Hypoxic Chronology

Um... no.
That's why I'm fixing/reinforcing everything.

Where would I sleep? I'm not #EAF enough for a rooftop tent.

 

Or, you could get a ground tent, like a real man.

 

There are only two of us, real men, in our group. The rest sleep in their trucks.

 

You guys are all just envious of my 6' bed.

By the time you have a short bed you might as well have a soccer mom 4runner.

 

With the sleeping platform I built in the runner, I have a longer platform than 6', no one else can even sit in there, but that is besides the point.

 

I never really cared for the way the sides of the bedrug fit (or rather, didn't fit) so I think I'm done with it. The bottom part detaches from the sides so I think I'll keep it as a bed mat. What a mess!



Hey @Crom I know you went on a major quest to stop dust intrusion into your covered bed.... what did you do about the cubby latches?

 

Sure enough... these are the little cracks people talk about from bedside flex.

They're just barely forming but it reinforces (pun intended) my thoughts about getting the bedside stiffeners.

 

I pulled them cleaned them, put gorilla tape over there holes, top and bottom, used silicone to make a seal and reinstall. I left the doors off. A closed cell foam will work well too if right sized, in lieu of silicone.

Here is a link to my full writeup, multiple links in the post too details about each cubby.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...d-and-adventures.362772/page-44#post-11379261

I'd get the gussets for the bedsides.

I'm enjoying your recent build thread posts.

I'm afraid to ever take my topper off and look under the bed rail caps. lol

 

I read about a lot of things on these forums.

Some of them, I took precautions and probably saved myself some grief. Some of them, I just confirmed and said "yep, that's what they were talking about".

I don't remember reading about these bed issues.
None of it's irreparable, but if I had it to do over again it would've been nice to brace and replace from the beginning.

 

Yep. I'm right there with you.

The first report of the bed cap issues I saw was from several years ago by banned member Boyd, aka XXXX. I had a cap already and didn't want to deal with the pain of taking it off...

I don't recall reading any reports of the spreading supports though. Others have stated that they knew and used ratchet straps... I'll end up with a custom set of TC ones in my truck, but must first reconfigure some things...

Have a great day!

 

It really is ridiculous how bad the damage is...

This is all cleaned up. No dirt. All the marks you see are missing paint.

 

On a positive note, I'm really impressed with this stuff from @KB Voodoo .

I was a little skeptical at first. At $250 and shipping for the tailgate cap and the bed rails, I thought they were a bit expensive. Of course, I think everything is expensive. My cheap nature, combined with getting *cough- older- cough* means I get upset when I see how much groceries cost

But they were shipped quickly, packaged very well, and they fit up perfectly. It's also the best powder coating job I've ever seen. As much as I usually hate spending that kind of money, it makes me feel way better when I know it's "well-spent"

 

Im concerned now about mine. If you feel good spending that money I have to add this to my list. I've never had my topper off and it's shifted for sure. I need to move this stuff up on the list as it seems to be more a more necessary mod than want mod

 

Managed a pretty clean line.
I think it'll look ok.

 

That turned out great Eric. Nicely done!

 

I'm thinking there may be another benefit to the side rails in terms of sealing the topper.
The plastic side rails are much higher than the bed against the cab. When they installed my topper, the used this large gasket and then some putty in the corners.

The topper doesn't have a height transition so it may seal up much better with the lower profile metal rails.

 

Winch is back in...


Turned out it didn't really need anything aside from the drum being cleaned up a bit. It was working fine and nothing was contaminated with water or mud or anything but I figure fresh clean grease never hurt gears right?
I'll find out shortly if I got it put back together correctly and it all works

 

Works good. All buttoned up


In retrospect, I should have painted the drum when I switched to synthetic line. I'm sure the wire rope scratched the drum all up and then the synthetic trapped moisture causing it to rust.
Hopefully, with fresh new paint on there and synthetic line, it won't happen again.