Mounting a Roll Bar to Bed

I bought a roll bar to mount in my bed. Before y'all give me the lecture (I already got one for my 'grille guard' up front ) Yeah, I know it doesn't protect against rollovers. I just like how it looks, plus it gives you tons of mounting points for bed lights, side lights, and fog lights.

Has anyone had any experience mounting these to the bed? It's roughly 4x4 on every side, and about 3'8" tall. It mounts at the frontmost of the bed, and rear of the wheel wells. I know I'm going to have to drill into the bed. I'll prime the holes to stop rust.

Anyone have any advice? Drilling technique, and hardware? Thanks!

(I love Chrome, but this is a little too much. I'll be painting in black before I install it.)

 

Just watch where you are drilling. Po of mine must of had a roll bar. Holes are there. Good place for water to run out now. Haha

 

I'd plate it on the backside to sandwich the box between the roll bar and the plate. Not very thick metal.

 

I think you can get Sacrete and Simpson anchors at home depot.

 

Go for it Tyler

when drilling, start small and go slow.. until you've drilled to the diameter you desire.
watch for obstructions below the bed and wheel well and make sure you don't drill into them.
use locking fasteners: lock washers or nylock nuts
paint first

 

Thanks! Should I reinforce it somehow? I was thinking of using some steel under the bed and painting it.

 

What's the advantage of using that over just standard nuts and bolts?

 

Itchyfeet is just yanking your chain

At least large area washer (aka fender washers)
Another steel plate underneath would be overkill - depends on how much abuse your going to give it. Where you penetrate the bed floor will dictate reinforcement...

 

I like bed rollbars.

 

Those are also good for mounting machine guns to.

 

They use Tacomas out in Iraq, actually. The ones that were built in Fremont, I'm surprised they didn't use Hiluxes.

 

Oh haha. I use Simpson products for a bunch of things around the house, I wouldn't have been surprised if that was a thing.

 

Not a big deal probably, but priming won't stop rust - just help paint adhere to the surface the same way it will help water adhere to the surface if it's not top coated with paint. I'm sure you meant prime and paint when you said you'd prime the holes you drill, but figured I'd throw that out there anyway.

 

It is not a Roll Bar It is a light bar !!

 

"Show bar".

 

I'm surprised it's not rusty. Most things from the 80s havent held up that well.

You won't be able to just rattlecan over the chrome, you'll need to sand welland prime or it will look like crap in pretty short order.

 

It's held up well. I went and picked it up this morning, I'll post some pics in a minute. The Chrome is in great condition but there's some surface rust on the outside, and a ton of rust on the inside. It sits way too high and it's not wide enough so I'm going to have to do some welding, cutting, and extending of the struts.

 

I disagree the ladies from the 80's are holding up really well compared to ladies from the 70's

 

I went and picked it up this morning. It's in great condition considering its age. According to the owner it came off an old 90's Chevy truck and he went out and bought a big ass 2015 Dodge RAM and it didn't exactly fit, as you can imagine.

Lot of rust on the inside, but I'm not too worried. It sits too high and doesn't line up with the cab, plus the rear struts are not long enough to accommodate the wheel wells. I'm planning on buying 2 inch steel tube and welding some extensions to the rear struts, and cutting a couple inches off each support and re-welding the mounting pads to make it look a little better.

I'm also going to be painting it black. I love chrome just as much as the next guy, but this is a little extra.

Gonna have to wait a few weeks though, I don't know how to weld or have a welder yet. Lol.



Instead of grinding or sanding the Chrome off, I'm going to have my dad strip it in an acid bath. He works at a automotive plating plant. It'll make the finished product look better once I paint it.

(You can see the grille guard I refinished up front, and if you look closely at the second picture you can see the Delta toolbox I repainted in the background)

 

I'm not sure that I'm feeling it. The proportions just look a little odd