🔧 Enhance Stability: Tacoma Rear Channel Bed Stiffeners (2016+) Review

Out of the box they are packed very well. The welds are in place, good hardware is included and the powder coating looks good. Bed braces usually require a machine to be installed when drilling your bed, but they went through with no problems. My taco is only a few months old so everything was smooth. This will remain the case for many years to come.

This product was recommended to me by another Toyota owner. I knew I was going to put a topper on my Tacoma, so it made sense to be proactive rather than reactive. It's awesome. The bed is good and hard. With the weight of a topper and sometimes a kayak or SUP, I know the integrity of the bed is good. Works fantastic as there is space to tie on a fuel can.

I use my 2020 Tacoma Long Bed to haul trash, firewood etc and I bought them for our new rooftop tent and bed frames. When I installed the left side everything was fine, then the right side came and the bed sagged. These bed braces pulled the sides inward, making them vertical and stiff. I slept well on the truck knowing they were there doing their job.

Sent back and ordered the correct ones direct from the manufacturer for less than what they sell on Amazon. They are advertised as 2016+ but are not suitable for 2018+ due to the changed bed height. Still a great product but I would recommend ordering direct from the manufacturer so you get exactly what you need for your vehicle. As always, there are no problems with a return. I'm pretty sure it was just a bug in the system. Nobody is perfect, not even the internet.

Installed it on my 3rd gen Tacoma after reading horror stories about bed walls warping. Seems to have reinforced the bed a bit, but they weren't easy to install. Well, one side went as smooth as can be. The other side doesn't. I haven't decided if the fault was with the bracket or the truck, but I had to modify the bracket to fit a Torx thru-bolt. Installation issues aside, they're pretty solid, and even if the bed doesn't need reinforcement, I now have extra mounting points.

So anyone looking to buy stiffeners for their Tacoma will immediately see that there is plenty to choose from. About $80 a set on average, good value for money. I chose Total Chaos because of the respected Off-Road name and the rib design that follows the contour of the bodywork to stay taller than all of the competition's products. I have an SR5 long bed which may be at greater risk of sagging than 5ft beds. At more than twice the price of the brands, I'm still confident that I made the right…