Tacoma Loose Bed design Flaw explanation

Just did the UHMW fix on my 2017. Buddy works as a mechanic at a Toyota dealership and says the bold torque is 44 ft-lbs.

 

Thanks to you all! I’ve been chasing what I thought was the Rach tonneau cover rattle. No matter what I’ve tried the rattle and exact noise does not change. I’ll be looking into this bed to frame flaw.
WTH is it with the Toyota engineers…. rhetorical

 

This is a great thread, like many others on TW that zoom in on a specific problem & hit it from every angle of analysis until it is solved, with lots of photos & long-term followups. (For example the 2nd gen 4WD troubleshooting thread.)

It's clear that Toyota should've put isolating bushings between the bottom of the bed mount pad & the vehicle frame from the factory, but it's also true that some large fraction of Tacos never have this bed rattle develop because they're seldom (or never) heavily-loaded and/or driven on rough roads.

A couple of posters here put rubber or poly/UHMW/delrin washers BOTH under the bolt-head washer AND between the composite bed mount pad & truck frame. Maybe this is the ultimate best solution as it fully isolates the composite bed from any metal-to-plastic contact & rubbing. Very similar to the top shaft mount "bushing sandwich" on a rear shock absorber.

 

This is a tremendous thread.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed.

 

This isnt a comment about which is better, upper or lower fixes...

My upper thin nylon washer has been in there for 4 years now and its still working...

 

Just wanted to report that my bed is still rattle free.

 

So I had this happen to my 22' (65,000km, lots of hard off roading) and because warranty decided to take it into a local dealer asking for a fix.

According to the tech "sometimes the metal sheath installed for the bed are 5mm too long and since it only happens occasionaly Toyota doesn't know what trucks have these parts installed hence no recall. When installed they sit tight in the bolt hole so the bed seems fine at first until this starts the slip leading to the bed movement. the solution is to shave 5mm off the metal sheath so they are the 'correct length'. this is why some trucks never seem to have this happen while others do very quickly"

I don't know how much I believe this story/explanation vs a story to justify the fix they did without asking instead of what I asked for. But they said if it starts to move again or wear that is on them & I ordered the washers anyways just in case - so knowing what to watch for guess its time to do some hard off-roading with a full bed of gear and see what happens!

 

I have a trailer hitch 4-way ball mount in the receiver all of the time: mainly to protect the bumper from parking lot %$#&!. It makes it's own distinctive "ring" noise racket when I go over any good assorted bumps. So far, no loose bed noises but when I hear double the racket, it will serve as a good warning notice. Thank you.

 

I had these off recently, mainly because I was adding bed stiffeners and had to take out the 2 rears, they came off ok but it was obvious there was corrosion causing the bolts to be difficult to hand thread once they were loose. I decided to remove all 4, wire brush and put some anti seize on the threads. No gap or discernable bed movement but I wish I would have read this thread first, I would have proactively added a delrin washers to the underside of the bed.

 

The dealer completely failed to fix it and I resorted the the same fix others here have done with the washer which seems to be holding up much better

 

Did you have to lift up the bed to install the pads? Or can you remove the bold and slide it in? Do you need a re-torque the bolt down after inserting the pad or can you just tighten the bolt down?

 

Impact the bolt out. Have a chunk of wood cut to a wedge and jam it in as you lift the bed. Fish the washer into place, drop the bolt in, pull the wedge and send the bolt home. Maybe a 5 minute ordeal.

 

Thanks! I don’t have an impact. I’ll be using a breaker bar. I can get a wedge at Home Depot. I live in an apartment building in a city. Can I lift the bed myself or do I need a helper? The plastic goes underneath the bed right? Between the mount and the bed?

 

If your bed is as worn away as mine were after lots of off roading & dealer fails (let that be a lesson just fix it yourself) you may need to cut off some of the waster to get it to fit in there.

it goes under the bed between it and the frame, make sure the metal sleeve fits in the middle of the washer so when tightened the bolt presses on the bed not the sleeve. mine didn't so I had to hole saw it a tad bigger

and the key thing: once you put it in and crank it tight check each side that there is absolutely no movement, even if there is the smallest amount it will just wear away again and move more and more (this is where the dealer tech screwed up only seems to be checking one side and I didn't notice it for a little bit)

now 3,000km and 2 big offroad trips after I did it myself and its holding up fine so far

 

I’m wondering if a stoutly 3D printed PLA/PETG washer would hold up well enough.

Of course UHMW or delrin would be better, but can print many dozens of washers for the cost of a single UHMW one shipped.

 

I would not use PLA there, PTEG maybe but you really would want to print something out of ABS or nylon

 

Hi having the same issue. It seems the material of choice to place between the bed and frame is some non metalic. Have anybody tried using a metalic washer? Isnt the idea to lift the bed using a spacer to get the bed above the top of the sleeve so when you tighten, the bed is what you are l tightening against the frame. In theory it should work. I guess one way to find out.

 

The composite/resin-type spacers listed earlier in this thread are probably the ultimate best long-term solution. They absorb some shock and vibration, whereas a metal spacer will not.

Metal spacer in contact with the composite/resin surface of the bed mounting point will wear away the bed mounting point over time.

 

Can I just confirm that prior to installing the composite/resin-type spacers you all were having loud popping sounds from the bed area when off-roading (twisting/angled moments going up and down hill) and after install the sound is completely gone when stressing in those conditions?

 

IDK for sure but I don't think hard off-roading / high-frame-twist situations are what this thread is addressing. I think it's mostly addressing long-term average daily-driver noises that come from incremental wear to the bed mounting points. (I haven't installed this mod / fix myself yet, either.)

It's possible that UHMW spacers may reduce the sounds you're hearing under moderate-to-severe off-road conditions, but it's also possible that the popping noises in back are coming from other areas, such as connections or touch points between the metal outer bodywork & the composite bed. Possibly also from metal parts that are riveted onto the rear frame like the rear leaf spring hangers and (if I recall) the spare-tire hanger/crossmember.