Bed - Thule Rack & Access Cover

I have a Thule rack system off of my Leer topper that was on my 09 DC. I just switched to the 11 DC LB and want to run an Access cover instead of topper. I would like to mount the Thule racks on the bed to haul bikes above my access cover. Has anyone done this? Would I make a special bracket or could the brackets simply bolt into the bed (not real excited about drilling into my new bed). Thanks for any ideas.

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/116467-bed-bars-rack-truck-bed.html

 

I'm not sure if this will help but here is my setup.

 

I plan on doing the same thing.

The suggestions above wouldn't allow you to close the tonneau cover.

From my research, It looks like you can either permanently mount landing pads (I can't remember the # but they are the ones you would use for camper shells) to the bed side caps and attach towers and crossbars to that. Or you can add a rail system to the caps (a bit more expensive obviously) which would allow you to move the towers if needed. Both options would require drilling the bed caps.

Do you still have the rack from your topper?

 

Yes, I took rack with mounts, just left the tracks. I just hate to drill into the bed. At this point, I am running out of options.

Thanks for the other posts, but i have searched all the forum and can't find anyone that has ran one on the bed caps to be able to utilize the access cover.

 

So if I drill the bed cap, will I have to worry about rust? Is it all composite or some metal to worry about?

 

There was a guy from Vermont snakeii who did this using the channels on his 05 bed rails. If you want pics here is the thread (it was before my days on TW). I do not know if he is a member here.
His cover was a retrax instead of access but the pics will give you an idea

Here is the thread, not sure if you can see the pics without signing up. I attached a couple from his thread...again this is snakeii's setup.

 

BINGO! Pics are tiny though. The larger versions can be viewed in the link above without logging in.