Stiffeners…”lab” test comparison?

Whoa, PirateMica! I've got a Leer cap on my 2019 and just picked up Total Chaos stiffeners. Haven't installed yet, wondering if this is what I am going to see. Really interesting to see this your truck photos.

 

I think I have the Rago Stiffeners. My Bed wasn't out of alignment that bad yet. I know my Honda 500 4 Wheeler is strapped to those stiffeners a lot during Hunting season and they do a great job.

 

What are the least obtrusive ones people are using?

 

there's a dozen different answers here. and they're all correct.

it depends entirely on how you intend to use them, and how you use your truck.

 

I installed these after bringing my DLT (Dad's Last Truck: spec'd the way I would have) home after a remembrance for Mom's and Dad's neighbors and friends in August 2021, and advice on TW regarding the weight of fiberglass caps. The important consideration for me is distributing the load over a greater area/distance. Before deciding on a purchase, please read the installation instructions or manual so you know what you're getting into. That helps in the event modifications to the plan are necessary. (As it turns out, All-Pro OffRoad was located near Dad's and Mom's place in western MT, and they moved to Fresno in 2018 as one of the Trail Gear companies. A good move!)

 

Strange, that is identical in every way to my 1320 Performance model, except for the logo. It's like an open mould design that anyone can put their name on.

 

Y'know the way US patents and trademarks work in China? If a company wants to have their items manufactured in China, the first individual there that sees the company's trademark (Nike swash, for example) applies and is awarded the rights to the logo/symbol, and is entitled to royalties. Once something is patented in the US, the information is readily available, and someone in China will bring that product to market ahead of the US maker. Like Boeing's complaint that China stole F-16 technology, ask who made the computers and network hardware that were used to design the airplane. Yes, IT guys told me there are four companies in China that build the PCs that Dell, Gateway, and others put their labels on.

 

The F16 isn't a Boeing plane and it was designed in the early 1970s. I doubt very much that Dell or Gateway computers were used in any way for the design of the plane.

 

I welded up a set out of 2" angle. Put the tie downs where I wanted. Done. And for way less than buying a set

 

Sorry, I meant "F-35" that latest generation that was so long in coming out. Look at China's similar jet that came out before the F-35 was put into service.

 

You really seem like someone who knows their stuff here.

 

I found this:

Top 10 Bed Stiffeners For 2nd & 3rd Gen Tacoma: Buyers Guide (***************)

 

Get some coffee or krill... I spent my first 17 years with the Air Force (gr. 5-7 next to Kaneohe Bay MCAS so I know the Marine Corps Hymn better than others). We left shortly after I read the front page articles in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin about the port arrivals of the huge Glomar Explorer and Glomar Challenger ships built by Howard Hughes in 1968. (Books by Kenneth Sewell: Red Star Rogue and All Hands Down). Clowns In Action (CIA) issued cover stories about mining the deep ocean floor for manganese nodules (like having the Spirit and Opportunity rovers picking up the "blueberries" on Mars). Before I retired from Alaska to tropical Idaho, I became a life member of the Air & Space Forces Association before Dad's passing (21 years AF, 42 years in the cattle business), so I continue to receive the monthly magazine, and keep up on things like the problems with the KC-46A Pegasus tanker, which continues to have problems/discrepancies (limited to daylight refueling of aircraft with stealth coatings, for example) so the KC-135 continues to carry the load.
Follow the money... Look at where we've been fighting wars: SE Asia (The Golden Triangle was the OSS/CIA revenue source.), Afghanistan (CIA and opium poppies; I rejoiced when the Taliban burned the poppy farms so the farmers returned to growing produce for their villages.) The Balfour Declaration of 1914, the acts of US incorporation (1871), establishing the Federal Reserve banking system (1913)... We haven't had a government of, by, and for The People in more than 150 years. Beware the Military-Industrial-(Congressional, Eisenhower dropped the word in this final draft of his farewell speech to Congress) Complex.
Time to drive out of here for coffee and grandkids....
"I thank you for your attention and I am out of here." - Kurt Vonnegut's usual close to his audience.

 

These are what I have on mine. Not like its a long term test or anything as I have only had them for a year.

Fairly low profile and don't interfere with much that I have found yet. Even fits the factory bed mat in without cutting or anything.

 

Great testimonial.

Sorry it came at the expense of the noticeable flex on the bed of your truck.

I've got a set of Total Chaos I won't be installing until the weather warms up.

I plan on getting a DiamondBack Tonneau (SE) cover which weighs approximately 135-150lbs.

 

Funny- the 1320 stiffeners are made in the U.S., and less expensive.....

 

Yep, a lot of US businesses brought manufacturing back from overseas as they found it's faster to change a product with engineers being close to the factory floor so when the experienced assemblers notice a flaw, they can get attention and modify the parts in more immediate fashion. A Kohler engineer reported to his folks that plumbing fixtures being made in China lacked consistent hole placement, which not only aggravated the installing plumbers, but the whole domestic chain. GE did the same with microwave ovens and other appliances. Boeing brought 787 wing manufacturing back from Japan, and the beat goes on... Shipping of materiel, cost of living, and everything else enters in.
Look up the history of the Toyota Four Runner: a US dealer of Toyota trucks asked, and eventually just bought about thirty, had Winnebago modify the rear body section, and as those vehicles sold quickly, Toyota HQ noticed, and responded.

 

At this point, I don't care if they're made on Mars, because my bed sides are at a right-angle again. There's also room for my rear D-rings on it (although they don't swivel now), so I didn't have to give those up.