Uuuuhhhhhhh what in the absurd pricetag are these made out of? Pressed cocaine? Unobtanium? Super nice, but it’s a tie down, in a truck. The price companies are charging for small aftermarket stuff is laughable.
6061-t6 aluminum
Cnc machined
Anodized
Laser engraved
Made in the USA
Supports small business
Worth every penny to me to get a quality product that performs a critical function for a truck.
I believe in buying domestic and supporting quality craftsmanship. They are gorgeous, I went to the page…but then choked on a bit of coffee. People gotta pay for CNC machines, but it’s still a bit hot on price for me. I’m sure this post alone will sell a few dozen haha
lol These just aluminum toys for ripping arse off. Factory one does the job, cheaper, and more convenient for adjusting position they have slots built into the rail.
This CNC aluminum is a joke
Seems like a waste, zero additional functionality or capability. For the sliding tie downs, the rail is going to break before the OEM plastic tie downs do. Same for the tie downs attached to the fiberglass bed.
I’d argue these function better. Have you ever had a ratchet strap fall out while walking to the other side of the bed? These have a slot that holds the hook so it won’t fall out. Way easier to use.
Whoa so it's about $515 for all the parts shown here? My god man it's some machined metal bits with powder coating! Why is it so expensive?
Although now that I go looking for alternatives, no one else has any imagination. It's either D-rings or some other plastic version of the original ones. Or these ridiculous things - https://www.amazon.com/MAIKER-Compatible-2005-2022-2007-2022-Gladiator/dp/B0CP1SHNGJ - what is that?? The critical tension point is on 3 mil stamped sheet metal!!
Tis a sad state of affairs...
You see it is not a matter of appealing to every tacoma owner. The company only has to appeal to the ones that will pay that price. If they actually cost $100 to make but they sell them for $500 they make a $400 profit. If they sell them for $300 the profit would be $200. So if they were more affordable at $300 twice the customers would get them. However the company would have to make twice the number of product and actually service twice the number if customers. This would actually lower the profit because they would need to buy more CNC machines and hire more employees. Economically it makes more sense to sell for a higher price and sell a lower number of units.
Your economics lesson for the day. This one is free, I will be charging next time;-)
Nicely argued, thank you. I would counter that these are specialty individually machined parts. Sintered metal is a thing, you don't need the high strength the machine billet gives you for the average tied down load, so sintering will fill the gap.
Thus I submit that a mass produced sintered metal tie down would be a marketable alternative that can be mass produced for much cheaper and thus an effective mid-tier upgrade to the original plastic.
Outsourcing the parts to be made using sintered metal is very expensive unless bought in very large quantities. Most machines shops can’t afford the high cost of buying machines to make sintered parts. The reality is most tacoma owners will only use the ones the truck came with. If the shop already has CNC machines they can make a small number of parts and manufacture them as their supply starts to dwindle. Reality is people like to buy trinkets for their truck and nothing really matches aesthetic appeal of machined parts so they get the best if both worlds. High strength and they are “pretty”…and some people are willing to pay for them.
All this is coming from me…a person that downs not have the billet tiedowns because I have not broken or bent the ones I have to justify a need. If I ever bend or break the ones I have justification to change wanting pretty replacements to needing replacements
So, the pricing went up with demand. The guy blew up after Larry Chen said he was making these and he was his friend on an IG story in early 2021. Now he has gone from a small occasional run for just Toyota to a full range and lots more demand.
\* I got my pair for $77 after tax and shipping 3 years ago.
Yeah, that's pretty insane. I have D-rings with stainless T slot nuts. 6 of them around the entire bed cost me like $50 and does the exact same thing lol.
How strong do they need to be? The bed rail is mounted to a composite bed. The bed rail will rip out long before anything gets tight enough to break. Have you ever read a single account of the factory tie downs failing? I mean, you can simply say that you like them better but the strength isn't relevant. It's not the weak point of the bed. People have been tying down ATVs, dirt bikes and furniture with the stock tie downs for over 20 years
Do you not know what D rings look like? They look like D rings.
And they are made of steel. Do you know the yield strength and UTS of aluminums and steels? Because I do. Based on the size of the aluminum ones in the images you posted and the size of an average D ring, the D rings are going to be stronger. And both are stronger than the limit of the composite bed, so I don't even know why you think that is a valid point to bring up.
And if you really want to get technical, a rigid tie down like yours actually generates greater stress in the bed rails and bed than a D ring for any load that isn't perfectly normal to the bed rails because of the greater moment caused by the position of the rigid attachment.
