Fibreglass box crack; anyone else?

When I bought my 2013 I was leary of the fibreglass box. I told the salesman I was going to use this thing as a truck, not just offroad, and pickup kids from hockey. I said how does it stand up to loading up with building supplies in -25C? He assured me they had _never_ had one come back. Hmmmm, imagine a saleman telling me what I wanted to hear.

Anyway, just noticed this today:


Haven't spoken to Toyota about it yet. What are the chances they just call this wear and tear, and won't do anything about it.

Any ideas on what I should repair this with?

 

That isn't the beds fault. I bet anything they say you are on your own.

 

LineX.

 

Yup! Patch it and coat it

 

I've never seen it before and I'm not a salesman, so I'm going to go with owner error over design flaw.

It's fiberglass, as you can see. It isn't wonder material. Doesn't take a salesman to figure that out, you'd have fucked up a steel bed by now, too, anyway.

So.. LineX and move on.

 

I have seen people sand and lineX these beds. That is an option.

The dealer will likely tell you to pound sand but you can try

 

That's not a stress crack, that's an abuse whack. Patch it and move ahead. I'd not even bother with Line-X, cause it's gonna happen again.

If you do want to coat it to hide the repair, consider www.monstaliner.com

You might like the smoother finish better. No rubber boogies in the material.

 

I am not that concerned about how the patch looks, so long as it isn't ridiculous. I was thinking of some JB Weld or something like that. With the lineX I can just use a bit? I have a bit of that Dupont Kevlar bed liner kicking around, would a dab of that work as well as bedliner?

Trying to think of how it happened. It must have been the load of 2x4 and OSB I haven't hauled a few weeks ago from Home Depot in -25C. I don't recall anything particularly abusive, while it do use the truck to haul stuff, I baby it pretty good. But I guess you guys know me, my climate, and what I haul better than I do.

 

I live in Southern Alberta. Freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw, and repeat with some negative 30 thrown in every week or two. My truck is the same age as yours within a few months. I have used my truck for work and offroad. I've left heavy metal objects in the box for short trips that have donked around very hard off the bed. My bed has no issues. It's in much better shape, condition wise, then any metal box would be at this point. I'm guessing that, at some point, you had something fall on the bed just right with a point to cause damage like that. If a 2x4 caused it with over loading, well think about it, then you would of had a long stress crack and not a little puncture. With that in mind, Toyota won't cover it because they will suggest the same thing.

Also, the bed is not fiberglass, it's a plastic composite. Slightly different, same sort of principle. I've heard it is not a good idea to use fiberglass patching on the Tacoma because the two are not chemically compatible. I'm searching right now for a source on that to confirm but I can't seem to find the thread. With that hole being so small I'd go with the JB weld idea anyways if you've in a rush.

Once you have it repaired Linex that box. Blame it on the cold, Toyota, or whoever you want but think about what you would of done to any metal truck bed before using it. I just run a rubber mat in the base of mine but if I didn't I'd have mine Linex'd tomorrow, like I have both of my F150's done. Do what you can to protect your truck.

BTW I've also never seen a cracked Tacoma bed except when someone hit the brakes at highway speed and put an unstrapped 2x4 through it... which would of likely happened to a steel box too...

 

The bed is a fiberglass composite, I have cut and grinded a few myself including my own and it is unmistakably a fiberglass material. The OP's damage could easily be patched with Dynaglass or MarineTex, sanded and painted.

 

That is good to know, same climate in Southern AB as south SK, so feeling better about it.

Glad to hear it.

It's good to hear that in general this doesn't happen. So this isn't a common issue that the salesman failed to mention. If it is something I accidently did I can live with that. It just seemed that a metal bed mid have chipped paint, but not substance. But I guess metal beds have their own issues, and based on the feedback here, whatever happened must have been pretty excessive. So I am willing to call it user error.

I did think one of the advantages of the fiberglass box was not having to use bedliner/lineX/bedArmor. Maybe something to look into for a summer project.

Cheers,
~S

 

Okay. All good. I just remember hearing somewhere that certain fiberglass repair kits couldn't be used because of the chemical composition of the bed. That's all.

 

I've punched a hole in metal bed before when I was a kid. Plus any damage to a metal bed rusts which sucks and causes other issues.

Not your fault on the fiberglass part. Toyota dealers definitely upsell the bed as not needing the protection but a little protection goes a long way. Cheers.

 

I would not use an epoxy resin on fiberglass, they don't like each other.

 

It's possible that's what I remembered hearing/reading... who knows.

 

@Evenflow here's what I've found:

This is what Toyota says the box is, which doesn't sound like typical marine fiberglass but I'm definitely no expert.

That being said I found lots of posts about people repairing the box with Marine-Tex with good results after 4 years... so that does sound like a good option

 

Hmm interesting because vinyl ester is an epoxy resin so that confuses the hell out of me because generally Expoy and polyester resins do not agree with each other. Basically what that is describing is a material that is 50% filler and 50% resin and formed in a big press mold then coated. I knew it was a fiber composite and not a plastic composite because the second you cut into it or grind it it is unmistakable. Marine Tex is bitchin stuff you can actually apply it underwater, hard as a rock but sands really easily.

 

Not Good.... Busted Shock and Punctured Bed
page 2...

 

You are right and Evenflow is incorrect. It isn't fiberglass. Its sheet molded composite or compound. And although it is a reinforced vinyl ester resin material, an epoxy resin is required for a correct repair.

" First, it’s important to recognize SMC as different from other types of FRP composites so that the proper repair can be performed. Parts made with SMC are typically produced in compression molds, causing them to be smooth on both the inside and outside—typically the first clue to identifying them. Next, SMC parts do not have an outer gel coat, rather they are typically color molded and sometimes painted. Finally, when the paint is sanded from SMC, short coarse fibers are exposed and the dust that is generated is dryer and more powdery than other composites. These hints will make it easier to identify SMC.

Next, you need to select the correct resin. While SMC is a polyester—based material, it cannot be repaired with polyester resin. This is due to there being a mold release agent present throughout the entire SMC part. Unlike conventionally molded parts, where release agents are applied to the mold surface, SMC is compounded with a release agent dispersed within the resin mix for faster processing. This means that as the damage is sanded to prepare a good bonding surface, fresh release agent is exposed. Polyester resin products do not offer a strong enough physical bond to adhere to this surface. Because of this, SMC should only be repaired using epoxy—based resins, fillers, and adhesives.

 

Umm did you see my last post ?