Mystery witness marks in the 2013 DCLB truck bed

The question / brain teaser is about my "new to me" 2013 DCLB Sport 4x4. I bought it used a few months ago. Overall it is a decent truck, but there are a few odd thing I've recently discovered. One of which is in the bed . If you look at the pics, there are 4 screw holds (2 pairs of 2 holes) in the bed upright areas right near the tailgate. I thought it may have been a bed stiffener, but i didn't see any other holes along the bed floor portion. Also, I found the that two of the most forward screws holding the side storage boxes have had their heads drilled off, but the rest are fine? Again, it's as if something has been mounted under the factory screws. This observation is the same on both sides of the truck (L & R).

Probably a longshot, but does anyone recognize the footprint of what ever was mounted to the vertical pillars and/or the side storage box flanges? ladder racks? bed extender? tool box? speakers? I'm stumped. Thanks, TJR

 

I'm pretty sure the side holes are for the stiffeners, the bottom mounts on them utilize the existing bed bolts so I would not expect any additional holes on the bed floor itself for them. As why the drilled out fasteners, maybe the PO tried to remove the box at one point and stripped out the head but was too lazy to fully extract the shank of the bolt.

 

Bed extender?

 

Bed stiffeners imo. Which brand

 

my guess is the previous owner had a d-ring obsession. added ones similar to these; they ripped off, and he bolted new ones to the rear points. He liked them so much, he removed them when he sold the truck. Theres a lot of random scratches around those rear holes that scream strap/hook damage from d-rings

 

The holes in the uprights are not likely from any sort of bed stiffener as they are too small, and not linear as a stiffener would be.... My guess on storage boxes would be that they were removed at some point, and when being reinstalled someone used an impact or too much force with a ratchet and snapped the heads off the bolts. I wouldn't really be worried about either structurally or functionally

. Not stating any thing as fact here just some observational assumptions.


Also I recognize your avatar picture, maybe you would be interested in this thread : https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...sions-and-finds.562597/page-180#post-25994563

 

PO has 2 of the swingcase tool boxes, one for each side:

 

Wow Wattapuck I think you nailed it. I had thought along the lines of everyone else who replied, but this makes complete sense. I watched a Tacoma install video about these SwingCase tool boxes and even the latch brackets match the marks on the beds storage boxes. The screw holes on the bed upright were so crude and now I see why! I consider this mystery solved. The internet it not all that bad after all! Thanks again! TJR Southern Maine

 

I was thinking the same, on the stripped and broken bolt. Trying to make it right may make it worse. Those screws are probably rusted in for good. You could do what someone I bought a rear end from did. They broke a bolt off, no attempt to extract the broken leftover piece, stuck the broken head on with some gasket maker, spray painted it. Of course it leaked there.

 

[QUOTE=" stuck the broken head on with some gasket maker, spray painted it.".[/QUOTE]

That's pretty bad. I would have been rather upset... hopefully you got it corrected

Similar to that...several years ago I found a stripped oil pan plug in my wife's car ( '09 Venza) doing the next required oil change. I normally do them myself to avoid these issues, but the previous oil change was done at Sears, Valvoline, Jiffy or someplace similar when se was out of state visiting her parents. They said nothing, just applied blue snot RTV and called it good. It didn't leak for the interval, but time and distance didn't make it worth fighting w/ them to make it right. I ended up installing a new oil pan. ARR!!!

 

My vote is for the swingcases and the guy using an impact driver on those bolts. You can get those out and replaced pretty easily most of the time.

I like solved mysteries.

 

So a little follow-up .. I was able to get the 3 headless screws out. I hit them with some PB blaster several times and let it soak for a few days. A pair of vise grips, some back and forth motion and I was able to extract the pieces without too much trouble. The head were definitely drilled out . I can see the drill points in the screw pieces. Anyone have some factory replacement screws?