Bed Cracking Concern

I need to add a half ton hydraulic crane to my 2011 Taco and am concerned the forces generated would cause the bed to crack. Does anyone know if bed stiffeners would be a solution or not?
If anyone has added an accessory like this I would appreciate hearing of your experience.
Thanks for reading.

 

It would be helpful to show pics of said crane and mounting surfaces.

How will it be used?

Is 1/2 ton the weight of the crane or it's lift capacity? Either way it seems the truck will be wayyyyyy overloaded.

 

....how are you mounting this?

You have a fiberglass reinforced composite bed connected to two c-channel frames via 3 bolts on each side. The spare tire crossmember is fairly beefy and there are ribs on the bed, but you're also talking about a combined load amplified by the crane arm. How long is the arm?

I'd be looking to spread that load over as large an area as possible, either via a large spreader plate (gonna be heavy) or by tying to the frame next to the existing spare tire bracket with a fish plate.

Stiffeners won't have an effect on the failure mode I'd anticipate unless you're mounting it to the bedside.

 

The half ton weight specified is the maximum capacity of the crane. The weight of the crane is 60 pounds. It will be used to left an engine of approximately 300 pounds hanging from an arm 4 feet long.
I gather from reading threads that not only camper caps cause bed cracking, but also cargo loads in the bed that create flexing. While 300 pounds is not an enormous load, it is dangling from a 4' arm. That, I should think, creates a 1,200 foot pounds of torque at the base of the crane

 

Sounds like some a steel reinforcement plate anchored to the frame is needed.

As an alternative, how about an elevating platform cart?