My new bed cargo basket

So I've been working on this project for quite a while now and it's almost done. This is how its gone....

I got a Surco Safari Basket for fairly cheap on Craigslist a while ago. It was in pretty rough shape and I planned on refinishing it. I completely disassembled it, sanded it, and put about 4-5 coats of rustoleum paint on it. A lot of the rivets had come out so I drilled extra holes and put in 48 bolts for added strength (adds a nice look too). I got new end caps and mounting hardware.

I decided to mount it over my bed since it was pretty big. I got a set of Thule roof tracks and mounted them on my bed rails. Set up a standard Yakima rack on the tracks that goes over my tonneau cover and the basket mounts to that.

On to the pics. This is what the basket was like when I got it...









And this is how it sits tonight....











Still need to put a few more bolts in when I can cut them shorter and get longer load bars for the yakima rack... the current ones are barely long enough.

Future plans include: LED lights on the side for surround lighting, hi-lift mount, shovel mount, and spare tire mount.

 

nice job man....looks very badass...i have the thule feet,cross bars,and wind fairing on my roof.....love roofracks...

 

Looks great, I just picked up a Yakima Loadwarrior rack today in fact for the same concept. What mounts and bars did you use? I was thinking of having some welded out of aluminum, but buying the setup my be easier.

 

what do you mean "mounts"? how its mounted to the truck? the towers? or how the basket is mounted to the bars?

the bars are yakima 58" load bars... they are barely long enough. i'm going to get a set of 68" bars and cut them down to about 63".

 

Yea, towers and bars... after looking at prices ill prolly stick to the original idea and weld up an aluminum frame

 

i am using a set of yakima rail riders... the older version of the control towers.

i have an extra set if your looking for some.

 

Out of curiosity, what brand tonneau cover allows for the Yakima/Thule mounts to attach to it like that?

Or do I just have a fundamental misunderstanding of how those mounts work and they'll actually work on anything?

 

I love this. You got a truck bed for your truck bed.

 

I like that!!! Nice....