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Ridgeline

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Friends, I was talking with my brother-in-law, who owns an F-150 Raptor, the other day, and he was mentioning that a bunch of the Raptor and Tacoma guys run a bed support brace (see photo). Apparently a three-point brace at the back of the bed is desired because higher speed offroading causes flexing issues with the bed sides and floor. A Google search doesn't turn up anything specific for the Gladiator, so I'm wondering if this is something we should be using. I figure since most Jeeps are used for crawling or maybe because the Gladiator is only a few years old we haven't had these issues yet, but the Mojave is set up as a desert runner so I cannot imagine why this issue wouldn't come up.
Jeep Gladiator Gladiator Bed Support Brace IMG_0285-3282x2963
Jeep Gladiator Gladiator Bed Support Brace Gen_1_Bed_Support_2_1800x1800
Jeep Gladiator Gladiator Bed Support Brace IMG_20190619_145208__50140.1560972236
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HooliganActual

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I can believe this. I have 7600 mile on my JTR, about half are off pavement and nothing super agressive. I can already see where the door on my canopy has rubbed through the paint all along my tailgate where the two meet. that has got to be related to the flexing your are describing. But I'm not so sure a brace would change that...
 
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Ridgeline

Ridgeline

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I can believe this. I have 7600 mile on my JTR, about half are off pavement and nothing super agressive. I can already see where the door on my canopy has rubbed through the paint all along my tailgate where the two meet. that has got to be related to the flexing your are describing. But I'm not so sure a brace would change that...
This would seem more like relative movement between your canopy and your bed, or perhaps some flex in your canopy itself. I would be interested to know if this gets worse with time.
 
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Ridgeline

Ridgeline

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Jaydebe

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I didn't know about the Raptor, but yes, the Taco has them because the bed is a composite bed and because of this, inherently flexy. I'm sure that to some extent all beds flex, but it's not a worry on my part.
 

GreenZJ

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The gladiator has a steel bed. The Tacoma is composite and the Ford is aluminum, which is why these are desired. This is not needed for our Jeeps
 

mdyucca

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Back about 75 Howie and I took his Ford out wood cutting. Loading the Ford full of wood with the tailgate down the slabside sides began to spread. Took a chain binder and chain and pulled back in order to close the tailgate. Imagine useing a truck for work.
Now back from the past, these trucks today are not built to handle much stress. Bed side supports are good to have. As soon as I see some bolt ons I’m in.
 
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Ridgeline

Ridgeline

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Interesting. I did not know the Tacoma had a composite bed.

I guess I will “wait and see” on this situation. Planning to run the Oceano Dunes this weekend, so let’s see what happens, if anything.
 

BaileyW7

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Unless you are blasting through whoops at 100mph I really don’t think you’ll have an issue. Most of the dudes that run those have fiberglass bedsides for tire clearance and no tailgate so they need a little something extra to hold it together.
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