Quick Mod: keeping my bed cleats

This is pretty easy, I just took a length of vinyl coated cable, ran it through one eye of each cleat and clamped off the ends. The cleats can be repositioned and removed (as long as I take the anchors with them) because I left plenty of slack.

I used the fork mounts as anchors because they take a tool to remove. Like any security it just prevents casual appropriation of my cleats, because I'm too lazy to store them in the cab. I also added two cleats so I could have 2 on each rail.





Ends are loose with plenty of slack:

 

Eh.... The cheapest of hand tools will snip that cable in 2 seconds.

 

That looks sloppy and unnecessary in my opinion

 

Are bed cleats stolen very often? Seems a little excessive. If I wanted to prevent theft, I would probably figure out some way to secure the ends of the rail so they can't be slid off.

 

thats what I was thinking, never saw the time of day where people are stealing bed cleats

 

I take them off and put them out of sight in the bed storage pocket when I'm not actively using them

 

This...takes less than 60 seconds for all 4...

 

Sorry OP, but have to agree with this. But to each his own.

I just store mine in the bed cubby, that I installed a lock on.

 

The dealership where I bought my truck was having problems with people stealing them at night , they ended up taking them off all the trucks and storing them inside

 

They're so easy to take off, takes all of 10 seconds. I wouldn't leave mine visible, that's for sure.

 

I never thought of it before joining TW , but I'm suprised a bunch of tailgates didn't walk away too if people were swiping bed cleats

 

Yeah, that does look a little sloppy..

I have heard of the cleats being stolen plenty of times.. I keep mine under the back seat.

The things are really expensive too!

Toyota sells something else that's much smaller than the cleats and slots into the bed rails from the ends and tightens down. I have two of those and I keep them in the bed at all times. They've never been stolen.

My neighbors tacoma was totaled so before the insurance company took the truck away he took the cleats out of it and other things that could have gone missing. I now have 8 cleats and the two tinier things! I can tie anything down!

 

Re: sloppy
The bed is for using not looking good.

Re: secure the rail ends
You guys know you can pull them directly out from any position by twisting 90º, rite?

Re: but cables can be cut!
Locks are for honest people. Nobody who is prepared is going to be stopped by a little cable, nor a pop a lock or hose clamps for the lift gate. The purpose of any lock or security device is to gain time, i.e. make it inconvenient.

It gives me piece of mind, the cleats don't need to be re-repositioned each time I stow my ramp, the cable is something to lock my trike to, my storage isn't filled with 6 awkward cleats, the system doesn't affect repositioning of the cleats if I need to, and most important I'm not entering the bed in any beauty contests in the forseeable future.

Thanks for the feedback, I never thought to arouse such a passionate response with $2 worth of cable!

 

I'm thinking about cabling my wheels every time i park somewhere due to the slight chance someone might steal them. Yes, it will be unsightly and very inconvenient, but it's not about looking pretty. If the cable is long enough, I might run it around a nearby pole or something so the truck isn't stolen.

 

Hahahaha

 

Not to throw another jab, but i think people are just trying to say one snip with some decent wire cutters and your piece of mind is out the window. To add a suggestion, if you really are deadset on theft prevention leaving them in the rails, I am curious if you'd be able to drill a hole in the twist part of each cleat and put a long skinny lock through it so they can't be untightened.

 

lol wtf

 

I agree with other posters that it does look sloppy. You should attach that cable to your tailgate because someone would more than likely steal that then the cleats. Or you can make it long enough to wrap it around your steering wheel and use it as a club so no one steals your truck. Put the cleats in the trucks, jeez!

 

There was another mod that involved drilling a hole in the knob and using a zip tie to keep the knob from being loosened, similar to the lock idea. But locks can be forced or picked, just like cables can be cut. The plastic itself isn't exactly unbreakable, although it kind of defeats the purpose of stealing the cleats themselves.

But with locks I have yet another key, and to move the cleats to better tie a load, I'm unlocking moving and relocking, and then if they are between the rail divots they don't tighten down exactly to the same spot. With the cables I can quickly reposition- even to another rail, if needed.

The goal wasn't ultimate security after all, but to prevent the causal thief without altering the OEM function. I don't care that most of you are haters and care more about how your bed looks than whether it's useful- what I don't get is why it offends you so much how my bed looks.

If someone is actually looking for a cleaner version: a short cable to the rail, with a plate in the rail that cannot be removed with a 90º twist might work- combined with secured rail ends, because again there is no reason to screw down the rail ends if the cleats come out at any position. There are two reasons I didn't go this route: first easy repositioning is more important to how I use the cleats (e.g. jumping a cleat to another rail) and second because it won't stop snowing and blowing here!