Tie-down points

I just installed an Agricover tonneau cover on my 2005 Tacoma (Access cab). I like the tonneau, but it can't be installed unless the movable tie-down points, which attach to the rails, are removed (and now I can't use them). I don't know if those movable tie-down points could be put on the front rail with the tonneau cover in place (and it's too cold right now for me to want to go outside to check something like that). But if I can't use the factory-original tie-down points (which I really like), does anyone know of any after-market tie-downs?

Toyota does make a set of 2 tie-downs, which install on the sides of the bed, something like 70 mm up from the floor and 70 mm back from the front wall, one on each side. They seem like a good option. And I still have the 2 original tie-downs which are on the floor of the bed, near the back, one at each corner. But does anyone know of anything I could install midway between the front and back?

 

Actually there are several options:

1. A thin cleat like THIS

2. A mini-cleat, but you will need to trim or sand the top to clear the rail

3. Or modify your existing cleats as suggested by @sweetbaboo: " I took the existing tie-down cleat, removed the bulky knob and then shaved off half of the round protrusion that runs into the top of the tonnosport rail. Then I replaced the knob with a stainless steel washer and a stainless steel wingnut (M8 1.25). You can tighten, untighten and move it around the same way the existing cleat works."
(see original thread, post #39)
--Goodluck

 

You should be able to slide the factory tie downs back into the rails from the ends after the installation of the tonneau cover is completed. See this thread for pictures.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/product-reviews/134076-access-limited-tonneau-lots-pics.html

 

BruceDog: I shoulda knowed. Like my pappy used to say, "There are more mistakes made from not looking than from not knowing." When Agricover said that the factory original tie-down cleats are "not compatible" with their tonneau cover, I thought they meant you COULDN'T use them. I guess what they really meant was, "we don't WANT you to use them. Or, to put it more directly, "Because of those spacer you use to mount the rails for our tonneau cover, the tie-down points won't have as much support/strength, so if you're a bonehead and try to stabilize a Monty-Python-type 16 ton weight, it'll probably tear the rail right off, and then you'll blame us, so we'll just tell you don't even try to do it."

I hope my factory tie-down cleats will still slide into the factory rails (it's still too cold for me to want to check right now), but if they do, that solves my problem.

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