Major Problems with Bed of Truck - how to fix?
Having some major problems with my truck bed. The problems never end. I have probably put 150,000 miles on with this truck camper in the bed. But, I don’t know that this should be happening. The bed is crushing. The bumps are just too much for it.
could anyone describe to me the best way to shore up this truck bed so that it will work? It’s held up by flimsy sheet-metal. The flimsy sheet metal is crushing.
all of the problems are on the passenger side. These problems make the truck camper lean to the Passenger side.
Looking for pointers on how to fix this. Story below with pictures.
Background: Dodge Cummins 2500. Very tricked out for the weight. Special rims, special tires, airbags, extra leaf springs, performance tuning computer, Exhaust brake. Manual transmission. You name it. It has everything.
Problem: The passenger side of the bed is collapsing. It has been for a very long time. I have shored up here and there and gone tens of thousands of miles, and then had to do some more work, and tens of thousands of miles more.
Question: what kind of beefy solution can I do that will transfer this weight to the frame? Obviously, a new bed will not work because it will just crush the same way this one did. I need heavy duty reinforcements to transfer the load to the frame. How would you go about this?
Story:
Here you can see the drivers side of the bed. It looks normal. Everything is good over there. Slight indentation in the bed, but not a big deal. Everything is still supported properly.
next, here is the passenger side of the bed. Not looking quite as good. A huge sag. The bed is bending. And you can see the area the truck camper touches. It is significantly lower than the proper level of the bed. This causes the truck camper to lean to this side.
Here we are looking again at the driver’s side. Underneath, I have lost both things that they call a Tower. The tower is the thing that holds the bed up in the front. It attaches the bed to the frame and takes the load of whatever you have in the bed. I have replaced the tower with some blocking and some metal straps. I did this on both passenger and the driver side. Note that in this picture, there is a good portion of the tower left. The 2 x 4 block is what I put in. I also put some straps that go around the tower and up to the bed along with the rubber spacers. And all new hardware because the bolts sheared before.. This will look a little bit more clear on the next picture which is the passenger side.
This is the same tower area on the passenger side. Noticed there is no more tower at all. This one completely collapsed and fell apart. I attempted to hold it up with the metal straps. And the 2 x 4. But it looks like the metal straps have given away. The 2 x 4 seems to be holding at least. Notice how badly the cheap sheet metal beam is crushing.
This picture is the sheet metal beam toward the aft end of the truck. By the rear bumper. This is also supposed to hold the weight. Notice it is crushing and bending.
Next up, are some pictures of the bed itself and what is happening to the sheet metal because of all of the deformation underneath.
So what do I do to fix this?
Looking for constructive help. Not “buy a new truck.”
could anyone describe to me the best way to shore up this truck bed so that it will work? It’s held up by flimsy sheet-metal. The flimsy sheet metal is crushing.
all of the problems are on the passenger side. These problems make the truck camper lean to the Passenger side.
Looking for pointers on how to fix this. Story below with pictures.
Background: Dodge Cummins 2500. Very tricked out for the weight. Special rims, special tires, airbags, extra leaf springs, performance tuning computer, Exhaust brake. Manual transmission. You name it. It has everything.
Problem: The passenger side of the bed is collapsing. It has been for a very long time. I have shored up here and there and gone tens of thousands of miles, and then had to do some more work, and tens of thousands of miles more.
Question: what kind of beefy solution can I do that will transfer this weight to the frame? Obviously, a new bed will not work because it will just crush the same way this one did. I need heavy duty reinforcements to transfer the load to the frame. How would you go about this?
Story:
Here you can see the drivers side of the bed. It looks normal. Everything is good over there. Slight indentation in the bed, but not a big deal. Everything is still supported properly.
next, here is the passenger side of the bed. Not looking quite as good. A huge sag. The bed is bending. And you can see the area the truck camper touches. It is significantly lower than the proper level of the bed. This causes the truck camper to lean to this side.
Here we are looking again at the driver’s side. Underneath, I have lost both things that they call a Tower. The tower is the thing that holds the bed up in the front. It attaches the bed to the frame and takes the load of whatever you have in the bed. I have replaced the tower with some blocking and some metal straps. I did this on both passenger and the driver side. Note that in this picture, there is a good portion of the tower left. The 2 x 4 block is what I put in. I also put some straps that go around the tower and up to the bed along with the rubber spacers. And all new hardware because the bolts sheared before.. This will look a little bit more clear on the next picture which is the passenger side.
This is the same tower area on the passenger side. Noticed there is no more tower at all. This one completely collapsed and fell apart. I attempted to hold it up with the metal straps. And the 2 x 4. But it looks like the metal straps have given away. The 2 x 4 seems to be holding at least. Notice how badly the cheap sheet metal beam is crushing.
This picture is the sheet metal beam toward the aft end of the truck. By the rear bumper. This is also supposed to hold the weight. Notice it is crushing and bending.
Next up, are some pictures of the bed itself and what is happening to the sheet metal because of all of the deformation underneath.
So what do I do to fix this?
Looking for constructive help. Not “buy a new truck.”
