Bed stiffeners

any pics of the chipping?

 

The only pics I have of it are from the install. You can barely see it on the top inside edge of the white. It's been touched up since then. Truck only has 4000 miles on it and has perfect panel gaps everwhere including the tailgate. I know I didn't do anything to cause those marks otherwise. The frame would only have to flex a few mm to cause that, which I definitely could have done in the desert. Hoping these keep everything in line.

 

Wow... painted the new and existing bolt heads... that's dedication to the cause.

 

Maybe I'm just blind, but I'm not seeing what you're referring to. Are you saying there's paint chipping due to your frame flexing, and bed stiffeners hopefully fix it?

 

The factory hardware back there was already black. I masked the new stiffener hardware after properly torquing everything though because the bronze was not my jam. Didn't want to chip it during install so I painted after, masking 10 bolts surrounded by L-brackets sucked lol.

On the very top of the painted section of the truck bed there is an unpainted mark (actually a few but hard to see in the photo - I didn't specifically take a photo of the damage). And yes that's what I'm saying. There is no other reason for chipping to be in that location.

 

I think I see the spec you're talking about but not entirely sure. Are you saying the chip occurred because the bedsides flexed inwards and contacted the tailgate?

 

Yes... That's there the flex will be the most extreme, and there's no other reason for there to be a chip in that location.

 

Gotcha

 

Really? That large torx bed bolt on mine is definitely silver. 2017, so maybe they changed it.

 

Not that part, I thought you meant all up the side of the bed.

I painted all my bed bolts when I first got the truck though since they like to rust.