Are these $40,000 (-+) trucks this weak??? I just discovered that after my 10,450 mile X-country trip with the 5th wheel V-gate installed, that my drivers side bedrail is bowed out about an inch- inch & 1/2!! (From the top) Re-installed my regular Ford tailgate (or tried to) and it wouldn't latch untill I put a 1/2" spacer on both rail latches!

Would running without the tailgate REALLY cause this to happen? It was fine early this spring when I swapped tailgates. (April) What seems weird is that it only seems to be the left (driver's) side that is bowed out.

Comments anyone?

I am trying to correct this by putting a hook where the latch pin goes and attaching to a come-a-long (attached on other end to a tree) and am applying pressure. Am just leaving it there overnight to see if will slowly bring that side in enough to latch again.

 

Ummm, no comments, eh?

 

I don't know about towing, so correct my if I'm wrong, but doesn't the 5th wheel hitch attach directly to the frame of the truck? If your bedrails bowed out wouldn't this mean your frame moved? Seems unlikely, maybe your bed bolts are loose or something?

 

did you have your bed loaded down when you had the tail gate off? i would say it is posible if you had something in your bed while the tail gate was off. i would do the comalong as you stated.
with out your tal gate on the bed of your truck becomes weaker do to not having nothing to support the bed sides from being pulled in or pushed out.

 

I doubt if the hitch had anything to do with the bedrails. It was the removal of the metal tailgate. I have heard in the past that leaving t/g off would cause the rails to bow out. That's why I had the V tailgate in there..for ease of hooking up to the trailer AND to prevent the possible movement of the rails. But the V-gate is rather flimsy. Made of poly with a few metal parts for hooking to the latches and an light aluminum frame. And IT bends easily. I noticed while on trip that the V-gate didn't latch perfectly, but thought it was the plastic V-gate, not the truck!

 

That sucks! Who would have thought the tailgate was providing structural integrity while towing a 5th wheel? I could see something like that happening on a light-duty truck if the frame were twisting a lot, but I wouldn't have thought it to be an issue on a Superduty.

 

I still don't get how towing without the tailgate would cause the bed rails to move, if the hitch is attached to the frame not just the bed?

 

Depending on clearance between bedrails and trailer overhang, you may have had some contact while entering/exiting a driveway or while turning on uneven ground. Just a thought.

 

I have heard in the past, that running without the tailgate could do that, but I never believed it. The 5th wheel doesn't have anything to do with it. So they say. Just the fact that there isn't a connection between the two side rails without the gate.

 

I run without a tailgate often, my side rails do not move.

Can't speak to towing a 5th wheel, but have towed the pictured trailer without a tailgate.

I would agree it sounds like you had some contact between the bed rails and the trailer.

 

I can not find evidence of any contact between the trailer overhang and the bed rail. No truck paint on trailer nor any from trailer on truck.

Next time I hook up the trailer I'll post pics of the clearance in my gallery.

 

I have found that this problem with bed rails flapping is a fairly common problem that extends even back into the older body style trucks. I have found that vehicles driven without tailgates for prolonged periods of time very often experience spreading of the bed rails. This is due to the fact that bouncing back and forth down the highway without a tailgate results in almost a harmonic vibration of the bed sides that eventually leads of weakening of the seams and stretching. If you look at the crossmembers under the bed you will see that they do not extend past the portion of the bed where the floor curves upward. The stongest point in the bed side is at the front where it meets the front panel, and then at the rear section where the tailgate strike bolt mounts too. That single tube is all that provides structural support for the bedside when the gate is down. There is no diagonal reinforcing that goes from the crossmembers to the sides of the bed to add strength anywere. For the most part, the sides need to have a gate in order to tie the tops of the sides together and keep things from getting messed up. On vehicles in our fleet that have damaged gates that we don't feel like replacing for the umpteenth time, what we do is we weld about a four inch diagonal brace between that pillar where the striker is and the rear cross sill. All it is, is a triangular piece of steel that is about 4 inches long on the short sides, and 1/8 inch thick. This has proved adequate to stop the sides from separating. The other thing we do is take some 1.5" channel iron and weld it vertically to each side of that rear most pillar. This creates a custom "groove" that you can drop 2x10" lumber down into to create a barrier that is much sturdier than a tailgate. That mod is even benifical to trucks that still have gates because it keeps heavy objects from sliding rearward under hard acceleration and striking the gate, since this is often how they become damaged in the first place. They strike the 2x10 board and it takes the beating, not your $600 tailgate. I would post pics of this if i had them, but all our trucks with these mods were lost in katrina and the replacements are still in good enough condition that we haven't had to do this to them yet. Some are really close though..................
On edit - oh yeah, ones that are simply bent, and arent weakned to the point of no return are fairly easy to straigten. Take a beefy 2" ratchet strap and tie it to a strong tree and the rear most stake pocket, then crank away. Don't worry about being nice, its already bent so it will be difficult to mess it up(unless there is a kink, that would be a problem). You can probably fix it in 15 minutes. Metal has memory so you will have to pull it past where it needs to be, and then let it relax back into place.

 

I was taught that the bedsides get pushed out because of the airflow in the bed. When the air comes of the back of the cab comes down and hits the bed of the truck. When the air hits the bed of the truck some of it turns and flows toward the cab, some of it pushes out toward the bed sides, and some of it flows toward the back and out of the bed (this is assuming the tailgate is gone). Over time the force created by the air pushing out against the sides of the bed can cause the bed sides to start to bow out. Without anything there to stop them it will continue to get worse. Would it be possible for you to put a ratchet strap between the two bed sides to hold them together when you tow your trailer? I think that would help, since your V gate obviously isn't strong enough to hold the sides together.

 

I've never run my SD without the gate but I can tell you that back in '82 I ran my new S-10 from NY to MI and back with the gate down, trying the fuel economy thing, and by the time I got back home my bed sides were actually flapping in the wind! Truck was 2 months old with 4000 miles on it.

 

All are great pionts. I might add a word of caution though. Trying to bend it back should be done with greater caution If your truck is of great value cosmeticly to ya. The pinch welds under the plastic bed rail tops Really shoudn't be twisted in a quick move to realalign. As Beer mentions , it was probly the air presure (normally present and downward off the fith whl ) that caused this. Simply pulling inner rear corners together slow for alonger time as mentioned with jackstrap should fix her up nice. All flexability equal for both sides? With luck they shouldn't lean to one side. My 2 cents. But to answer your question about structural integrity. Yikes, I don't know for sure but, seems I've seen more bent tail gates from loading and unloading. The pinch welded top of the newer gates may not have as high of a load rating. plastic cover dont add much strength and after seeing under some broken bed rail covers I'll be carefull with rail loading as well . Seemes some riggidity was gone away with in the bumpers as well, for others highway safty standards prob. Best wishes