andrewleader
Member
- First Name
- Andrew
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2024
- Threads
- 6
- Messages
- 15
- Reaction score
- 28
- Location
- Washington State
- Vehicle(s)
- 2024 Tacoma Off-Road 5' Automatic with Stabilizer Dsconnect
- Thread starter
- #1
I just installed the Rago Fabrication bed stiffeners on my 2024 Tacoma TRD Off Road. I chose these because they seemed to go the tallest and also the lowest with where they bolted in, so hopefully they're the strongest, and they also had a bracket tab system that didn't require rivots or any other fancy tools (except a step-bit drill for drilling the 3/4" hole which is standard for any stiffeners that require drilling, and drilling is the only way to actually add substantial strength, even the non-drill ones recommend drilling if you need more strength).
Overall rating: 3/5.
The right side stiffener was problematic... the brackets kept on spinning while tightening the bolts. All three brackets were like this for some reason. I had to remove the brake light (which not needing to remove the brake light was one of the benefits of this one) and I had to figure out how to hold the brackets while screwing.
The middle one was relatively easy to brace from spinning, since the access hole is right there. But the top and bottom ones were quite challenging (~10 mins) because they don't have any sizeable access holes. For the bottom one, I was able to stick a wrench through the big hole and down and pin it against the sidewall to brace the bracket while tightening the bolt. For the top one, I was able to use an allen wrench and stick it up through a tiny hole and pinned it against the bracket while tightening.
Also, they sent the wrong color/style bolts, they were supposed to be sleeker black button-head bolts, but they sent these gold hex bolts. The color isn't super important to me (I'll be building a truck interior that'll probably cover all of this), they offered to send replacement bolts and brackets for free, but given how much of a pain it is to get this one side on was, I don't think I'd swap the bolts.
Would I buy them again? Maybe. I did like that they went the highest and lowest with their bolts, but it was kinda frustrating that their brackets didn't brace correctly, and also not great quality control sending the wrong color/style bolts.
Overall rating: 3/5.
The right side stiffener was problematic... the brackets kept on spinning while tightening the bolts. All three brackets were like this for some reason. I had to remove the brake light (which not needing to remove the brake light was one of the benefits of this one) and I had to figure out how to hold the brackets while screwing.
The middle one was relatively easy to brace from spinning, since the access hole is right there. But the top and bottom ones were quite challenging (~10 mins) because they don't have any sizeable access holes. For the bottom one, I was able to stick a wrench through the big hole and down and pin it against the sidewall to brace the bracket while tightening the bolt. For the top one, I was able to use an allen wrench and stick it up through a tiny hole and pinned it against the bracket while tightening.
Also, they sent the wrong color/style bolts, they were supposed to be sleeker black button-head bolts, but they sent these gold hex bolts. The color isn't super important to me (I'll be building a truck interior that'll probably cover all of this), they offered to send replacement bolts and brackets for free, but given how much of a pain it is to get this one side on was, I don't think I'd swap the bolts.
Would I buy them again? Maybe. I did like that they went the highest and lowest with their bolts, but it was kinda frustrating that their brackets didn't brace correctly, and also not great quality control sending the wrong color/style bolts.
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