Bedside separation?

[AggroCrag]

I'm sure some of you have seen that a couple of companies are making bedside supports or "straighteners" for Tacomas. I'm aware that over a long period of time that bedsides can begin to "bulge" or separate a bit, and I'm wondering with the addition of all the camper shells, and RTT's that we are prone to mount on our trucks these days, are any of you seeing any movement of your bed rails? Would it be worth while to get a set of these custom fabbed? or better yet, does anyone make them for the frontier?

TIA

 

[BobsCreek]

Following

 

[fortel]

I've had a Leer shell on my Frontier since getting it new in 2012 and have had no problems. Never did either when running shells on a Ford Ranger and two different F150s. I wonder if its mainly an issue with the composite beds on the Tacos?

 

[DaveInDenver]

My old '91 was starting to split at a spot welded seams in the rear of the bed. I took some photos but can't seem to find them now. It was due to the weight and extra force my WilderNest put on them, which have a pair of springs to prevent the top from slamming shut. When the lid is closed there's a force pushing the rear door to widen. The opening was held closed only by the tailgate after 25 years and there was a visible gap.

I have not gotten around to installing the 'Nest or bed side stiffeners on my Tacoma, but I do have a topper on it and haven't (yet) seen any indication that the beds want to open. I do plan to install something, the rear opening on pickup beds has been a weak spot since pickup beds have existed.

It can be exacerbated from particular uses but even if you never put on a topper or carry stuff against the walls it's still a huge unsupported void that moves with bed flex. My $0.02 is it can't hurt if you actually use your truck bed. I can't say one way or the other that it's due to the composite inner bed. It's plenty stiff but perhaps being a bolted rather than a welded arrangement it does factor in. The Toyota beds from '79 to '88 weren't welded double walls but my '91 was a true double wall bed, so I dunno.

ETA photos.

You can kind of see the way the gap opens from bottom to top:


It was cracking up under the bed rail and you can see the way the rail was buckling (this is where I bolted on a 1/4" strap to reinforce, BTW):

 

[broncobowsher]

I need to look at the Toyota tailgate latches. But most trucks use the tailgate as a bedside stiffener. The way the latch locks onto the bedside it supports it.

I remember 20+ years ago there were bed side stiffeners that were recommended if you were to run with the tailgate removed.