u/TylerTwoShirtzzz

I picked up an older Kargo Master rack, and the Tacoma bed metal is fairly thin.

The rear mounting pads sit on top of the bed rail, but the underside of the bed rail is contoured, so there isn’t a flat surface for a backing plate.

The front pads also transfer over inside the bed against the front wall and appear to have originally been intended to bolt directly through it. My plan there is a piece of 1/4” flat stock running left to right to connect the rails.

My main question is how you would reinforce/back the mounting points under the bed rails.
Because of the contour underneath, a flat backing plate won’t nest the entire bottom surface. I thought about making individual backing pieces that match that shape, but I’m not sure how long they should be, what material/thickness would make sense, or whether there’s a simpler solution such as using a section of tubing/pipe as a spacer or reinforcement where needed.

I’d prefer to drill the minimum number of holes.
I’m not trying to massively overbuild it, but I do want the mounting points to be solid and avoid concentrating the load into a small section of thin bed metal.

I do plan on sealing, and it has been difficult getting help locally.

For reference, what I believe are the original 3/16” × 13.5” front pads and 3/16” × 12” rear pads are butt welded to 3/16” × 47” × 1 3/4” angle iron that sits along the bed rails. For the bed rails, the plan is to reweld, fill the old holes, smooth everything out and reuse the general layout.

I picked up an older Kargo Master rack, and the Tacoma bed metal is fairly thin.

The rear mounting pads sit on top of the bed rail, but the underside of the bed rail is contoured, so there isn’t a flat surface for a backing plate.

The front pads also transfer over inside the bed against the front wall and appear to have originally been intended to bolt directly through it. My plan there is a piece of 1/4” flat stock running left to right to connect the rails.

My main question is how you would reinforce/back the mounting points under the bed rails.
Because of the contour underneath, a flat backing plate won’t nest the entire bottom surface. I thought about making individual backing pieces that match that shape, but I’m not sure how long they should be, what material/thickness would make sense, or whether there’s a simpler solution such as using a section of tubing/pipe as a spacer or reinforcement where needed.

I’d prefer to drill the minimum number of holes.
I’m not trying to massively overbuild it, but I do want the mounting points to be solid and avoid concentrating the load into a small section of thin bed metal.

I do plan on sealing, and it has been difficult getting help locally.

For reference, what I believe are the original 3/16” × 13.5” front pads and 3/16” × 12” rear pads are butt welded to 3/16” × 47” × 1 3/4” angle iron that sits along the bed rails. For the bed rails, the plan is to reweld, fill the old holes, smooth everything out and reuse the general layout.

Edit: grammar/wording

16572-07030 is the original but DISCONTINUED hose. Last owner put a “murphey” ( orieley) or equivalent the aluminum square is roughly 18-19” and is likely very close to the original smaller design which is great and has the trans cooler ports capped and whatnot but local toyota kept trying to sell me the automatic longer hose. I realize that that couldve worked in other aftermarket radiators but mine is again higher profile & pretty short. After napa ( gates re stamped by them i think) sold me a cut to fit but still the wrong geometry, i gave up & asked local mechanic & they ordered me a dayco flex hose was in the next morning, which has a wrap and had to try before attempting to cut or at least just to finish my flush & switch back to pink / red coolant.

The napa one looked very similar to other online listings but could maybe keep shopping around to see what will actually cut to fit.

The previous lower was cut to fit by someone and had a slight kink was almost tempted to just keep using it but its getting aged rock hard like the upper was ( which was no problem)

So if anyone has shorty radiator and or manual original radiator & can shed some light on my lower hose hunt id appreciate it.

I may trim dayco but would rather find something that doesnt have so much tension & maybe after some heat cycles it wont be so springy but after hours and hours searching i might just have to live with it.

Just sharing what worked for me. I’m not a detailer.

Pacific Northwest truck. I’m assuming these were tree sap, honeydew, or some other organic residue.

Hundreds of small brown spots on my 2003 Tacoma. Only did hood so far but got a system down.

Rinse with garden hose.
Wash with regular wash & wax soap.
Rinse again.
Spray Stoner Tar & Sap Remover onto a microfiber.
Wipe one section at a time.
Keep the product wet and don’t let it dry.
Spend about 3 to 4 minutes per section before rinsing.
Rinse thoroughly.
Repeat section by section.
Final wash with car soap.

Huge improvement after months of trying different products.

Previously tried Goo Gone Automotive plus various household and DIY internet recommendations including cooking oil and hand sanitizer. None of those worked for me. ( And if anyones curious thats Bobblethoven My Beethoven bobble head 🎼