Hello all, I have a problem with a crack at the rear posts of the truck bed. In the first attached image you can see the crack in the lower right corner of the picture just above the hinge. The previous owner tried to fix them by welding a piece of angle iron to the post and bed but it didnt hold at the bed so I drilled a couple holes and tried bolting it down. It has worked on one side but the other side has cracked under the bed between the bolts and onward to the edge forming a L (see second attached pic). Any ideas for bracing this better?

 

IMHO get a new bed, once these crack the are hard to stop. has the truck run for long periods of time with no tailgate?

 

I never ran without a tailgate but have no idea about the previous owner. Ive only had it for 3k so far. I re-shimed the gate due to there being none when I bought it so its possible the gate was just added. Could of had it stored for some reason and tossed it on to sell truck. Didnt see any signs of 5th wheel with liner off. Bed was well used though. Another bed is an option but fixing this one would be a ideal soloution.

 

Friend of mine had the same problem. He ran strap iron across the whole bed and up the sides. Seemed to hold up pretty well.

 

The cracks in these areas usually come from running with no tailgate.. In my experanice with this you can repair it by adding bracing in the places you mentioned. By doing this though you will remove the stress on one area of metal and place it some where else thus creating more cracking.


Ive seen brace jobs last for years and ive also seen beds that started like yours but the owner ended up welding/repair em every 3-4 months.

 

Hi,

Just a thought from reading your post - have you tried drillng holes at the end of the cracks ? This is done to prevent cracks from continuing to migrate. It is standard procedure - certainly with thicker material. i don't know how it would work with what is essentially sheet metal. The time to weld is after drilling the holes

Don't know if it will do anything in your situation, but it is worth a shot if you haven't done that.

mariner

 

maybe rivet some sheetmetal bracing to it

 

I can see how that could work olddodge. The bolt washers under the bed look to be doing more bad than good because of the small area the washers cover.

 

It looks to be whats happening now rednek. My repair just caused it to spread out the damage.

 

I think its to late to stop the crack by drilling mariner, they are to the edge on one side and another hole would look to just weaken it further.

 

That is the disadvantage of the sheetmetal on these beds. Also if you drive somewhat rough roads it will only add to the problems.

 

Hope this helps. But if You look under the bed where it's broke you will find some broken spot welds. This is why when you weld the crack it just keeps coming back. You can also try gas welding the sheet metal after you have drilled holes in the ends of the cracks. Back before wire feeders were so comonplace al sheet metal and exhaust was gas welded. (with a oxy-acetelene torch) You can also gas weld a broken spot weld. Bill

 

Not only does this type of damage come from no tailgate but also binding down loads that move with the hooks in the rear of the bed or the stake slots.

 

Mine broke as well, look under the bed, and remove the tail light mine was broken in there and it was broken where yours is as well. Mine has a pipe rack and a screen tail gate, and I at times carry 1400# on the rack, so it stresses the bed sides