Bed Rack idea...

He was commenting because the question about a roll bar was about as far off topic as one could get. Bigfootracing posed a unrelated question in a thread of someone else's. That is grounds for getting flamed at.
If you want to debate the safety benefits of roll bars start your own thread.

Oh yea, thanks to everyone else for the positive and constructive posts.

 

Great idea OP, i like this setup. Thanks for posting this.

 

Nice work! I would like to do this, but would also like to have use of the roll up Tonneau cover. Would be nice to put the bikes ontop and all the gear in the bed.

 

doesn't water splash up from the underside when driving through it? rain or otherwise?

nice job OP!!

 

Yep, my thoughts exactly Ron!
Only thing I worry about is forgetting and pulling into garage and crunch.....
Just ordered my tracks

 

Nice work. I have been considering an over the bed rack, but didnt want to sacrifice the use of my Truxedo. Problem solved.

 

The wheel wells are pretty well sealed up. I have seen no evidence of water coming up from underneath.

 

Ready for UPS to deliver tracks with plus nuts.

 

Nate, did u use spray or roll on bedliner and did u do any prep work? (sanding, primer etc?)
Also what brand of liner? Did it set up rubbery like u could dig a fingernail into it, or completely hard? How has it held up so far? Thanks again man

 

I used Dupli Color bed liner. I followed their directions: sand, clean, apply 3 coats of bed liner. It set up rigid and has not come off at all. I even tried scraping a piece off just to see how strong it was. It has held up great so far.

 

Thanks again Nate.....got the tracks today, woot!
Just need to figure out where to mount. I want to add a BakFlip cover eventually so I'd like the tracks as far outboard as possible to not affect the outer lip of tonneau. Problem is outer body contour is curved towards rear. Also I want the track slammed as forward as possible to I can slide rails as close to cab and be able to fold up cover. Or would it be better to have the track rearward to fold up BakFlip against cab and then slide bars up against cover for the rare scenario when I need near full bed space and rack and cover are in the way?

Any thoughts y'all?
Also any BakFlip owners that can measure the overlap of the cover onto sheet metal of the bed rail not counting the tiedown track?
Probably check with Bak website.....

 

excellent idea. thanks for sharing. might look into this later down the road.

 

Here is my winter rack set up, I have had for a few years now.

 

Plus nuts installed and showing install tool, all of which came with the "Yakima 54" tracks with Plusnuts".
Awesome, slick fasteners for installing threaded fitting into blind hole.

 

looks good! thx

 

I like the idea of using the bedrails, it frees up the bed cleats for other stuff.

 

Ya I work at a Toyota dealer so I managed to come across some free extra bed cleats. and its nice and easy when i dont need em undo some bolts and lift the whole thing up and out.

 

Ok , basically finished. Here's some shots of the process and finished product. Once my bike carriers and towers come in I'll post more:

 

One more:

You can see where I patched the holes for the plastic tabs on the factory covers. I used metal flashing and a lil Gorilla glue overnight. When I'm ready to trade or sell I can peel those covers off and return to stock look (God willing).
I slammed the tracks as far forward as I could overhanging the rail a bit (1/4" from cab) so I can slide tower and bars forward if I need max bed space. May have to trim tracks later if it looks like they'll contact cab with flexing. I'm extremely pleased so far. Getting a good tape line with liner was tough. Peeling off fast at a slightly downward angle was by far the best technique (probably 5 to 10 minutes after final coat). I may have to clean that up a bit later.

 

Nate, hope ya don't mind me crowding your thread....