Cutting a brace?

So I took the panel out of the back of the cab and want to fit a Storm case with my first aid stuff back there but there is a brace in the way and the seat won’t close. If I cut this brace out will it harm the structural integrity of the truck? I know it’s probably there for a reason but is that reason just to be an anchor point for child seats?

 

Highly recommend against cutting up that channel, as it does indeed appear to be structural, horizontally shoring up the rear of the cab. Will it make your truck explode instantly? Probably not, but cutting would make it that much easier to crush the cab like a soda can in a side impact, as well as change/potentially introduce a whole new crumple zone deflecting inward into the passenger compartment.

Depending on bracket locations, it may be easier/safer to fab up a 1" relocation bracket for the seat attachments to make room, if you REALLY need to that badly. Or maybe just cut the box around the channel.

 

I cut my truck to absolute pieces for mods and even I wouldn’t cut that out, especially for a case to carry some items.

 

As much as I like cutting metal, especially to save some space, that isn’t the area ya wanna cut up. Like @risethewake mentioned, that’s a key lateral support for the cab.
Best solution is to find another box, hate to say it cause I have a similar med box packed up. However, my seats stay down so there ya go.

 

Thanks guys, that’s kinda what I figured. I’ll just try to find a box that will fit below the beam. There is so much more room without that plastic panel.

 

Smart. These trucks are built with a lot of crumple points and specific bracing to send forces this way and that.
My sister rolled her 4runner into a field. Yeah her dumb ass was speeding, but holy fuck dude, there was not a single piece of that truck that was crushed. When I inspected it, there were areas of bracing and shear points that we obviously after looking at the twisted wreck.

 

Going against the majority here....but I removed the lower channel you are pointing to. Drilled out with spot weld cutter. Pretty flimsy piece compared to the upper one, which I would never cut or modify as that one is critical to cab integrity.

Why? Because I wanted the extra space for totes. For the inch or so gained, seemed worth it to me.

 

I would get a different case.
There's a million different ways to carry first aid stuff
not to mention roof cargo box

factory storage spots like behind seat (using a different case), under seat
-plywood seat delete decks
-MOLLE mounts like overhead MESO hexrack
-seatback MOLLE panels
etc.

 

It may seem flimsy once removed from the rear wall but a lot more sturdy when attached and taking loads in the proper orientation. I can jump on a 2x4 and break it, but I wouldn’t cut load-bearing studs out of my house on a whim, without properly shoring up the structure with additional headers, etc.

 

I cut my brace out and welded some flat 2"x 20" 16g pieces vertically ( 4 pieces evenly spaced on the back wall). And while I'm sure it helped get back some structural integrity of the back I'm sure youd be fine just cutting that brace and and leaving it as is. That brace is so thin and super easy to Bend . The metal of a can of soda is stronger that brace.

 

welding flat strips vertically does nothing to reinforce that area laterally. The existing brace isn’t meant to be a thick roll bar, but engineered to direct forces in certain directions so the back of the cab remains rigid under impact. Flimsy on its own, yes, but adds much more strength to the cab as a whole when attached as engineers intended, after millions of dollars in testing. A manufacturer that won’t even spend a few cents per unit for auto-up window switches certainly isn’t gonna put in bracing that isn’t necessary.

E.g. much of the cab’s vertical rigidity is supplied by the corrugation of the thin shell alone, and I can sure bend that easily if I cut it out and rolled it up.

Its your truck, your assumed risk, and I’m not your dad. But implying it’s fine to cut up structural metal is no bueno.

 

That brace is basically tacked on the back wall. It looks like it's main job is to provide mounting points for the rear plastic storage bins. The strength that brace provides for the back wall seems negligible. But im no engineer so you could be right. I was just telling someone my experience and what the outcome so far has been. Simple as that.

 

I definitely wouldn’t cut that brace and I am an engineer lol

Will cutting it be the difference between life and death in an accident? Most likely not for the driver but for rear seat passengers it’s feasible.

Maybe pop the black plastic seat back off and see if that gets you a little more room. If so cut the plastic to the box profile.

There are also MOLLE panels for the back wall. Www.underlandoffroad.com