The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Tie down/ anchor points

I am curious what other may have done to add tie down or anchor points to their truck beds. I don't anticipate hauling anything too heavy but I would like the ability to tie things in place.

Pictures would be great if possible.

If this should be in a different area please feel free to move it.

Depending if you have wood sideboards ( or not) I chose to install SS rings to the wood sideboards above the bed, using the board bolt as 1 connection and a SS screw as the other. They can be seen in the attached photo on 2 posts if you expand it a bit.
It was necessary to also screw thru the bed into the wood post down low to keep the post from being pulled in.
The same could be installed without the wood if you locate at the post pockets so bolts/ nuts can be installed from inside the pockets?

Chuck

If you don't mind drilling holes in the bed sides, mounting those rings like Chuck has down near the bottom of the bed would work pretty well. You could mount them behind the stake pocket using self drilling tek screws and you wouldn't see any thing on the outside of the bed. I picked up a bunch of that type at Harbor Freight to use in an enclosed trailer I bought to tie things down.

I saw a picture of a wood bed with eye bolts replacing the front and rear carriage bolts on the angle strips. Of course, I can't find that picture right now.

There are also holes going horizontally thru the stake pockets. I think they're there to secure the wood stakes in the pockets. No reason why you couldn't put some eyebolts thru there. The only downside of that would be that your tiedown ropes would have to go over the sides of the bed and not be very effective unless you had a real full load.

On the back of the truck ,the hole pictured is for the tailgate chain which has an eyebolt with the chain link attached to it . At least on my 54 the one side has a square hole so it does not twist. I also see the extra hole that I don’t have .you could drill a hole on the inside were the stake pocket is on the back and front and bolt a D ring to the inside ,the bolt would not be seen on the outside only in the box..I like the idea of a D ring also on the floor aLeo even if you have to drill a separate hole in the bed wood .I have some of the square rubber type rings that fit in the stake holes and you tighten them for a pressure type fit but I don’t think they will hold a lot of weight.

Different holes, Kevinski. These go all the way thru. Stake sides could be installed, then drilled all the way thru and an eyebolt installed, or just a hex bolt to keep the stakes secured.

Yes I see now and also that you already posted about the inner holes that can be drilled me bad did not read the whole post ,also realized that the friction ones that I have will only work on the 54 and up flat top boxes . I do remember seeing the ones that John from Utah mentions as well . I am also going to put some kind of a ring or hold down but have been putting it off until I see something I like.My Tacoma has the d rings at the back that I use often so I may put them in front and back if I don’t find something else that looks nice and is user frendly.

Thank you all for your insight and pictures.

I am trying to place the tie downs low inside the box so that I can secure items that are inside the box and do not extend above the sides.

I like the idea of replacing angle strip mounting bolts or the outside board carriage bolts with eye bolts (my angle strips are bolted in place) but I may install D ring types a little higher on the side aligned with the stake pockets so they are not visible from the outside.

I have tie-downs from Mar-K that work well. They have the socket that’s permanent in the wood and the removable eyebolt. I use them all the time. The socket is installed through the cross sill so it’s very strong.

The owner of Mack Products has purchased Mar-K and plans to integrate Mar-K product line into their own. I don’t know how soon that will happen.

Mark

Mark, that's good news that someone had taken over Mar-K. Hopefully they continue the quality that Mar-K previously had with their products and service.

Those tie-down points look interesting.

Mark, can you provide any more information about the socket and how it is retained? I gather it must be a sholder bolt arrangement with the retaining hardware inside the crossill with the center of the "bolt" drilled and tapped for the eye bolt to screw into/out of.

Yes, you are exactly correct. The visible head part of the aluminum "bolt" is 1-1/2" diameter and the shank is 3/4" with 3/4 external threads on its end. It is internal threaded 3/8-16 to receive the eyebolt. The strongest installation is into a cross sill retained with a hex nut inside the cross sill. The cleanest appearance is to countersink the head about 1/8" into the wood similar to the offset washers. That way you can remove the eyebolt if it is in the way of something you want to lay on the bed floor.

These were a little expensive and I believe never made it into the paper catalog. It might be worth checking with some Mar-K customers like Classic Parts or LMC to see if they still have some in stock. I have been away from the business for many years so really have no idea of the status of the parts.

If you have access to a lathe and 1-1/2 aluminum bar stock these are not difficult parts to make. I have never seen a similar product from another supplier.

Good luck,

Mark

I like the idea of the anchors that 59 fleet has pictured but I suspect if I have my machinist make me 4 of them it will cost a pretty penny.

I really like the idea of installing anchors (D-ring or eye bolt) in line with the stake pockets to hide the exterior side hardware but the rear stake pockets are basically closed off on the bottom by the rear cross sill so I don't know how I would be able to install the hidden hardware (the front would be okay). Perhaps I will locate the rear anchors forward of the stake pocket with the exterior hardware hidden by the rear fender much like my angle bracket to bed side mounting bolts.

I found a set of heavy duty D-ring anchors with their mounting brackets in my stash of parts so all I would need is the matching carriage bolts and the time/energy to get it done.

Another thing to add to the winter project list.

I think that self drilling Tek screws would work fine at the stake pockets.

