Total Chaos Fabrication Bed Stiffeners Thoughts

Hello all. I installed the Total Chaos Fab Bed Stiffeners for the 3rd Gen Tacoma this afternoon. Here are some of my thoughts for those who are considering the mod. For reference, this truck is a 2021 TRD Off-road DCSB and had 2410 miles at time of install. It has only seen two "major" snowstorms in its lifetime. I also live in Colorado where the roads typically aren't salted--we just use a salt-based brine and sand/grit where necessary.


Bolt Part Numbers:
Bed mounting bolt: BOLT, REAR BODY MOUNTING P/N 64189A
Tie down: Tie Down Hook P/N 66311H
Top bolt that inevitably breaks: Tail Lamp Assembly Screw P/N 90105-06287

1. Use the 7/16" bolt to line up the washers for the factory tie down spot before putting the stiffener in place. Simply place the washers in the correct orientation on the bolt, thread the bolt in a few ways and back the bolt out. Pull straight up on the bolt and then set the stiffener down on top of the hole trying not to disturb the washers. Then thread the bolt back in hand-tight.
2. When you reach step 7, thread the top bolt in by hand and do not tighten down. I broke this bolt because I thought that there was no way the bed could be tweaked that much at only 2400 miles--I was wrong. Thankfully, the bolt can accessed from the tail light side. If you break this bolt, it is P/N 90105-06287 or just an M6-1.00x20mm coarse thread bolt. It is black oxide coated, though you could also use a yellow zinc coated bolt and washer to match the hardware Total Chaos gives you.
3. For the bed mounting bolt and the new 7/16" bolt provided by Total Chaos, only tighten just enough with a ratchet, do not torque to spec quite yet. My reason for saying this is that these stiffeners pull the bed sides towards the center of the vehicle. When this happens, the bracket will shift towards the center as well thus reducing tension on these bolts. For example, when I tightened down the top bolt to 10 ft-lb as recommended by the instructions prior to drilling the new holes, it broke. Once I had drilled the holes, inserted the new hardware, and tightened the bolts from the bottom up, I had no issues torquing the top bolt to the spec required. Then I went back and actually torqued the bolts to the specification in the instructions.
   
4. Use tapping or cutting fluid on the drill bit.
5. Center punch the 5/16" holes prior to drilling.
6. The 5/8" wrench is for the 7/16" bolt and can be replaced with a 3/8" drive 5/8" socket with a short extension. A ratcheting wrench may also work here.
7. Torque the bed bolts. If nothing else, at least torque these; they hold your bed to the frame. A 3/8" Husky torque wrench can be had for $80 and will torque just about everything on the truck.
8. Re-torque the bolts after 100-ish miles.

Overall, I think this mod is well worth the cost. It may be a placebo effect, but after driving the truck post-install I found that the rear end felt more stiff and more predictable. The extra tie-down points are a nice touch and, at the very least, I won't have to worry about the bed tweaking or cracking for as long as I own the truck. Thanks to Total Chaos for producing such a product. It may be overkill for my use, but if you're going to kill something might as well make it sure it is dead.

 

I’m really interested on this based on the title, but too tired to read all these. Maybe next time I’ll try to read it.

 

Sub for future. Truck was built yesterday (02/11/2022), will be installing these soon after pickup