'04 Tacoma Beer Can Sheetmetal

After stepping on the back of my open tailgate for the first time I noticed slight dent in the sheetmetal. I was wearing tennis shoes at the time and it felt like stepping on a beer can. Disappointing to see such thin metal used to construct these things.

Reply to
Steve
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Sorry, but they can't use 1" steel boiler-plate everywhere or the vehicle would soon be too heavy to get out of it's own way - and it would destroy the Fleet CAFE (fuel economy) ratings. (I had an International Scout - it was solid as a rock, but that much solid also meant that little cornbinder was rather heavy for it's size.)

If you are going to be putting point loads on the tailgate all the time, they make rubber mats that fasten to the tailgate to spread out the loads. Or use 1/2" - 3/4" exterior plywood to protect the bed.

Or you can get a piece of heavy 1/8" 6061 aluminum plate cut and rivet/screw it to the inside of the gate. I was going to say aluminum diamond-tread plate, but that's hard on the knees...

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

Pretty messed up, truck, tailgate, tinfoil. Be super careful with the tail gate, my buddy's tailgate barely works, because one of the bigger guys stood on it. It makes no since why they can't give just a little more strength to a part of the truck that will see weight and abuse.

Reply to
Jody

What do you weight?

Tom

Reply to
tflfb

My snowmobile buckled mine.

Reply to
Brad P

Most motorcycle ramps I've seen use the tailgate as part of the ramp. I suppose that's taboo now...

Reply to
TOM
165 lbs.
Reply to
Steve

Reply to
Ellis Villafuerte

Huh? How can a spray-on bedliner strengthen sheetmetal? Certainly, the plastic bedliners with ribbed sections can distribute a load and thereby provide some additional strength to the body panels but not so with the spray-on application. I can't think of any aftermarket product worse for a new truck.

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Reply to
Steve

I have hauled rocks with my 04 Tacoma with line-x, and used a loader from about

3 feet above the bed to load 1000 pounds of this stuff with no bed damage. I would think doing that to a bare bed would dent it somewhat, even with a plastic bedliner installed on it.

I have stepped on my tail gate a number of times to unload what I was hauling, and when sweeping the bed afterwards. I was wearing Timberland hiking boots. No damage. I weigh 190 lbs.

Steve wrote:

Reply to
Ellis Villafuerte

Same here. We have been hauling lots of heavy furniture in the past week, with large men up and down on it, and no problem. We do have a Toyota factory installed liner, so don't know it that makes a difference or not.

Cheri

Reply to
Cheri

No offense Ellis but your claim defies logic. Are you selling a spray-on product.

Reply to
Steve

Cheri, The difference between the liner offered by the factory and aftermarket spray-on types is exactly the difference discussed. Spray-on products are merely coatings to the bed. While offering some protection from scrapes and rust that may follow, it doesn't add much to the structural strength of the sheetmetal. However, the plastic bedliners that I've seen including those offered by Toyota have ribs molded into them that distribute the load over the sheetmetal thereby reducing the potential for dents.

Reply to
Steve

Drop in liners provide better protection against dropping heavy objects, yeah, but only to dent protection. They rub, warp, scratch the bejesus out of the bed's paint, wearing it bear, causing it to rust. Some protection. Of the two most popular spray on liners, Line-X and Rhino, Line-X is harder and provides better scratch resistance than Rhino.

Also spray > Cheri,

Reply to
Wet Nap

Makes perfect sense to me. Actually, I don't use a plastic drop-in bedliner. After looking at many types of bed protection products I chose the carpeted bedliner made by Bedrug. It seems to be the best suited for my needs. It hasn't been installed yet but after an earlier suggestion I plan to also use a plastic cover on the tailgate. I might also get one of those rubber mats to use when transporting items that might tend to move around in the bed.

I hear you on the plastic bedliners wearing off the paint but that's exactly what is done for preparation to install the spray-on products. So much for the original finish. As an alternative, I ran across a product that is installed between the drop-in bedliner and the bed to eliminate the problem of the bedliner wearing away the paint. I don't know how effective it is but that seems to be a solution.

Reply to
Steve

My bro-in-law has the carpeted bedliner in his Toyota (don't know the brand) but he loves it, and told me I should have had it put in instead of the plastic liner, but I hadn't even heard of them until after having the other one installed, so it's what I have for now.

Cheri

Reply to
Cheri

No offense taken. It is what is called empirical data, as opposed to theorical. It happened, so if it defies logic, then the logic must be flawed (no offense to you).

I'm not selling or promoting this stuff. I just thought it might help you with your dented sheetmetal issue.

By the way, I'm an electrical engineer by profession.

I have also owned a 1985 Toyota SR-5 longbed with a bedliner. Not only did the bed on that thing rust after a few years, I also saw a few dents when I decided to look under the liner one day.

Ellis

Steve wrote:

Reply to
Ellis Villafuerte

Great to see that we can respectfully agree to disagree here. Just so happens that my profession is mechanical engineering. At least that's where my undergraduate schooling lies. BTW, were you the guy that put together that informal study on oil filters?

As for the damage caused by drop-in bedliners, I have seen what you are talking about. Not pretty. I suppose what it comes down to is that there is no perfect solution to protecting a pickup bed for all situations. My truck is not really a work truck and will only be used for occassional hauling. So, I'm hoping that a Bedrug will suffice. Time will only tell.

in

Reply to
Steve

Spray in will help a little, but not a lot. The tailgates are just too damm weak, but then, all new trucks have weak tailgates.

Reply to
Jody

I had to put my two cents in here. I put Rhino on my bed (98 Tacoma) about a year after I bought it. I weigh about 250. Before the Rhino lining, I had hauled motorcycles and gas cans and such and sustained pretty sizeable dents to the ribs in the bed. Didn't have much of a problem with the tailgate when loading the bikes. After the Rhino, I could safely stand a bike on its kickstand ON one of the ribs in the bed and not receive a dent.

I agree that it is not logical that the spray on could distribute the load to the point of protecting against dents, but I believe that it has saved me from utterly destroying my bed.

-Erik

Reply to
ToyTaco

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