2006 Tacoma Bracket Sketch showing dimensions

[flyingm11]

Has anyone manufactured their own "tacoma bracket" to be bolted onto the composite bed? I have a 2006 tacoma access cab, and a 2002 eagle. I realize I can buy these for $300 for FWC, however, I have a buddy good with steel who can make them for me for free. I was curious if anyone has a "sketch" or dwg that shows the exact specs for the bracket? How big does the hole need to be, what angle does the bracket need to bend, etc. etc. I can probably take a stab at it and come close, but thought someone may have been through this once before... Thanks for any help!

 

[pods8]

Here's some threads on the subject to read through and get ideas. I don't believe anyone has published the exact dims you are looking for though (this first has some sizing info) so you'll likely need to get your sketch pad and tape measure out.

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=618

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?/topic/2162/

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?/topic/3288/page__st__10

 

[Overland Hadley]

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=618

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?/topic/2162/

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/index.php?/topic/3288/page__st__10



Best info that I know of.

I do know that they changed the brackets after a couple years. They are much beefier now.

 

[gandhii]

I recently did with my dad for my tacoma 2007 2wd 4banger. FWC guys were very helpful in emailing me photos and descriptions to go from. We decided to use 0.1875" thick 2.5" straps of steel 5 feet long. Real simple construction. Just had to measure where the holes for the bolts should be and then put a couples holes on the ends where the turnbukles hook. Then heat with torch and hammer. Be sure to let cool before testing it in the truck bed. You'll also want to do all drilling before you bend. Another thing to note is that the bolts are 0.5" diameter and that we drilled our holes at 0.75" to accomadate our imperfections. You will then probably want to grind off any ugly edges and add a couple layers of anti-rust spray paint.

One thing I'd do differently is to have added spacers between the bracket and bed, perhaps a stack of washers? I didn't and when I tightened them down they bent and flexed. It works... but not as pretty. The hardest thing was installing them. Those bed bolts are on really tight. The bolts use a Torx t55 bit (look on amazon, lowes doesn't have this size), but a couple of the bolts were at risk of getting chewed out using that bit and still weren't budging. The day before leaving our pressman thought to use vice grips. he stand on them to keep it from slipping off and I pulled. Thankfully it worked like a dream. The bolts then get screwed back on to 60-65 foot pounds (according to dealer). Which is about the same thing as tight as you can get nt. Note that the nuts underneath are spot welded to the frame, so don't worry about them. The steel cost me $43.. and the torx bit set with the t55 and torgue wrench cost me around $60.. not counting completely unrelated tools that I bought for the fun of it.

Thats the gist of it. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[flyingm11]

Thanks everyone for all the help. All the good advice on this site is hard to beat!