Mobtown Bed Rack for Softopper

yup. my experience with communicating with mobtown is there’s not much communication. sent couple emails and not getting any response on my order. pretty frustrating..

 

I contacted Mobtown about this product months ago and never heard from them. Back in late January, I went to a local machine shop and talked to them about what I was looking for. They usually make products for off-shore oil rigs, but the guy was excited about this idea. It took a few weeks, as he's a busy guy, but he finally got me sorted around early March, right before all of this COVID shit started. He charged my $450. I used @90yota 's model as a template, so I had to go in on 4x threaded bushing kits, that's about $110 I think. I also wanted the Prinsu Toprac on top of mine. So I guess all told, it was about $1100. But, it fits perfectly, and I didn't have to wait 18 weeks for it. It also has height-adjustability so I can raise it up or lower it, depending on what height I want it set to.

I'm not poo-poo'ing on you, OP. I really like the design and look of the Mobtown rack. You did a great job of making some awesome Lemonade out of Lemons. I would have lost my shit if I spent that much on a product, and waited that long for it, only to have to make some significant modifications to make it work..

Also, @Jstaud : Yesterday I was able to finagle my softopper off with the bedrack in place. I just loosened up the straps, took the cotter pin rings off, and sorta worked it back and forth a bit until I was able to collapse it. I also have a truck bed box that sits flush with the wheel wells.

 

Any pictures of setup? I'm interested to see how this looks

 

Sure, here you go:

I spray-painted it with black powder coat myself, after a coat of primer. I probably could have done a better job on that, but I was impatient.. The bushing allow for the varied-height to match it up perfectly with the existing bed rack I have. I added a third brake light from Amazon, and a conveyor roller bar primed and painted, with duct tape for the abuse I'll generate with my canoe. It works PERFECTLY for my uses as of yet. The roller bar was about $60 all-told, about half what rhino rack charges for a similar (and shoddier by some reviews) concept. Bonus pic of the dogs this past weekend.

 

that looks like a quality rack

 

What diameter tubing did they use?

 

1.25"

 

Man, this looks sweet ! I'm definitely interested in a set up like this. Does the machine shop think about mass producing these racks or was it a one off?

 

Thanks! I told him other people would be interested, but he hinted it's not really worth his time. He does custom jobs for offshore rigs, and what not. But, I can forward the cad and sketchup files I have for it to you. You could probably find a local shop that could do this, no problem.

If I had it to do over again, I might would curve the bars instead of having them angle. Just a personal preference. And, if you find the right shop, you could save on the Prinsu Top Rack cost by having them machine the slots and everything for you that's welded to the rack, similar to how the mobtown rack is all one piece. Then you just buy the cross bars from TNUTS or Prinsu themselves, I'll bet you could be all in save the crossbars for under $650.

Actually, you're in Ft Worth? There was a guy in Dallas that did a similar job I saw when I was researching this. I'll dig around and send you the link. Not sure if he still does it, but maybe worth a shot.

Cheers.

 

Sounds good! I really appreciate it.

 

https://www.expeditionportal.com/fo...e-canopy-bed-rack-for-a-2nd-gen-tacoma.65226/
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/racks-go-around-camper-shell-256889/
Here's a link to the info in Dallas, but FWIW, I emailed and called this vendor a time or two when I still lived in Austin, and never heard a peep. But that Frontrunner Rack on top of the custom rack is what originally gave me the bug for this idea years ago.

This is also a good thread where I found the design for what I wound up going with:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bed-racks-for-bestop-softopper.452771/page-3

If you go with 90yota's design, be warned the link for the threaded bushing kits no longer works. Right after I ordered mine from them, they went away entirely from the internet. I have no idea wtf happened. They were there one day, gone the next. It could be a problem with my cookies or something, that the link goes to other products. No clue. It's too bad, because I think it's a very clever idea for ease of removal by oneself.

Anyway, good luck. Just PM me if you want the cad files. They're "pretty" accurate to a 3rd gen shortbed. But as anything, always measure twice yourself!

 

Awesome man! I appreciate it. When I'm in the market for one, I'll definitely contact these guys in Dallas. A lot easier dealing with a fabricator in the vicinity rather than waiting for something to ship over.

 

Put my order in for the @Mobtown Offroad rack a few weeks ago. Really hoping all of the kinks as mentioned in the OP's original post have been worked out.

 

how did you attach the rack to the bars? I’m building a similar set up and looking for ideas.

 

That alone would make me not want to purchase from them.

 

Finally got my mobtown bed rack today. Took almost 6 months of patiently waiting. I installed it right away to see how it fits. Anyways, they thought they fixed all the issues with this rack... BUT NO. I am having the same issue with the mounting holes not lining up my bed tracks. This time on a 2nd gen tacoma. SMH. The rack is not sitting flat on the bed side and there’s a fat gap in between. Now all the weight and load is directly sitting on the tracks. Decided to put my softtopper see if it fits. Initially I was worried about fitment issues because I have the older style softtopper that is taller in height. Well I just verified it fits. Not looking forward to taking everything down and drilling out 16 holes... fuck me

 

Dude that sucks, I am glad I went with another company....seems pretty crappy they can’t fix a simple issue and are letting people spend hard earn money just to go home and have to fix it.

 

You do not need to drill 16 holes. I can send a replacement bases. I’m just now seeing your email. It came in after we were closed. After looking in to the issue, it appears as though your parts were made incorrectly. It is not an issue with the design or slots, it was a manufacturing error. The fabricator that positioned the tabs off of the top plate positioned them incorrectly as far as up and down which threw the whole thing off.

 

this is exactly what I was wanting to do, as far as running the quick connects with their rack. Can you tell me the specifics on what you had to drill? Thanks!

 

I'll have to look for a pic, but I effectively used these brackets from McMaster-Carr:

https://www.mcmaster.com/33125T871/. I was only able to use one of the channels on the 8020/T-Slot for securing the bed rack to these brackets. I'm not crazy about that, but it's just the way it is with the width of the bed rack mounting points in relation to each other. I'll have to upload pics to illustrate what I mean.