Bed Stiffeners / Bed Brackets

I have seen a lot of posts within a thread (what have you done with your 3G today) where people added bed stiffeners, but when I searched, I never really got a thread on the topic that took a deep dive.

So my questions are:
A. What problem do bed stiffeners solve exactly?
B. How common / frequent / likely is that problem occurring?
C. Who all makes bed stiffeners and is one better than the rest or pretty much all the same?
D. Any compelling reason to NOT run a stiffener? Why would Toyota design a truck that needed bed stiffeners?

My thought is that even if they do nothing or do nothing 95% of the time, I'm better off having them because they add an extra anchor point and may possibly save me from the 5% of the time - or are they just snake oil for the crowd that will stick any mod on their truck (not judging just not my MO.)

 

They do serve a purpose.Its meant to reinforce your truck.Especially for people that offroad the bed tends to flex a little bit.If you dont carry heavy loads or go off-roading much then you dont really need it. Also when your driving in the freeway if i look at the bed with my mirror i can see it flexing but it doesn't bother me

 

oh one more thing too keep in mind our beds is made of composite material.

 

Yeah - I was shocked when I bought the truck. Thought it was just a bed liner but nope. Some sort of poly-carbonate fiberglass resin plasticizer concoction. And I do off road but not crazy stuff just dirt roads with the occasional dry creek bed crossing.

 

Yeah like Blak Shinobi said it's because of how the bed is made.

It won't break during normal use (i.e., Walmart runs), but if you do any offroading that is particularly hard on the rear end, the bouncing around will cause the composite material to crack and break. Bed stiffeners prevent the material from flexing that way.

 

Imagine if it was made of steel or aluminum our mpg would be like the tundras , but yes your a perfect candidate for a bed stiffener it would benefit the bed in the long run

 

So my questions are:
A. What problem do bed stiffeners solve exactly?
My Chaos stiffeners actually brought my bed sides even to 90 degrees, as they were out of square by nearly 1/4" or more prior. I have a fairly heavy rolling tonneau cover as well as having a larger rack on my truck, that has 4 gal of extra gas, a high lift jack, shovel, axe, traction boards, and occasionally two kayaks that are a lot of extra weight pushing down on the bed sides. I also usually have the bed full as well, and am sometimes even climbing up on the rack to remove our mount the kayaks or access the recovery gear.

B. How common / frequent / likely is that problem occurring?
For me, it was a no brainer, since I have a lot of extra weight above the bed pushing down on it. Not too sure how common it is, but on TW, there seem to be a lot of people who do the same type things I do.

C. Who all makes bed stiffeners and is one better than the rest or pretty much all the same?
I went with Total Chaos. Really well made, and it actually gives you a lot more tie downs as well, so you can do some adjusting of the load tie downs.

D. Any compelling reason to NOT run a stiffener? Why would Toyota design a truck that needed bed stiffeners?
Im sure if you have nothing on your truck bed, no topper, no rack, no tonneau and never go off road, nor stress your bed/truck, then probably not needed.

 

I have the Cali Raised bed stiffeners since I run an ARE shell on the bed. My bed is still the same shape as when I purchased the truck so I guess they work lol

They also have additional tie down points which have been super awesome and helpful.

 

Leer cap, Cargo glide, and I carry medium to heavy loads once in a while. Got my total chaos stiffeners free in a used package deal. I also like the additional tie down areas for locking long loads when the gate is down.

 

there are threads that have deep-dove into it, as i've been part of at least 3, but they're likely very far buried into the netherworld of the forum.

the core of it is because our beds are a composite bed 'tub', there must be steel uprights to attach that tub, and bedside panels to. in the front of the truck bed, this is simple to tie across, so there's no issue there. in the back of the bed, people generally want the tailgate to work, so there must be large steel uprights that carry that load.

people with bed caps, racks, or overlanding gear have experienced situations where the additional weight will cause the rearmost corners of the bed to sag outwards, and develop cracks in those steel uprights, at the 'crotch', where they intersect with the steel that runs width-wise across the rear of the bed.

this situation is more related to the overland concept, and people jamming more and more crap above the truck bed. ford f150/raptors also have a brace available for the same purpose. so it's not really a 'toyota' thing.

rare, if any. you must be an extreme off-camber off road user, as well as have at least 300+ pounds of gear up above the bed all the time as well.

there are zero structural benefits to any particular design on the market over any other design. total chaos have a patent on their design, but it's a design patent, they make no structural reinforcement claims. there's another brand that makes it out of stainless steel as well. but no design is fundamentally better than any other design. all of the differences center around the variation of how the stiffener is designed, and how the truck owner intends to utilize the bed-- some designs are more intrusive to the bed space than others, but some of the other varieties offer better tiedown access for different usages, despite being more intrusive to the bed space.

as the truck came, it is not needed. if you use the truck within the design parameters that toyota built it for-- a light duty, on-road pickup truck, you should never have a need for stiffeners ever.



all that said, personally it was one of the first modifications i made. for me, it had absolutely nothing to do with the 'stiffener' aspect, and everything to do cargo tiedowns. i specifically went with the total chaos, as i felt they intruded into the bed the least, while offering adequate tiedown options. 4wheelparts is an option that intrudes even less and adds a similar tie down option, though they stopped shipping those, so they're not officially a new-purchase option anymore.

because this truck doesn't have an 8' bed, i find myself in a lot of situations where i end up hauling things that extend past the rear of the truck in 8'-12' lengths. being able to throw a single ratchet strap smoothly and straight across the very rear edge of the bed helps me to better control those loads without getting crazy with straps-- before i was using 2 straps in a triangle, from tiedown points further forward in the bed, which inherently left more leeway in the cargo to shift on me.

 

i have a canopy on my truck and knew nothing about bed stiffeners until joining TW. i was skeptical but started researching them. when victory offroad had them on sale, i purchased them.

they made a difference in making the truck feel tighter. for that reason alone, i am glad i got them and would recommend them. they seem like a worthy upgrade and easy to install.

 

So many years ago, working on a few farms in high school, we hauled quite a bit of hay from one barn to another for horses. It was pretty common to throw 24 to 30 bales stacked in the back of a pick up. Over period of time, the bedsides would sag outward due to the weight and the fact the tailgate was down. Eventually the bed sides would splay outward so much that the tailgate would start having a problem shutting. Once this started, it only got worse.

In theory, these stiffeners prevent the bedsides from getting distorted. It is important to remember there’s very little sheet metal support at the rear of the bed.

I installed the Total Chaos stiffeners as they are nearly full height models.

 

Sounds like Total Chaos is the way to go - not finding them on their web page.
Will check out Cali-Raised.

 

Who knows if they really work? I went with Greenlane solely because they're stainless steel and provided additional tie-down points.

 

Holy Crap - Search on TW yielded very little that wasn't obscurely buried.
Then I searched for "Tacoma Bed Stiffeners" on The Goog and got this!
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/best-choices-for-bed-stiffeners.562531/
RIGHT FROM TW!

Also got this link too.
https://***************/accessories/best-bed-stiffeners/

And now TC has them when I searched earlier by my make and model, nothing.
https://www.chaosfab.com/product/2016-2022-Toyota-Tacoma-Rear-Channel-Bed-Stiffeners-48676