Bed stiffener substitute

I have a bed extender in my bed right now and was going to fab my own bed stiffeners to work with the extender mounting bracket but was wondering about another option. Can I just make a bar (most likely two separate bars to use on the front and back of track) to bolt to the factory side tracks inside the bed rails and use that as a stiffener? It would just hold the bed rails in place and not allow them from separating under weight. I was thinking about just getting L brackets and bolting one side into the track rails and the other side to a 1 5/8" unistrut that goes from bed rail to bed rail for the front of the bed and rear of the bed. That way I could take them off easily when I'm not running as much weight on my bed racks.

Thoughts?

 

Will try upload a picture

 

The front already has a continuous connection for both the bed and exterior bed sides. It's the open "U" of the tail gate opening that needs reinfocement. There's already some inside the tail light space where the rear of the bed sides is attached but it's thinner than the brackets sold by Chaos, At The Helm, etc. and is cantilevered outside the frame anyway. Your idea has merit in that it will resist outward pressure. What it lacks is the inward strength the brackets also add. When cornering the force is mostly to one side and the bracket on the opposite side will resist an inward force as well.

 

I see what you're saying. If I cut my unistrut to almost the exact width of my bed wouldn't the inner force be resisted by the bar pushing against it?

 

Yes but the opposite side doesn't have any extra support. Both bed walls can still flex in either direction, your idea makes them flex together(both left or both right) so it's better but not as good as the brackets where each one resists flex in both directions. Probably good enough for most, heck, most probably don't need anything to begin with but if you carry serious weight on either a bed rack, lumber rack, or camper shell then it's worth thinking about. A flush mounted bed rack would be the most similar to your idea. High bed racks or lumber racks can still flex outward under load or impact, especially if they have a removeable rear bar or bolt together and camper shells can flex even more than lumber racks. I've had both. Although the loads I carry on the shell are less than those I used to carry on the lumber racks adding the brackets was a high priority item for me. I think it's more for leveraged weight up high than for static weight down in the bed, unless you have something not properly tied that slides around.

You could probably fab up a bar like you describe using L-brackets on each end and a quick release clamp.