Bed damage

[Randy Hinebaugh]

Who has damaged the bed of their ST and how? I'm mainly looking for damage to the side/front walls of the bed, top of the bed, and tailgate. I'm trying to rig a way to carry two motorcycles in the bed, but I'm looking for any weak points in the bed itself. Let me know what broke, how it broke, and what you did to fix/reinforce.



Thanks.

 

[Bill Ellis]

I don't recall, in two years of reading this board every day, anyone saying anything about damaging the truck bed; short of a accident. The stuff is very tough and I know that loads of dirt, rock, wood, trash and anything else we've been trowing in the back doesn't seem to hurt it [not counting minor scratches].

 

[shawn stonbraker 2]

Ditto Bill. I haven't heard of anything besides an accident breaking the bed. I've seen ALOT of pics that had alot of different stuff that I wouldn't even have thought of hauling in the bed, being hauled with no problems. I say go for it with no worries. What kind of bikes are you hauling?

 

[Heather inOC]

I've got plenty of scratches in my bed, but the only real damage I've done is punch a couple holes/gashes in the liner on the tailgate when it was down. That was just plain stupidity on my part (for letting my dad borrow my truck )



-Heather in OC

 

[Fudged Undies]

Well here's the first posting of this happening. I have managed to crack the composite bed. I cracked at the front of the bed. How? With steel 2x3 tubing. Had a piece of tubing and it had to go in the bed under the tonneau. I was just a bit to long to fit properly and I could not place it diagonally due to other stuff back there. As I was closing the tailgate, I realized it was too long but there was some play in the wall of the bed or in the tailgate and I managed to get it shut. Don't know how long it took to break but that was the result. Never posted because it was my fault and it wasn't from doing anything conventional.

 

[Mike Valvardi]

I have holes from a pitchfork in the wheel wells.

 

[Randy Hinebaugh]

Thanks for the input (or lack of input being a good sign). The front of the bed seems to flex a little bit, especially when I put the motorcycle straps on tight, and I'm trying to figure out if I need to brace the front of the bed. Maybe a strip of aluminum angle bolted to the front of the bed would give the rigidity I need, plus a place to put a center anchor point. Also, when loading big dirtbikes straight on, the bottom of the rear tire is pretty close to the edge of the tailgate. I don't want to over stress the tailgate. Someone elses logic to me was that the ST's tailgate is the same as is on some F150's, so it's pretty strong. Makes sense but I still want to be sure.

 

[Chad Merry]

I have put motorcycles in my ST all the time even put 2 bikes in the back. The bed holds up very well. No cracks or anything. Oh the bikes I haul are dirt bikes too. But a street would not be any different.

 

[Chops]

The bed should haul small bikes fine, just don't put anything heavy on the tailgate.

I've had the tailgate apart - there's not much to it and it is structurally weak.



I've seen a couple F150 tailgates bent in the middle from heavy Harleys that 'bounced' due to road dips.

 

[Randy Hinebaugh]

Thanks, chops. That's kind of what I was looking for. Dirt bikes weigh around 220-250 pounds, and when strapped down by the front forks some of the weight is taken off the rear. I'm guessing 100 pounds max per bike on the rear tire. Plus if i'm hauling 2 bikes, each will be over to the side far enough to prevent too much bending force in the tailgate. Hopefully I can avoid bending it in the middle. If I'm hauling one bike, it goes in at an angle and I've done that enough to know that it's OK.