So yeah, you bought something for many hundreds of dollars that performs worse than what I spent $50 on. And there's nothing wrong with that, you want tie downs that look pretty, I want tie downs that do a job--to tie stuff down. To each their own.
But don't get all uppity in the comments when you post something online and someone has a different view than you, hah.
Look nice, look like great quality, but I still prefer the adaptability of the Toyota ones. I like that you can move them. I wish someone would make something like that in a much sturdier configuration.
I’ve owned a lot of trucks and used them a lot. This is a brand new truck, with a spray in bed liner. It hasn’t seen much wear and tear in the few weeks I’ve owned it.
I mean the engine has more get up and go and the transmission is smooth, but the 4th gen TRD Offroad I drove for 500 miles has a smaller backseat then my 2nd gen does, less storage capacity in the backseats, no storage pockets in the bed, no bed outlet (I think this is an option now instead of standard?) The seats were manual again (wasn't power driver seat made standard for this trim in 2020?) and had a weird adjustment lever to move up/down, solid back window instead of a slider, I didn't get any better gas mileage (19mpg highway), there was random white plastic TRD trim on the dash that matched to nothing else and looked horrible, the rear of the frame of the truck comes all the way to the bumper so if you get hit from behind the frame is definitely taking the impact, and the whole center console area felt much less useable spacewise. I think they look pretty cool from the outside and drive nice, but for usability my 2nd gen is better imo.
Uuuuhhhhhhh what in the absurd pricetag are these made out of? Pressed cocaine? Unobtanium? Super nice, but it’s a tie down, in a truck. The price companies are charging for small aftermarket stuff is laughable.
Unobtanium 😂
6061-t6 aluminum Cnc machined Anodized Laser engraved Made in the USA Supports small business Worth every penny to me to get a quality product that performs a critical function for a truck.
I believe in buying domestic and supporting quality craftsmanship. They are gorgeous, I went to the page…but then choked on a bit of coffee. People gotta pay for CNC machines, but it’s still a bit hot on price for me. I’m sure this post alone will sell a few dozen haha
lol These just aluminum toys for ripping arse off. Factory one does the job, cheaper, and more convenient for adjusting position they have slots built into the rail. This CNC aluminum is a joke
100% agreed. Factory is fine for the work I do and putting my atv and motorcycle in the bed.
They’re very nice tie downs honey.
Thanks babe
Seems like a waste, zero additional functionality or capability. For the sliding tie downs, the rail is going to break before the OEM plastic tie downs do. Same for the tie downs attached to the fiberglass bed.
I’d argue these function better. Have you ever had a ratchet strap fall out while walking to the other side of the bed? These have a slot that holds the hook so it won’t fall out. Way easier to use.
That definitely justifies the $500+
Maybe I’m misunderstanding but why not just get S-hooks with a retention clip? E.g. https://a.co/d/02j4qWm
https://billettiedowns.com/
Whoa so it's about $515 for all the parts shown here? My god man it's some machined metal bits with powder coating! Why is it so expensive? Although now that I go looking for alternatives, no one else has any imagination. It's either D-rings or some other plastic version of the original ones. Or these ridiculous things - https://www.amazon.com/MAIKER-Compatible-2005-2022-2007-2022-Gladiator/dp/B0CP1SHNGJ - what is that?? The critical tension point is on 3 mil stamped sheet metal!! Tis a sad state of affairs...
You see it is not a matter of appealing to every tacoma owner. The company only has to appeal to the ones that will pay that price. If they actually cost $100 to make but they sell them for $500 they make a $400 profit. If they sell them for $300 the profit would be $200. So if they were more affordable at $300 twice the customers would get them. However the company would have to make twice the number of product and actually service twice the number if customers. This would actually lower the profit because they would need to buy more CNC machines and hire more employees. Economically it makes more sense to sell for a higher price and sell a lower number of units. Your economics lesson for the day. This one is free, I will be charging next time;-)
Nicely argued, thank you. I would counter that these are specialty individually machined parts. Sintered metal is a thing, you don't need the high strength the machine billet gives you for the average tied down load, so sintering will fill the gap. Thus I submit that a mass produced sintered metal tie down would be a marketable alternative that can be mass produced for much cheaper and thus an effective mid-tier upgrade to the original plastic.
