Still looking at the rear of the truck, I'm gonna bring a picture of the filler panel between the bumper and bed.
Building the panel was one challenge. As I progressed I knew I had to mount it to the flat area just below the tailgate. I didn't want to just use bolts or screws to attach it to the bed. Looking at the picture above, you can see a couple spear like bars that come in from the sides.
If I used bolts or screws, I would have an indentation in the panel where the screws are tight against the panel.
I have a plan.....
Starting with a piece of 3/4" tube, I cut it in half length wise.
Using a cut off wheel on the 4 1/2" grinder, I cut 3" inward.
I put a small relief cut crossways at the end of the 3" cut. Then with a pair of pliars I sqeezed the ends together.
One together I stitch welded.
In the first picture above, you can see how after a little grinding I ended up with smooth spear ends.
I made 6 of these tabs for mounting. I welded 3 these to the under side of each of the spears. Then drilled the panel and the bed flat to match the screws on the spears. Now just tighten the nuts on the back side.
The nice thing about these mounting spears is the clamping force is distributed across a large area, now there is no bolt indentations.