[tammikm]

whats the best way to tie down a dirt bike in the bed? never hauled one before, don't want it falling over and smashing my truck,

thanks

 

[Elton]

need 4 good straps at all 4 corners of the bike and check the straps everytime you stop and leave the bike in gear
How to Haul your Motorcycle Safely

 

[jpsmith]

Strap the bike to the D-Rings on the bed floor. If you haven't added D-Rings to the front of the bed, do so. Search the forum for how to add them. You're better off adding them to the bed-frame bolts than you are drilling into the side of the bed as Toyota's directions that come with the extra D-Rings tells you to do. Never strap your bike to the plastic cleats in your track system.

 

[NitroPye]

Never strap your bike to the plastic cleats in your track system.

Out of curiosity why should you not use the plastic cleats? I am glad I read that just a day or two before I was going to strap my motorcycle in the bed for repairs!

 

[toku58]

These are the D-rings I added to the front of my bed.

Got them off Ebay but I did need to modify them to install them on the bed bolts.
This is how I got them:

This is what I did to them:

 

[TSK]

I've got the d-rings in the side of the bed to strap down my race bike. I also went with the Toyota bed extender to keep everything in with the tailgate down.

+1 on not using the cleats; they are only rated for 100lbs of pull and you'll need much more than that to safely compress your forks and secure a bike.

Make sure to tie down your back end as well.

 

[phasta]

From my experience recently, if i made it through 4000 miles of cross country driving using the stock plastic cleats and the rear d-rings securing my motorcycle you should be ok. The weight on my motorcycle is around 425+lbs. In your situation, your dirt bike should weight alot less than a motorcycle. For the front, I strapped each side handle with 2 cleats (so i used all 4 cleats for the front) and the rear 1 d-rings on each side of the motorcycle as shown on picture. Although on each rest stop, i always check for tightness always-both cleats and straps. Good heavy duty straps is highly recommended. My straps are recommended 1000lbs per. Good Luck!

 

[phasta]

+1 on not using the cleats; they are only rated for 100lbs of pull and you'll need much more than that to safely compress your forks and secure a bike

TSK...

according to my 2005 Tacoma brochure, each cleats is designed to hold loads up to 220 lbs