Sealing the Tundra Bed
Holes, Seams & Mysterious Gaps
You Are Here: Holes, Seams and Mysterious Gaps
What is that dang thang?
A post on Tundras.com posed the question, “What are the 4 oval covers on the front of the truck bed for?” The answer, “To cover the 4 oval holes”. And in case you can’t figure out the next exchange, the 4 oval holes are there to hold the 4 oval hole covers!
Now that this is settled – ish, we also have the 8 mysterious holes in the 4 mysterious oval hole covers to deal with. OK, i will move on to Sealing the Tundra Bed.
Remove the oval plugs (order new ones if they are mangled by a poor tonneau cover install as in the pic above). Clean the plugs and surface around the holes. Apply a narrow silicone bead at the edge of the hole and carefully reinstall the oval plugs.
PRO TIP: I tried different methods of stopping up the 2 small holes top and bottom on the oval covers, and finally settled on squeezing a small plug of silicone into them from the back side, leaving tiny knobs protruding from the front. If they fail, i will silicone trim screws into the holes.
Seams & Gaps
Top and Bottom Corners: It is well known that the top front corners of the Tundra bed (photo below) have substantial gaps, but a new gap has appeared at the bottom corners (photo to right). Hmmm – Toyota’s way of assuring drainage?
Fortunately, the remedy is the same for both (and less of a job than the Tacoma was). Clean the gaps well. Apply masking tape, duct tape, or other barrier on the outer surface of the bed. Then carefully apply sealant into these gaps until you feel like the holes are no longer a problem. Let the sealant cure, then remove the tape.
Sealing gap in right bed corners
Lower left front gap. Bonus: Widening those little holes in the plug and routing alternator cable for solar.
Curiouser and Curiouser…
Sidewall holes. There are 4 more mysterious half-inch holes to deal with front and back on each sidewall (see picture at the top). I checked my ‘rubber things’ box and didn’t have the right size plugs, so ordered plastic hole covers from Amazon. They turned out a little small so i siliconed them in place. So far so good.
PRO TIP: The A.R.E. dealer used the rear driver’s side hole to route the wires from the tail light. If you think this will happen for you, install a grommet in the hole or provide one for the installer. It will keep you from having to cut the wire, or slice a grommet to install around this wire run.
Hidden Holes
Front Bed Rail. The bed rail system uses a keyhole and tab to help locate the front strip for installation. The keyhole is wide open to the gap between the cab and bed. You can remove the rail and seal it, or you can be dangerously lazy like me and simply squirt the area full of silicone and keep an eye on it. I may or my not disclose a future failure on this site…
The side rails are mounted the same way, but the keyhole is completely within the inner wall of the bed, so not an issue.
