Bed Stiffeners - Options?

Ive been in the process of weatherproofing my bed for camping this year.

I've added westherstriping to many different locations to seal thing. I while adding some to the tailgate yesterday, I noticed that the gaps on both sides of the tailgate aren't even.

This seems to be a common issue with these trucks.

Que the bed stiffeners.

I know I've seen a few different brands on here. After searching, I've come across the Total Chaos ones.

What other options are out there besides the TC ones?

The TC ones are nice but I'd prefer ones without such large tie down points or even no tie down point, just smooth sides

 

@Bentrodder

 

The vertical rib that has the tie down points is where all the strength comes from. Unless you are asking about a smooth vertical rib? Don't think any are offered that way.

 

@Bentrodder and @At The Helm are both members who offer stiffeners.

Bentrodder is local to me, and I've seen his welds and work first hand - he'd get my cash every time!

 

Thanks for chiming in. Yours were the other ones I was thinking about.

By smooth sides, I mean no tiedown holes, just a solid vertical rib that doesn't have the little bump outs where the tiedown points are.

 

Here is my version in case you're interested: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bedside-reinforcements-tie-downs.476123/

Should have some available in about a week and a half.

 

@Bentrodder has my money as well... Very nice work and came very strongly recommended to me by @T4RFTMFW

 

Forgive me ahead of time guys but explain to me why these are necessary. I've never had a rack and have filled up my previous Tacoma/Nissan beds to capacity with soil/gravel/rocks many, many times. Only thing that ever broke was my Nissan POS tailgate. Is the top load (racks/tents etc) so heavy they split the truck bed/sidewalls?

 

The bed sides will flex outward when weight of a bedrack or a fiberglass cap is placed on the back of the truck. These provide support and keep the bedsides from flexing.

 

If they don't serve a function then worse case is more tie down points.

 

I don't see how bed rails can spread the bed apart. The rails are solidly rigid and all the weight would be pressing down not out. I'm saying anyone's wrong it just make sense to me.

 

Bed Stiffiner? Isn't that Viagra

 

There's plenty of pics to show otherwise.

 

This statement is incorrect. Toward the tailgate you have little to tie the sides of the bed together (the tailgate latches wI'll do the job to an extent, but they're not meant to be loaded in shear). Also, if you notice the profile of a shell or rack, there is some of the force of the weight of the shell in an outward component. Coupled with a bending moment where the rails meet the floor of the bed, you get an outward deflection of the bed rails near the tailgate. This causes a gap between the tailgate and bedsides at toward the top of the tailgate.

 

I think we got our wires crossed. By bed rails I meant bed rack or rails like the relentless fab bed rails. I can understand the bed walls flexing, especially under a fiberglass shell. I'm just not convinced that a rigid non-bolt together across the bed rail, even with an RTT on it, would flex the bed walls out.

 

I never doubted that every re-design between my old 89 pickup and my newer 2012 included downgrades that might work if you use the truck like a car. Just as 1st gen pickups (pre-1989) to 2nd gen pickups (89-94) showed several detrimental performance changes, most notably from the double row timing chain on steel guides to a single row timing chain on plastic guides.

That's where I value and depend on the keen observations here on tacomaworld to help guide me through these shortcomings so I can use this truck like a truck.

I've got a fibreglass cap going on that will have to support a canoe so I'll start to work on fabricating some bed stiffeners. Thanks for all of your comments to point out these deficiency's.
Pete

 

Thanks for the input dudes.

The previous owner of my truck had either a cap or rack on it - the bed rail caps are drilled full of holes.

The tailgate is separating from the bed sides as mentioned.

Now I need to decide which option to take to correct this.

 

Look over the geometry of how these aftermarket bed bars and racks attach, they may rest on top of the rails but the angles they mount at don't direct full force in a perfect downward direction. They also push outward. That and I highly doubt the bed is perfectly vertical from cab to tailgate so any force directed downward may be applying force at an angle also. And the guys who load their rear ends up way more than the usual casual joe are going to see the ill effects of that way earlier.

If you don't load anything on the bedsides there is no point in buying these anyway. Just an excuse for rust to start somewhere. Not that it matters too much, the metal pieces these mount to are replaceable.

That said, if my bedsides were starting to push out cause I did load stuff on the top, I'd be picking up a set.

 

Tell me about your bed stiffeners that @T4RFTMFW recommends. I think I need to get a pair now that i've got a Snugtop and wanna post up an RTT this summer.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bentrodders-bed-supports.460266/