A while back someone mentioned the lack of decent tie-downs
in the dakota. On 97's, there are four - but the placement is
kinda stupid (at the bottom of the bed, in each corner). I suppose
one advantage is strength; the rear ones seem to be mounted in
semi-structural metal, and the front ones are even better. However,
the location is useless for a lot of hauling applications.
For lack of a decent aftermarket solution (it seems all the parts stores
carry are stake drop-ins) that would fit my truck, I bought a couple
small stainless steel U-bolts at the hardware store which seem to do
the trick just fine, for 97s anyways.
I didn't want to drill holes in the top of the bed rails, and the interior lips
on the bed rails seem pretty flimsy. So, I chose to investigate mounting
tie-downs in the front wall of the bed. The front of the bed is double-walled,
making it difficult to do anything with. However, at the left and right sides
of the forward-most wall in the bed's front, there are cutouts. This allows
access (very limited access...) to get behind there with a socket. I
drilled holes, horizontally, through the bed sheetmetal inline with the cutouts.
Had to cut a piece of bedliner to make room, but this made for a good bushing
so the U-bolt's plate doesn't tighten down directly to the sheetmetal. Thread
two nuts on the U-bolt followed by lock washers, and put the u-bolt through
the supplied plate, the bedliner bushing, and the finally the holes in the bed.
With a lot of patience, it is then possible to place lock washers and nuts on
the other side, where the cutouts are. Tighten the nuts down from both
sides of the bed sheetmetal, and you're good to go.
Seems to work well - at least I now have tiedowns at the top and bottom
of the bed front. They're not as rigidly mounted as the factory ones, but it
makes hauling things a lot easier. And I think it cost less than 5 bucks :)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 11:53:36 EDT