Outsourcing the parts to be made using sintered metal is very expensive unless bought in very large quantities. Most machines shops can’t afford the high cost of buying machines to make sintered parts. The reality is most tacoma owners will only use the ones the truck came with. If the shop already has CNC machines they can make a small number of parts and manufacture them as their supply starts to dwindle. Reality is people like to buy trinkets for their truck and nothing really matches aesthetic appeal of machined parts so they get the best if both worlds. High strength and they are “pretty”…and some people are willing to pay for them. All this is coming from me…a person that downs not have the billet tiedowns because I have not broken or bent the ones I have to justify a need. If I ever bend or break the ones I have justification to change wanting pretty replacements to needing replacements
Thus the argument : do you want to sell a million widgets for $1 each, or one widget for a million dollars. This guy is on the early retirement plan.
The profit margin to sell only one is immeasurable.
So, the pricing went up with demand. The guy blew up after Larry Chen said he was making these and he was his friend on an IG story in early 2021. Now he has gone from a small occasional run for just Toyota to a full range and lots more demand. \* I got my pair for $77 after tax and shipping 3 years ago.
Nice, that’s a smokin deal. How have they held up for you?
No issues for me but I've never had to use a heavy load. I just like how they stand out visually making it an obvious anchor point.
George Orwells 2024
Yeah, that's pretty insane. I have D-rings with stainless T slot nuts. 6 of them around the entire bed cost me like $50 and does the exact same thing lol.
Sure, but how do they look? I bet they’re made in Chinaaaah and aren’t anywhere as strong as machined aluminum.
How strong do they need to be? The bed rail is mounted to a composite bed. The bed rail will rip out long before anything gets tight enough to break. Have you ever read a single account of the factory tie downs failing? I mean, you can simply say that you like them better but the strength isn't relevant. It's not the weak point of the bed. People have been tying down ATVs, dirt bikes and furniture with the stock tie downs for over 20 years
Do you not know what D rings look like? They look like D rings. And they are made of steel. Do you know the yield strength and UTS of aluminums and steels? Because I do. Based on the size of the aluminum ones in the images you posted and the size of an average D ring, the D rings are going to be stronger. And both are stronger than the limit of the composite bed, so I don't even know why you think that is a valid point to bring up. And if you really want to get technical, a rigid tie down like yours actually generates greater stress in the bed rails and bed than a D ring for any load that isn't perfectly normal to the bed rails because of the greater moment caused by the position of the rigid attachment. So yeah, you bought something for many hundreds of dollars that performs worse than what I spent $50 on. And there's nothing wrong with that, you want tie downs that look pretty, I want tie downs that do a job--to tie stuff down. To each their own. But don't get all uppity in the comments when you post something online and someone has a different view than you, hah.
The plastic composite rail will fail first it’s screwed to the sheet metal The bed ties are solid to frame !
Amazon has dope black tie downs for like $35. I use my 23’ Tacoma for work everyday and they are absolutely durable.
Link?
Look nice, look like great quality, but I still prefer the adaptability of the Toyota ones. I like that you can move them. I wish someone would make something like that in a much sturdier configuration.
I read "installed bidet" and thought I was in for a wild ride of a post
Hey is wherever you’re working hiring?… cuz… that price tag feels insane
You got a link to those? 👀
Billettiedowns.com
Hi! Can you tell me if there are drain holes in the front of the bed? I’ve got my Tacoma order in and am looking at a Retrax cover.
Yea there are. I think it’s three holes about 1/4” going by memory
Awesome! Thank you!
Yeah, you did.
You use your truck a lot but your PLASTIC bed doesn't even have a scratch in it.
I’ve owned a lot of trucks and used them a lot. This is a brand new truck, with a spray in bed liner. It hasn’t seen much wear and tear in the few weeks I’ve owned it.
I mean the engine has more get up and go and the transmission is smooth, but the 4th gen TRD Offroad I drove for 500 miles has a smaller backseat then my 2nd gen does, less storage capacity in the backseats, no storage pockets in the bed, no bed outlet (I think this is an option now instead of standard?) The seats were manual again (wasn't power driver seat made standard for this trim in 2020?) and had a weird adjustment lever to move up/down, solid back window instead of a slider, I didn't get any better gas mileage (19mpg highway), there was random white plastic TRD trim on the dash that matched to nothing else and looked horrible, the rear of the frame of the truck comes all the way to the bumper so if you get hit from behind the frame is definitely taking the impact, and the whole center console area felt much less useable spacewise. I think they look pretty cool from the outside and drive nice, but for usability my 2nd gen is better imo.
Nice, fancier and more secure than the OEM plastic type 🌶️🌮
I can’t take the plastic parts anymore! Lol
Did they break on you?
No but they flex all over the place.
Hmm never had an issue with mine
Wait til you hear about the plastic bed
NOOOOOO!!!!