Plastic Toyota Bedliner replaced

Considering permanent removal of Toyota Bedliner ...
Just getting ready to put everything back in place after re-paint job [not quite done yet, another thread: https://www.tundras.com/threads/recommendation-on-partial-re-paint-of-sr5-ac.150556/page-2]...

Admittedly, the BIG plus of these liners cant be refuted- they are near bomb proof, but it comes at cost of minimal traction and hard to keep bed bottom dirt/debris free to minimze Bed deck rust potential.

Anyway, given that these liners are a foot-traction challenge on most shoes/boots [especially bad when parked other than level, forget about wet]...and given that once any dirt, sand, gravel, leaves, etc get tapped under, the tiny weep hole plastics are nearly useless and gaurantee rust harbors in those corners...
Having siad that, its best feature is against heavy, sharp objects like chunks of concrete, brick, block, deco-rock and rebars...most of which Im too damn old to wrangle w/anymore [and after $4k+ repaint] the most action this trucks will see is lumber, drywall and maybe sand/DG, etc.

So what im thinking as replacement is a substantial rubber matt [foot traction] and if I was really concerned w/ dent/gouges to wheel wells or interior sides in future, i can make up removable ply panels or even marine board panels for temp protection [of course those will take up some space storing them somwhere].

So, what am I missing here...? [beside cost and fit of rubber matt and 'modular' sides]?

Conversely, Ive considered keeping liner to R&R when needed, BUT 2 BIG minuses there:
It took me near 45 min's [of course I was being careful not to F anything up both bed and liner wise] to wrestle it out [readying for repaint] b/c it took me it took more than a few lifts/twists to get the sides to release from under rails- so in/out aint exactly plug n play...
Also, just leaning against the side yard all year long isnt much of backyard landscape enhancement [wife will eventually ask].

So, what say ye?

 

just had a BFO:
Rather extreme, but...Slice bottom of liner away, replace with removable rubber matt...[i know, F'n heresy to Toyota OEM purists] and just RnR leftover sides when needed [fasten in place w/3mDual-Locks when needed.]

 

short answer….Happy Wife Happy Life

tad longer but all I got for now. Here’s a quick google search using the site:tundras.com tag at end of search

edit....forgot link

bedliner replacement site:tundras.com - Google Search

 

@BubbaW - thanks...wife is ultra-cool about my habits, but dont wanna paint her into a corner either...as long as doesnt interfere w/kids & g-kids, shes 100.
I know Id have no trouble offing it on CL, but there are options...

 

Haha. I couldn’t give mine away. Ended up in pieces at dump.

 

inspiring...

 

only this rubber matt found so far, custom cut to bed:
https://www.etrailer.com/Truck-Bed-Mats/Westin/50-6245.html
$200: pricey option, but looks good...

Another option: an oversize rubber matt, cut to FGT AC bed pattern might be best bet. ?

 

I'll tell you what, it beats the living shit out of making the ignorant choice of spray-in liner. I say it over and over again, but spray-in liners result in your bed rotting from inside out. Not as much an issue if you live where I live, but ... if you live in a salt place ... at least on these trucks, it's a really poor choice.

The Westin mat is what many others are using for floor purpose.

 

By now, a manufacturer or 2 might have figured out a way to keep coatings from starting to lift here or there, but at some point it appears the sun/moisture will have its way despite best efforts to prep the metal. If the sun can fry aircraft, marine & automotive paints, few other coatings will stand up the same. I think problem is compounded by beds that cant drain water very well or always parked near level for water to pool up. Then along comes mr sun to finish it off. I had a relatively clean '70elcamino..did a poor mans' "Frame-off" and stripped most metal surfaces close to bare, including bed, then followed up by etcher, primer, sealer and used a well known LP with texture pre-mixed for bed traction [non-skid]...within 5 yrs surface rust developed, eventho my driveway falls almost a foot in 25ft. IE: water always drained, but just that minor surface wet after a rain, w/direct sun, over n over n over...and I live in So Cal...Dont know how many times I looked at that bed and telling myself Id have been better off piling on the paint and just suffer the surface scratches.
At least w/ a rubber matt, you can roll it up and remove to dry out.

 

We don’t have any rust issues here on the west coast, so a high quality spray in bedliner (such as linex) is a no brainer for us. If you use your truck as a truck for hauling stuff, then reinstall the plastic drip in liner back in after the spray-in liner is applied. If you want a rubber mat, then don’t plan on dragging or sliding anything across it. It has high enough traction that you’ll have to pick up whatever you want to pull out of the bed. There’s really no do-all option. There’s always is going to be a give and take.

 

I've had a rubber bed mat made of recycled tires for 15 years, it's as good today as it was new, from "realtruck.com" I think, and cost just under $100.00 delivered. My 25 year old bed still looks like new. Unless you haul rocks there is no reason to have a liner IMO, and then the FG tundra is the wrong choice.

