What are bed stiffeners for......thanks

See a lot of posts and pics of different bed stiffeners.....
Would love a simple explanation of what they do
Have a 2010 DCSM , leveled with Bilstein 5100s, and no back end droop, BUT 218K

what to look for in a bed stiffeners and price......links appreciated.

 

Bed stiffeners are right angle shaped brackets that strengthen your bedsides so they dont bow outward from having a shell or roof top tent

i got total chaos bed stiffeners to prevent any potential bowing of the bedsides from the weight of my shell

i like the tc ones because they go up really high on the bedside, cost me $168 for the pair

 

A bed stiffener keeps the bed rails from bowing out if you have a lot of weight on them. For example, a heavy canopy or bed rack would put weight on the top of the rails, and the bed stiffeners help reinforce against that weight.

 

Bed stiffeners correct or prevent the sides of your bed from spreading apart. Heavy loads like campershells, roof top tents, and lumber racks can push the sides outward. Look for a gap at the sides of the closed tailgate that is wider at the top than the bottom.

 

Will a bed cover bow the sides?
Mines pretty heavy, and don’t know what previous owners did......I’m 3rd owner
Will look for gap......how bad is bad.....a dime, a penny

 

He’s not asking about bed stiffeners. He’s asking about bid stiffeners

 

I doubt a bed cover (tri fold?) would be heavy enough. If you tail gate opens and closes fine, i wouldnt worry about it man

 

Bid stiffeners help you drive a hard bargain.
There are many forms of Bid stiffeners.
Some like whiskey as a Bid stiffener.
Some prefer blow or similar hard stimulants.
I've heard from many seasoned sales staff if you mix the two, you give 0 F's and can talk up a storm while extracting maximum cash.

 

You can really tell if you need bed stiffeners by the gaps on either side of your tailgate. I had a heavy wildernest camper on my truck for ~6 years and it gaped it out about 3/8” more at the top compared to the bottom on each side. The fiberglass bed doesn’t offer much structural support against those forces, basically the latch pins are the only things holding it together

 

I have an Undecover, one piece , fiberglass top......love it......BUT it was heavy enough to affect my “leveling” the truck withBilsteins 5100s all around.
The lift gate opens and closes, no problem , but has a gap, so previous owner had something heavy.

 

Thanks to TW “family” for replying

 

Did bed stiffeners correct your gap? I'm realizing reading this thread that the weird gaps at the top of my bed and tailgate are possibly from the bed having bowed in the past. I thought maybe it was a Tacoma oddity. Tailgate works fine still.

 

Any links to bed stiffeners that are worth the money

 

sometimes yes, sometimes no. If not you can pull them in with a come along before installing stiffeners. The U-shape of truck tailgates has alway been prone to this and if you look inside the rear corners there’s surprisingly little reinforcement, just enough to hang the bed walls and tail lights. The heavy metal is limited to the frame rails. I have a cap w/bars and carry loads often enough for it to be a concern so I got a set locally(no longer available due to alleged infringement issues) and have not seen any changes in the gaps. You have to decide for yourself if they’re worth it or even do anything but it’s cheap insurance and some have beerness notches.

 

TC (total chaos) mentioned above

 

I used a come-a-long to get the sides back square before installing. The other plus was that I moved the d-rings where the stiffeners mount up to the front of the bed

 

And they're almost worth it just for the extra tie-down spots you get

 

I was overly excited when my wife told me she ordered bed stiffeners but was letdown when I found out the install was for our squeaky wooden bed.

 

Another vote for TCs, they are functional and well designed. It’s really just a heavy angle bracket...they’re hard to see here. Three bolts up the side and two across the bottom, you loose a bed d-ring but gain a few extra tie-down points.