Bed Stiffener help / cracks

Putting on TC stiffeners, noticed my tailgate gaps were uneven. However the top bolt is not aligned to the hole barely, i've tried ratcheting the bedrails together tighter but dont want to rip the bedrails. Anybody encounter this problem?

Also noticed a crack in the same area both sides at the bottom, saw very few forums mentioning this and didn't see any recommendations what to do with those cracks. I suspect their the reason the bedwall is flexing out.

 

Remove a little material from the hole, if necessary.

Close the tailgate and check gaps. Ratchet strap together, or to opposing tie-downs to close the gap.

 

I’d remove some material, or put the top bolt in and then the bottom.
Sometimes you just have to try different install methods.

 

When I installed my bed stiffeners, there was no issues with hole alignments.

If possible, I would get all the bolts well started and use the bed stiffener to hopefully reestablish a correctly aligned tailgate.

Granted the bed stiffener could be made wrong, but seems unlikely.

 

I'd drill out the end of that fracture so that it doesn't continue to propagate (or weld it up).