 

I've used a sheet of 3/4" marine grade (NOT pressure treated) plywood, sitting on thin saucers/biscuits of foam, for all 28 years of my T-100's life. Factory bed looks fantastic still to this day. I've replaced it twice and will need to again in a few years. So about 10 years per cycle.

 

Fair enuf.
More than likely, taking my chances w/rubber.
BTW: Not trying to call Bull on N. Oregon, but...
I think together with moisture issue, at least in coastal SoCal, add the daily salt air blown all day on shore. Once youre East of Sierras or other coastal ranges, very different; it is hot & bone dry in those places.
During my search of these FGTs, saw a couple that lived 'West of the coastal mountains', not very close to the ocean and they had enough surface rust on subframe that I passed to find a cleaner one. Since it was only surface rust, I was just being picky, but I remember one whose differential had such an even coat of surface rust, i wondered if it had been routinely used as a boat-tow-er and backed into launch ramp too deep, too many times [and never fresh h2o rinsed]. Also, topside paint was toast, but wherever there were deep scratches, base metal was surface rusting.
IDK, just looks to me that paint-on liners trap moisture [sinks into material] and unless theyre always parked on substantial incline, they always appear to retain some residual water in the liner material, eventho they may look dry. [cant prove, it just feels that way to me]
I do like the traction aspect though but w/that, you give up some 'cargo-slide' capacity too.
OTOH, I do wonder about the "rocker panel paint surface" that Toyota does from factory; seems it would outlast regular painted surface?
So, yeah there is no do-all option; just pick ur poison and roll...

 

The coast range is between the Central Valley and the Pacific. The Sierra Nevada is east of the Central Valley and towers up to 14000 ft.

 

@bfunke -correctomundo! ...Quite a few coastal ranges in CA and yes the Sierra Nevada range peaks @14500 [Mt Whitney] and cradles the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys with lower coastal ranges on the west sides of the valleys [where I found my FGT; Modesto]. Anyway, damn ironic name for a range that lies almost entirely in CA., but name derives fr/Cabrillos' mapping convenience ["snowy mountains"] long before Ca/Nv state line existed.
Since the Sierra range ends about opposite Bakersfield, all we have for SoCal are the coastal ranges maxing out barely above 10k ft, but thats enough to cancel out the cool Pacific salt air. Im well acquainted, as I worked large construction from the San Bernardinos, Santa Anas and south to the Lagunas; anything lying east of those ranges never gets much below 78 deg in winter and as hi as 125-130 in summer/fall, and usually less than 60% until occasional tropical storms move in.
As for even drier, most of NV, lying East of the Sierra's has got to be the lowest year round humidity in the nation [Reno and Carson City were one of my target areas for my FGT [craigslist] search.
IDK, maybe UT is pretty damn dry too...Theyre both far enough North that its hard for the summer/fall tropical storms fr/Mex and further south to reach them.

 

Agree w/this. Best part of rubber mat is being able to easily remove [allow bed to dry out after rains or washings, etc] to keep bed clear of dirt/sand etc that act like sandpaper over long term. +, you can roll the mat up and out of way if need to. Sheet of ply works too but needs replace sooner.
As far as friction of sliding heavy cargos in/out: 10 or 15 mil plastic sheet or even the cheap HF tarps...

 

When I am loading furniture, etc, alone usually, I weasel one end of the cabinet or whatever in the truck on the mat and slip a piece of cardboard under the end, lift and slide it in. Works remarkably well. They also make these plastic discs for sliding furniture around the house, the top side is grippie and the bottom side is super slippery. That works too. Things you learn working alone.

 

been there, done that too...and just for background, this is the only mat Ive found so far, but looks to be tailored fit [somewhat @Shifty approved]:

https://www.etrailer.com/Truck-Bed-Mats/Westin/50-6245.html
I inquired about weight:
"...thanks for reaching out. The Westin Custom Fit Truck Bed Mat # 50-6245 weighs about 40 lbs. This mat will fit the 2000-2006 Toyota Tundra With the 6-1/2' bed."
at 40# its not gonna fly outta bed and 5/16 is nice too.
.... $192 price includes shipping.

 

Yeah . . . I cut out my old Toyota liner & the trashman took it away the following Monday.
I went with the one posted above ^^^ . . . bought it used on here from a member.
Waaaaaaayyyy better for my needs . . . crap doesn't slide around, it's way easier on the knee's, and no stupid 'grooves' to have to clean out.
I also take my lab to the beach 3 or 4 times a week, a have a Snug Top so she rides back there . . . afterwards she brings half the beach worth of sand on her each time, along with a butt load of shedded hair she leaves behind.
So every other week or so I get in there with the hose and spray it all out . . . . I don't even take the whole mat out, I just roll one side over and blast away under it, then jump to the other side and repeat. Super easy.

 

Not sure why such an issue people have with plastic bedliners. I love mine and don't know what I would do without it. Hauling garden bricks, metal tools, buckets, trash, construction materials and everything! Hose it down and done! Boom.