I didn't want to drill the bed wood, so with "the help of an adapter kit" ....I made use of the existing stainless strip bolt holes. There are two tie downs across the front and two more across the rear so keeping items tied down is pretty simple.

Kevin, I wasn't sure that self drilling screws would hold well enough in tension ad once you install them you are committed to having those holes regardless if you utilize them.

32vsnake - I like your approach and the idea of using existing bolt locations. However, I would be concerned that side load on the anchor would cause it to rotate around the single mounting bolt. I realize that the shape of the bed strip is intended to prevent such rotation but in my case the bed strips are coated with bedliner and so the strip shape is not as pronounced.

As long as you don't strip the threads on installation I think self drilling tek screws should hold fine. With two of them on the d-ring style anchor points, they'll mostly be loaded in shear, not direct tension. The bedsides are 16 gauge, which is pretty stout already. I used them in my trailer and had a 600 lb machine tool and a 200 lb air compressor strapped down for a trip up the Alcan, and they survived just fine. I don't even know what they were screwed into behind the paneling on the trailer, but as long as I hit a support structure they held just fine. The first one I installed missed and was just into the plywood floor, so I relocated that one.
Yeah, if you used chain and chain binders, you could probably pull them out.

32vsnake,
My concern is when you slide a heavy box or item onto the bed from the tailgate, up forward, will those tie downs prevent the boxes from sliding forward easily? Yes, they are low profile but are they low enough to allow easy loading of the merchandise?

100% you’d have issues sliding a box over the tie downs.
I had it loaded up for a drag/drive event and had 2 large totes/storage boxes in there as well as other junk. There was enough space to twist the totes and pull them out lengthwise.
Works for what I do but definitely not ideal for all situations

If you are concerned about strength of self-drill/tap screws, consider making a nut plate with tapped holes to match the spacing required for the D-ring mounting plate. Slide the nut plate down into the stake hole and use machine screws to attach the D-ring securely. That should be plenty strong pulling from any direction.

Mark

Mark's suggestion is a good one, but won't work easily on the rear stake pockets, as the bottom is blocked by the rear cross-sill. Fishing it down thru the top MIGHT be possible, but pretty difficult. You'd definitely need one of those flexible extendo grabby things that Paul Mullen references HERE.

Just duct tape the nut plate to a yardstick and slide it down the stake hole. Pull the yardstick out when the screws are in place. I’ve done this sort of thing many times to secure something to tubing or other places inaccessible on the back side. If you want it to stay in place just smear some epoxy on the surface to retain it in case you need to remove the D-ring mount for any reason.

Mark

Good point Mark. I was thinking that the stake stops in the AD stake pockets would be in the way, but it may be possible to sneak by them. It's been a while since I replaced those mangled stops inside my stake pockets. I've duct taped a nut to my finger to get them started in tight places as well.

I ended up installing tie downs in the four corners inline with the stake pockets using a threaded nut plate in each stake pocket.

The plates were a bit of a challenge to get in place inside the stake pockets but I was able to use a grabber tool to grasp the plates and lower them into the correct area (working past the stake stops) and then initially using a long bolt to capture of the threaded holes. I used the long bolt to move the plate into place to start one of the correct bolts into the other hole, remove the long bolt, and install the second correct bolt.

I am sure that the tie downs are overkill but they fit the robust nature of the 3600.

What happened to the strips and bedside??
Are you planning on hauling something BIG in the back of the truck?

Nice work.
Is that textured bedliner on the strips, tailgate and bedsides? Another good idea. That stuff it tougher than woodpecker lips (to use onoe of Jerry's favorite sayings.) I had my running boards sprayed with bedliner.

The bed sides, bed strips, tailgate, and front panel are sprayed with bed liner. I also sprayed the running boards and interior cab floor with it.

The only problem I have is that the bed strips grew due to the bed liner material so they do not all align with the grooves in the bed wood as they should. I am hoping that they stay as they are and not shift resulting in loose strip mounting bolts as some would be impossible to tighten due to the under bed fuel tank.

I am not planning to haul anything BIG but I figured that if I was going to add tie downs I should make them robsut enough that they weren't the deciding factor about what I could haul.

I wasn't planning to carry "tie down" loads in the back of my '57 GMC 1/2 ton long bed very often and didn't want to put tie downs in place permanently in my truck bed. My solution was to keep a set of these under the seat until needed.

Not understanding the "good idea"

Noted. So don't do it on your truck.

Not planning to redo my trucks like that.

'Cruiser,

Which bedliner product, specifically, did you use? I am not sure what my plans are...but the idea of running boards that are "tougher than woodpecker lips" sounds like a good idea!

Also, do you think it helps with sound deadening on the floor?

Nick, I used Raptor bedliner and sprayed it in (they also talk about rolling it on).

I don't think that it did anything for sound deadening but the truck was never driven by me prior to have a baseline. After input from this forum I am planning to add peal and seal material for sound deadening sometime this winter (hopefully).

Thanks!

I finally found the ones I seen and put them on the bed strip, so no drilling more holes. Just put a few washers to raise it up to clear the bet strip. I put 3 on each side.

Those look OK, Kevin. They would probably blend in nicely with my black strips and bed wood. I'm planning to do something similar.

Thanks I have a Toyota Tacoma with them in the box and found them very convenient so I found a bag of 10 I think on amazon