Turf Tamer
Full Access Member
Recently had the pleasure of doing business with the Outlaw guys and had them fab me a set of custom bed braces.
After the RPG SEMA run I noticed my bed sides had begun to spread near the top rear leaving a uneven gap from top to bottom while the tailgate was closed. This gap also prevented the rear panel of my Bak F1 from catching the rails and locking in place which caused it to bounce up and down while on the trails.
Gap caused by the bed spread
I brought the issue to light after the run and found it was a semi common issue. I also discovered a product to correct and prevent this was not available. I made a temporary setup to fix my alignment issues using a ratchet strap and some I-bolts to hold me over until a permanent solution was found.
Temp fix, works well but is unpractical if you use the bed regularly.
Spoke with Conner, told him what I wanted and this is what they came up with.
Install was done at Outlaw, it took about 2 hours, but this included time to fab the backing plates. This was also a one off item so it takes some time. My existing setup came in handy as it allowed us to pull the sides in and tighten the heims up. We actually had to pull the bed rails in farther than we wanted and tighten up the heims so that when we released the strap bed would settle in the desired location. This was not a issue with the brace, but was due to the thin walls of the bed deforming and bending.
A week after the initial instal I made a bigger set of backing plates that helped correct the bending/deforming issues.
old backing plate top new on bottom.
Overall I am very happy with the product as a whole and the service I received. I have no idea if this will go into production, but if it does I would recommend the rod be made out of a hex or square bar to allow the use of a wrench to tighten the brace (mine is hands only, but I have the strap and I-bolt setup to compensate) and make the backing plate larger like the one I made.
I will update this thread in the future once I get some dirt miles on this setup.
Thanks again Outlaw, Hope this helps out those with similar issues.
After the RPG SEMA run I noticed my bed sides had begun to spread near the top rear leaving a uneven gap from top to bottom while the tailgate was closed. This gap also prevented the rear panel of my Bak F1 from catching the rails and locking in place which caused it to bounce up and down while on the trails.
Gap caused by the bed spread
I brought the issue to light after the run and found it was a semi common issue. I also discovered a product to correct and prevent this was not available. I made a temporary setup to fix my alignment issues using a ratchet strap and some I-bolts to hold me over until a permanent solution was found.
Temp fix, works well but is unpractical if you use the bed regularly.
Spoke with Conner, told him what I wanted and this is what they came up with.
Install was done at Outlaw, it took about 2 hours, but this included time to fab the backing plates. This was also a one off item so it takes some time. My existing setup came in handy as it allowed us to pull the sides in and tighten the heims up. We actually had to pull the bed rails in farther than we wanted and tighten up the heims so that when we released the strap bed would settle in the desired location. This was not a issue with the brace, but was due to the thin walls of the bed deforming and bending.
A week after the initial instal I made a bigger set of backing plates that helped correct the bending/deforming issues.
old backing plate top new on bottom.
Overall I am very happy with the product as a whole and the service I received. I have no idea if this will go into production, but if it does I would recommend the rod be made out of a hex or square bar to allow the use of a wrench to tighten the brace (mine is hands only, but I have the strap and I-bolt setup to compensate) and make the backing plate larger like the one I made.
I will update this thread in the future once I get some dirt miles on this setup.
Thanks again Outlaw, Hope this helps out those with similar issues.
