FWC mounting bars for 1st gen Tacoma?

[KLillie]

For those with Eagles or smaller FWCs in 1st gens, how are the campers attached to the bed? Can someone with a FWC in a 1st gen show me what the mounting bars look like in the bed if that is how you have them attached? I'm thinking I will probably have to fabricate something incase I can ever find an Eagle.

 

[Wildcat]

1st gen Tacoma's use the standard eyebolts at all 4 corners because it has a steel bed. Later gens use mounting bars across the bed because the beds are a composite plastic material. For eyebolt reinforcement under the bed I used some rectangular thick aluminum pieces that are drilled for the size of the eyebolt and go under the bed to minimize pull-through by spreading the stress over a wider area compared to a standard washer on the end of the bolt.

I think FWC might have a pre-fab kit also includes aluminum pieces to put under the "elevator bolts" that are bolted in the camper. Those elevator bolts will already be on the camper you buy, but the aluminum pieces are recommended to minimize any pull-through of the wood in the camper where they are mounted. Sorry, no pics as the camper is mounted, but I'm sure there's several threads on this topics that might have pics.

FYI - posting and searching the Four Wheel Camper sub-forum on this subject will probably result in several responses.

 

[jasper]

Yep, Wildcat is spot on. You can buy the kit from FWC and install yourself. I recently did this on my truck — it was fairly straight forward. Mildly frustrating at times getting everything bolted together just due to tight quarters on the underside of the bed, but only an hour or so worth of work. I think the eye bolt and plate kit ran about $100 from FWC.

They have this video that walks you through it, too: