Bed Stiffener Question

I'm thinking about puting stiffeners in my tacoma if for nothing else, extra sturdy hook points.

I see some talk about the beds cracking over time. The question i have is, has this happened to anyone with a short bed? i would think it would be more of a problem in the long beds, but that's a guess based loosely on my low engineering iq.

 

Can happen anytime, especially if you put loads on the top of the sidebeds. Just buy them and have extra mount points.

As to what to buy ... Total Chaos lists the top tabs as "decorative patent", not an engineering patent. Buy what suits you.

 

Thanks. I think you helped me answer my next question as to 50 vs 200 dollar stiffeners. I think the answer is alloy steel/ reinforced steel vs solid/carbon steel. alloy is stronger. they'll both rust. have to keep them coated well.

if i missed anything important please post it.

 

Total Chaos has not been reported much for errors here but is used much by TW members. I would buy for that reason, but that funky dog-ear looks cool anyway.

 

I do some help work around the horse stables my kid practices at, but even that i imagine isn't heavy compared to having a fixture on top of the bed supported by the frame.

Thanks for the feedback

 

biggest thing really comes down to how they intrude into the bed space for your usage. i haven't seen a design from anyone that i would label a 'never ever buy'. all of them are built thick enough, usually powder coated.

but everyone's got a different idea for what design is intrusive and what's not. i went with the TC one's because i valued sidewall tiedowns, but wanted a mostly-flat lower bracket to still allow most loads to slide in/out of the bed, something other designs have uprights on that would interfere with that functionality. but that was my personal decision--plenty of others will say they bought a different version for their own reasons.

 

stupid question but where does the bed tend to crack usually? Are the specific spots to check for

 

I made a mistake of not installing stiffeners when I added RTT and steel bed rack. Year and a half later I discovered 2 small cracks at each side of the bed.

Installed bed stiffeners and all is good now. It’s funny cuz I really thought stiffeners were just a “gimmick”

 

From what I've seen it starts in the top corners before the wheel wells, but if you poke around here and google you'll see some pictures to give you a better idea

 

Open the tailgate and look at the 2 rear corners of the bed. Toyota already made a relief cut there cuz they know about this issue.

 

yeah those actually created an air pocket so my soft tonneau flaps around when it shouldn't. i weather stripped them to minimize the air gap