L Track mounted to bed floor for Tie Down

I'm considering mounting some L Track to the floor of the bed as a tie down point for dirt bikes (to secure them by the foot pegs). My question relates to the thickness of the bed itself, and how strong will it be if I mount a 12" or 18" section of L Track to the bed with 3 bolts going through, and a washer/nut on the under side of the bed holding it all in place.

Does the bed have the thickness to to be strong enough and resist bending? Last thing I want to do is risk bending or tweaking the bed. I have hooks mounted on the bed bolts today which are fine, but as I said, this is another take on tying down bikes by their foot pegs.

 

I’ve got a quarter of a bed sitting in my backyard. I can tell you the bed is less than 1/8” thick but it gets its strength from all of the stamping/bends that make it rigid.

You could use the bed bolts since those tie into the crossmembers.

 

The bed bolts work for some anchor points I have installed, but they are in the wrong spot for this purpose which is why I’m wondering if this is feasible.

Appreciate the comment on thickness, seems so thin.

 

Doing the math, if the dirt bike weighs 250lbs. Each L track secures to the bed in 3 places, one L track section under each foot peg, so 6 points of attachment. That’s only 42lbs per bolt in the bed. Even if it was double that it should be fine, don’t you think?

 

I have L track in my bed, never failed or came loose, but over time it did pull the bed floor up slightly in between the reinforcements under the bed. Don’t use them for anything heavy anymore, couple wacks with a sledge hammer and bed is good as new. Could add reinforcement under the bed, I use these mounts with steel plates underneath to hold 2 - 37” spare tires, nothing moves.

https://www.macscustomtiedowns.com/anchor-points/plate-kits/single-stud/2-5-inch/p/520125/

 

There’s more to it than just weight. There’s where that weight is located relative to the anchor point and what path and direction the load must take to transfer to the anchor (through the strap). Also the dynamic force generated by inertia when that weight is being restrained through turns, over bumps, etc.

If you are anchoring a narrow top heavy load like a bike by using the foot pegs (very low anchor relative to the center of mass) you are introducing a significant torsional load that transfers to your anchor points differently than if you are applying your anchors closer to the center of mass and then distributing them at a smaller angle (compared to 180*) to points farther away.

 

If you’re going to run any L-tracks along the groove in the bed, I’d highly suggest drilling holes, buying 1.5” aluminum bar, and securing it properly. Otherwise, with any added tension on your tie downs and ratchet straps, the l-track will come popping out of the bed.

IIRC, the l-tracks should have a bolt going down 6-8”.

 

I have yet to figure out what I want to do. Appreciate the input from everyone.

Ideal option is to have a few of the L-track single point "studs" mounted towards the rear of the bed for my intended purpose. But looking at the under side of the bed, there is sealant/caulk and cross bracing in places that I would need to drill through for the bolt securing the L-track. I'm not making headway in working out a way using this location.

So the alternate idea is to continue to use tie-down straps but I need a mounting point in the middle of the bed, towards the front. Idea being is I can have a strap going to the bike on the left, and another strap going to the bike on the right, all from this center tie down point.

What is structurally stronger? Mounting the L-track to the floor at the front of the bed with backing plates or mounting it on the front wall? Access to behind the front-wall would minimize how much I can do with backing plates but there is a channel up high that fits the L-track like it was made for it (a channel on the bed, maybe an inch below the top of the front bed wall going horizonally). But looking at the bed structure up here I'm thinking this is not the strongest point. Looking for thoughts on floor vs front wall...

Thanks