When I'm in the parking lot and see a pickup with bare skin, it makes me shiver how beat up and unfinished it looks. Not a big fan of having some rugs or wheel well protectors to keep moving around. No need to make things more complicated. Life should be easy.

 

Personally, not loading rocks, broken concrete, rebar, bulky loads- that s - - t is over in mylife; now: fish rods, bikes, camp equipmnt, surf[paddle]boards or maybe an occasional couch...
Had one in FGTacoma and because bed is lower than Tundra, all easier to access, but in Tundra, reasons I don t like:
Dangerously slippery even when dry; worse when wet.
Pain in the kness if you ever want to crawl across it.
Traps debris [will create rust when debris blocks toyotas tiny drain holes] when any spills over fr/sides or bk end
takes about 30-45 mins to remove if you wanted to clean bed out.
Unless items are tied down, theyre sliding bk/frth, etc

Enuf for me to 86 it...

 

My thoughts as well. My bed mat is exactly what I wanted, and mine has little nubs on the underside, and when it gets wet it dries out underneath completely.

 

Just dropped in the 'Westin' rubber bedliner; not a 100 perfect fit, but not too bad either. Will keep the bed from gouge/scratch and maybe even dents/dings...depends on how loading heavy items goes.
Anyway, sold the Toyota plastics within 60 days of CL.
Ordered this from Autozone [$149..cheapest of all etailers when I looked] thinking if it really sucks I can just return to local Azone store.
Looks a bit long on both ends, which may be why it has a 'center-N-S' bulge. Maybe a few weeks in summer heat will 'shrink it'?
Like I said, not horrible and not perfect either, but even if thats as good as it gets, I can crawl all over it comfortably and not slip while standing on it wet...
Thot to update thread if anyone else going this way.

 

In your beginning comments you mentioned or thought about slicing only the bottom (installing a rubber mat) and retaining the sides of the OEM liner. I thought that might be a good idea for me. Did you reconsider this idea or it became too much of a PITA?

 

Not him but I’ll tell you, after cutting one of those OEM blown plastic bed liners up on a previous truck, it is really difficult to keep a steady line on them while slicing. Make sure you have fresh, new, quality blades loaded if using a box cutter like I did. A reciprocating saw may do a better job but will take a while. I suppose a circular saw would give a cleaner line, or a jigsaw if you intend to make a dynamic line.

 

Thank you for your input.

 

@FJ432 : ..last thots about keeping it was to at least make it easy in/out for bedcleaning, etc. or only to use when I know Id have heavy bulky items like demo'd framing/masonry, etc. [i think im past all that kind of work now being retired]
To keep it and make in/out a quicker task for my use, I considered scribing a line along the top edges of Lt & Rt sides to cut off about 1/2", so it barely locks in place under the bed rails. For me, wrestling it out from under the rails was the energy/time killer, so I decided to go rubber deck only. Also, moving that SOB around for temp storage is a 2 person task: not bcuz of weight but bcuz of flimsy bulk- like moving a queen mattress out of the house by yourself.
As it turns out, yes my interior bed walls are naked, but even if they get scratched to hell, at least water runs off quickly, so rust thru is minimal and at least in plain sight if ever need paint touchups....plus the non-slip aspect and knee/knuckle friendly surface a huge plus for me.
BTW: CL'd it to a guy about 2 mi's fr/my house w/a nice '04 SR5 and he knew all the minuses, but he needed to do construction. Talked a while about FGTs and afterwards he asked if I worked for Toyota and I said no, just like accessing the Live Database at Tundras.com. He replied: Whats that?

 

I appreciate sharing your thoughts. I recently went from a 03 RCLB (without liner) to a 06 DC that has one. This week was the first time I used it as a truck and because of the topper, crawling on it was not comfortable.

 

Yeah! Moving on up to the comfort zone [06 DC].
I guess if you dont need to ever crawl in or step around the bedliner, its a great ding/dent-gouge/scratch protector.
Just before my re-paint, it was likely 1st time bedliner was ever removed. The worst side effect on the bed itself was a bit of surface rust at the front corners where it rubbed small areas of paint off, but overall did a great job for its 1st 20years.
The in/out for me was compounded by my backyard access being only a 5' wide walk space, for 60' before getting to backyard.
If you dont need or want to in/out the liner, no problem- they do what theyr supposed to.
Funny note: During my re-paint, I stored the liner at a nearby friends house on a 1/2 acre lot; he helped me wrestle it out. Meantime, I told him I was getting rid of it and bcuz he also has an FGT, figured he'd want it. He has a shell on his FGT though, but wanted it, if it didnt sell, for stacking firewood so his dog wouldnt be able to scatter it all over!
So, even when not installed, they have their uses...

 

In my previous trucks I've run with a rubber mat like that and loved them. Not only are they softer on the knees, but stuff isn't careening around in there like fairground bumper cars.
Is that the real heavy 1/2" thick mat?