I'm guessing I'm the first one who bought brackets from Pete. I posted them here a few weeks ago. Although they may not be quite as rigid torsionally as the factory brackets, they're pretty heavy duty (3/8"thick and slightly wider ), more so than the 5/16" bolts and sheet metal they screw into and I think are more than adequate.
Also, the factory brackets have 1/2" holes drilled in them for 5/16" bolts because the tolerances are so poor, so the edges of the bolt head have only slight overlap. I drilled 3/8"
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holes measured directly off the truck bed to ensure accuracy and they have worked out perfectly.
There is a bolt head hidden underneath them so you have to drill an extra hole for clearance (either part way or all the way through) so the brackets seat flush. I put on a Retrax pro MX which fit perfectly and , even with the split tailgate doesn't leak a drop in the rain and I park it outside in Seattle. You can see the large hole in the back of the factory bracket to clear the bolt head, but I only drilled it through part way to avoid unnecessary sacrificing of structural integrity.
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