WACTD

The 2006's have four tiedowns in the bed - one at each corner near the bed floor. They look like dock cleats, with two screws each. Just how strong are these tiedown points? Are they strong enough to use with ratchet straps to secure a heavy load, like a full-size ATV (~800 pounds)?

Until recently I had been running ratchet straps to the oval holes near the top of the bed walls at each corner, the ones next to the stake holes on the bed rail. However, I apparently need to secure my ATV's **down** as well as **out**, since while driving down a very bumpy road yesterday my ATV shifted forward and smashed my rear window. [growl]

I haven't really trusted those "cleats" because their screws don't look all that strong, but I definitely need something low in the bed. But maybe they're good enough. Opinions?

TJAR66

I use them to haul my ATV but it is only 400#'s and never had a problem.

carcrz

They're plastic, so I wouldn't go wrenching down on them too much. What I have done in the past is take off the tailgate & put one strap onto the receiver. This keeps it from going forward. Then I hook the back to the stake pockets. Make sure when you crank down on everything that you put as much weight as possible on that side so it doesn't have any give in the shocks / springs. Also use lots of straps if you are taking the tailgate off (just in case something goes wrong).

NHdodgeman

The actual cleat part is pretty strong, although yes it is still a piece of plastic so I dont trust it to much. The only problems I have had securing my motorcycle(400ish lbs.) was the actual bolts that hold the cleat in worked loose. This has happened to me on a couple different occasions.

WACTD

That's my fear, as well - that the screws (or the threaded inserts they're in) aren't all that strong. I'm starting to think I need to drill and mount my OWN tiedowns in the bed... something that is attached directly to the frame, or at least to a couple layers of bed sheet metal.

Smokeman

I use those 4 tie downs to secure my quad deck utilizing turnbuckles. Ihave loaded the quads from the back and side and never had a problem with them.

XLR8R

The cleats themselves are made of an engineered phenolic-type plastic that is pretty strong - even the ears would be tough to break. The mounting points themselves for the bolts aren't going to pull the threads out!

I wouldn't tow anything with the cleats, but I don't think you could easily break them with a tie-down ratchet unless you were the gorilla at Dodge/Cummins that tightens down the oil filters.....

bkrukow

Before I replaced my factory plastic ones with D loops I regularly tied my ATVs to them with no problems. You wont break them whith a small rachet strap holding an ATV in the box. I had a budie of mine build a rack for the box to put 2 ATVs on and I dident trust them to hold that so I bought D ring loops to bolt on to the factory locations. The bolt holes where not a mach so I just redrilled the D loop mounting bracket to mach. $10-$15 and 1/2 hour of work and now I have a tie down I trust with what ever I may need to tie down.

Jus Cruisin

I haul a motorcycle in the bed using the just using front tiedowns...never any problems. I've done it that way running from Florida to Michigan and back.

I've never had anyone mention a tiedown failure and I work at a motorcycle dealer and see bikes and ATV's hauled in beds all the time using the factory tiedowns.

ptgarcia

I use the front 2 "cleats" to hold my 1200-lb golf cart in the bed. I have 2 heavy duty ratchet straps, the 4" or so wide yellow ones, one on each side holding the cart in. So far no problems.

35" 05'

i know we have towed some pretty heavy stuff with our cleats on our boats and if they held im sure these will hold

OR4ster

I have used those cleats to tie an ATV in with and worked well. Tailgate down due to toolbox in the front of the bed, and grinding up some steep, gravel washboard roads. The tie-down gets tight with the bike weight on it, but no failures. I did go to the heavier 2" webbed rachet strap though, not the small 1" types most people use.

I also haul a 75-gal. water tank around during the summer and was concerned keeping that weight tied down 24/7. I found some tie-downs at GI Joe's that are a fairly heavy bolt with a cast ring on top. I mounted them through the bed floor at all four corners near the stock tie-downs. I added heavier washers on the bottom side to help prevent them pulling through the floor, although if you were in a wreck bad enough for that to happen, the tank or ATV leaving would be the least of your worries!! They are unique in that once installed, the ring has a smaller-diameter stud that screws down into the main body, so the ring screws out and you install a plastic plug that keeps the dirt out. I thought them real clever!

BigDave12768

They will easily hold 800 pounds. I drove around with my old MM1 Snowplow in the back of my truck for 2 weeks. I used 2 inch straps with ratchets to hold the plow in. I only used the back 2 ears they held perfect. Do not worry about an 800 pound atv

WACTD

The stock cleats are held in by two ~1/4 inch diameter, ~2.5 inch long screws. These screw down into a pair of threaded inserts that are backed by a separate C-channel behind the bed sheet metal. The whole set up is actually rather stout, better than I expected.

I'm going to look for some surface-mount D-rings (hopefully in stainless) that have mounting centers the same as, or close to, the cleats. That will distribute the force across a larger surface area within the bed. (The backing plate already does that on the outside of the bed.) Then some high-grade panhead screws and blue Loctite should resolve the matter. Not quite as strong as screwing directly to the frame, but it should suffice for sub-1000 pound loads.

Finally, my window is being replaced today. ~$350 if done by the dealer, $281 when done by the same glass company that the dealer subs all their glass work to. Aftermarket window with single slider, 20% grey tint (aka "privacy" or "solar"), virtually identical to the original. The Mopar OEM slider window was nearly $700, and not even the dealer was recommending it.

Thanks for all the feedback!

SOhappy

That happened to me too! Truck was 3 weeks old .

I now take the front bumper off the quad (it's a '00 Sportsman 500, just 4 screws) before loading, seems to have solved the problem.