SHOW OFF YOUR BED RACKS!!!!!

Hey guys!!! This thread has made me decide to drop some money on my truck hahaha. Im going to be ordering my bed rack soon and after that my CVT tent.... I have been looking through and trying to see how yall have the tents mounted to the bed racks.. Seems to be with just a U bolt... Is that right? Trying to figure out if I need to order anything else to help with mounting my tent to the bed rack. Planning on doing a lot of camping this year. I live in NC and plan on going out to Utah and Colorado this summer to do some camping and I feel like this would be the perfect set up to do it with. Thanks in advance for any advice and information!!!!!

 

The KB Voodoo rack....

 

straight up pimpin right there! Strong work Chad!

 

This thread is great. Down side is that it looks like the bed rack fitting my tent will need to be custom.

 

@zscott Now has the bed racks listed and priced on his website.

 

That looks great. Alot like the Oregon racks I saw pop up awhile ago but with a little more class and styling. I definitely would increase the number of mounting points though to the bed rails if I were carrying a roof top tent. 2 per side with one bolt in a slot is just asking for the the rack to start bouncing on a trail.

 

Yep, they are up there. Unfortunately the wait times and pricing are still going to keep most people away. One day I will have more people to help me build them.

 

Thanks!!

With the four 3/8" flange bolts and t-nuts I provide, it's rock solid. No bouncing will occur.

 

What are the mounting clamps you are using on the bars? I am looking to do something similar.

 

I am not doubting the the 3/8" bolts and the tnuts, I use the same type of thing as do others on bedracks for these trucks. Those components are solid, but having only 2 bolts per side on mounting feet that have a relatively small footprint is risky in my opinion. The large vertical slots will allow the rack to shift up and down without actually disconnecting from the bed.

I use slots and holes but I do a minimum of 4 bolts per side with provisions for more, all pro does at least that, CBI a similar amount, even relentless has 4 bolts per load bar, and all for a good reason.

I am not trying to down play your rack at all. It is an awesome design. I just think that more attachment points to the bed would make it much stronger for those that need a little more strength.

 

I think if you're jumping the truck over river beds it might need more attachment points, but for normal driving it will be rock solid.

 

I'm in agreement with zscott on this. I have the KB Voodoo heavy duty load bars and stopped using them for two reasons. One is that the plastic bedrails will compress with the small footprint of the bars and the weight of a RTT (fixable with steel side caps, more $$), and two, the bars do move up and down because of the slots and the use of the toyota cleats to clamp them down. Granted, this new rack system uses different bolts to fasten the rack to the rails (still slotted), but I would imagine having to spend time checking and retightening the bolts on a regular basis after some rough roads. This mounting system (not the rack itself) is simply not robust enough for serious overlanding.

 

The first HD bars did have issues with sliding up and down, they've since been redesigned.

I can assure there will be no issues with the bed rack doing the same thing.

 

I picked up an Avid offroad mount and its low profile, holds the spare and still leaves plenty of room underneath!

 

All pro "pack rack". Love it, mines great.

 

Just a few questions for your opinion / input when it comes to racks.

Is there a means of not using the OEM bedracks and bolting in behind the bedracks? This yeilds 4 hard points as close to possible on the OEM bed.
Option of using 4130 steel?
Any benefit building it at a height of 13 -15" as a standard model? Know the purpose for my build.
Anyone built a short bed rack using the 4 main bed bolts? This would be a larger instal but significantly stronger over using side rails.
Is there any benefit to triangulating a bed rack build? Just thinking maximizing strength.

Thanks for listening to me randomly toss out a few ideas.

 

Most of the time if people decide to mount a bedrack without the use of the OEM tracks, they mount it in the bed of the truck where the bed actually mounts to the frame. In my opinion this is the strongest most secure way of doing it. @JLee at BAMF makes a great one. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/b-a-m-f-bed-rack-build.170971/ Is it necessary for everyone, no. With your idea of mounting it behind the tracks it is certainly possible, it is just more effort to remove and install.

Personally I don't know enough about different grades of steel to give input on this one. I am sure different types may offer benefits in this case but for a bedrack I really think most steels are going to work just fine.

My bedracks are built in the 13-15" range standard. I think it is a great height to keep the roof top tent from sticking up too high but I also think there are some benefits to having it higher if you need more space for gear.

Again, with the 4 main bed bolts, and triangulating, the BAMF rack is the way to go. Check out the link above.

 

Sometimes (most times) I don't think I'm always clear in what I'm attempting to ask. I'd only want a bed rack that either ties into the floor alone, or behind the rails alone. If it ties into the floor then my thought would be as in the edited paint image below. Green lines would indicate metal tubing. (Only did half of it and left the top rails off simplifying the design.)

If the bed rack tied in behind the bedtracks then this yeilds the most versitility for an open bed design. It would eliminate the ability to run a softopper if one wanted the bed covered.

Thus far I'm starting to lean towards the roll cage type design.

BAMF does look like a solid design, but not what I'd be after for this implementation.

 

That makes perfect sense. I am sure it is doable. I haven't seen one mass produced either way.