them so far!

 

I like the no-fear bed mat cuts. Enjoy them!

 

No fear here! Used some Fiskars shears that went thru like a hot knife in butter. Have you had any issues with rust?