**WARNING** TOTAL CHAOS BED STIFFENERS (but really it’s Toyota’s fault)

You can take those D rings off and put them in the middle of the bed or some other location.

 

Any reason to not just pick up a 6mm grade 5 or better flange bolt and replace the thing if you are already taking it out?

 

Nope

 

Hang your holster or your tic tac pouch for camping.

 

Lots of opinions here... as usual on this site lol
The bolts are weak and I followed instructions. That’s all it is. Cool off everyone lol
I’m gonna get better bolts tomorrow. And thanks for the D-ring suggestions

 

And now the title is better

 

when does a screw become a bolt? I always assumed a nutted screw was a bolt, but metric and chit . . . .

 

Bolts have nuts, screws just go into the material they are holding

 

what is a bed stiffener? Pardon my ignorance?

 

Bed Stiffeners - What do they do? Do I need them?

 

Pro-tip for next time: remove the taillight and use vice grips to turn the bolt shaft out from the back. I snapped the head off my bolt too over tightening it during install.

 

Snapped mine too and had to drill it out of the factory screw holes. My fault though because I used an impact drill

 

I was able to reuse my tie downs with my bed stiffeners by buying a couple grade 9 bolts of the same diameter but a touch longer from the local hardware store. It kind of became a moot point after I installed my Decked system.

 

Not sure how you break a bolt a 10lb/ft. And why the hell would you waste time using a torque wrench for that? 95% of torque wrenches don't even go that low and if it's their lowest setting, they aren't accurate at it's lowest setting, and the click is barely noticeable. 10lb/ft? Just grab a 1/4" drive ratchet grip it in the palm of your hand and tighten it snug. That's closer to 10 lb/ft than a 1/2" torque wrench will ever get you.

 

Well, this is one answer:

 

Obv I broke a bolt, thats why I'm here. But I am noticing that it snapped probably because of the cross tension that was being put on the bolt. After it snapped I noticed that the stiffener bracket and the hole we not aligned. Is this because my bed has already warped?

I wouldn't think so as the truck is less than 4 months old. And I had a RTT on the rack for no more than a week before these stiffeners came in the mail.

Whats your take on this and how can I install the stiffeners without needing to muscle them into place lol

 

The definition that I go by is that a Screw is fully threaded and a Bolt has a shank / unthreaded portion.

 

You cannot tell me 10 lb-ft broke a bolt while our plastic oil filter housings are torqued to 18 lb-ft.

 

There can be many reasons for this:
-- Just a flawed screw or batch of screws. Heat treat, cracks, etc.
-- Gorilla torque. I tend to do this when not using a torque wrench.
-- The biggie is diameter of threads. Torque is developed as the threaded surface area deforms and contacts the mating surface. The threaded spiral and the material behind it is where the strength comes from. This is why male fasteners always break and nuts do not. The surface area of the cartridge threads are massive compared to an M6 fastener.

 

True that. I should have stated under normal conditions. I doubt bolts snapping at 10 lb-ft is a rampant issue.