Bed Rack Over Softtopper: Request for Advice, Reviews, Videos, or Input

Would you mind if I reproduced this for myself?
The cut into the plastic bed top rail to expose the mount points is of great interest. The welded on plate extension to the ST rail too.

Would you care to elucidate?

 

Sure, go right ahead!

The design has worked great for me so far. I typically put my softtopper up on the weekends and haven't had any issues getting it up or down with the front bar. The kicker bar has also been really useful to climb in and out of the bed using the rear tire.

When looking for where to cut the bed rail, just pop off the entire top cap. You should be able to just pull it up with a little force. There are 6 hidden threaded holes that are used for the tonneau cover if you option the truck that way. Mine had already been cut to expose the holes for the previous owner, so it was nbd to cut it out some more for this.

The plate welded to the ST rail is the 3" x 3" 90° angle I listed in my last post. It was trimmed a bit to fit just above the utility rails in the bed and then I drilled holes to match the tonneau cover threaded holes. There is a little overhang off the bed near the back, but you could cut the top section as well to match the bed rail shape easily with a plasma cutter.
Sadly ours broke just before this project =/

 

Oh, and here's a pic with our kayaks on it from a recent trip

 

^Digging that setup and how creative it is. I like how you integrated a new rail for the ST. For me, I just wouldn't want to hack up my bed caps, kind of a bummer yours were already hacked. Although it did make it easy to set yours up the way you did. Looks trickier if you try to retain the full cap. I've been wanting to design a rack for over my topper but there are SO many options and designs and so little time to actually tackle the project

 

Thanks for the added comments

Your rack embodies all the features I want in an over soft topper /General purpose rack.


I get it now, The 1X1 is welded to the outside of the 3X3 angle. Flush with the vertical leg that serves to catch the bed rail/ Tonneau mounting locations.

A plasma cutter would come in handy , I haven't got one, but know those that do!

My hat is off to "Those who have gone before"!

 

Any idea what new bed caps would run? I did pop the bed caps off my ACLB Sport today to have a look. YUP! Those threaded mounting points are right there. They appear to be "secure enough" for a utility rack considering the beefy angle steel laid on top ;-)

For me... A grand for a ready made rack that doesn't fit a Soft topper, or cutting some plastic to fit a rack I can live with. No Brainer! ;-)

 

How long did the install take? I am potentially looking for a rack that I could remove occasionally to load large items in the bed.

 

Very nice setup there, sir.

 

Received final box of parts and completed rack yesterday evening...

 

What was the lead time on this?

which options did you choose?

I’m looking to grab the same one for my alucab. Im tired of having an open bed and having things covered in dirt by the time I get to camp

 

* Didn't take too long for the extrusions... * The smaller parts to assemble took longer, by several weeks...
* Opted for the braces as recommended for off road stability
* Basic rack otherwise

 

@Irishfella May I ask what is the weight of your setup? It’s a very nice looking design…. Thanks!

 

I finally got an email from UpTop that my rack has shipped! Super excited to install it!

 

Does xtrusion come standard with just the two silver cross bars and you ordered the additional black cross bars separate ?

 

I have a Softtoper and a Dissent Offroad cab and bed rack on my 2020 Tacoma and love both. Can put my kayaks, rocket box, whatever up there and no worries. Also very handy for hauling lumber. metal roofing and so on. Very easy to strap stuff down to. Will probably be selling both though, I bought a Super Pacific X1. Going to hold on to the softtopper and Dissent racks until I'm sure I'm happy with the X1. That being said , I don't think you would be unhappy with either the Softtoper or the Dissent.

 

has anyone bought the rack that Softopper sells themselves? Or is it a new item on their website?

 

Best I can tell that's a new offering from them. This is the first I've heard of it. Quite expensive though, looks like the similarly designed Xtrusion Overland rack would be cheaper. But that's just first glance, there may be some other pros/cons to consider there besides price.

 

YAY!! Got my Uptop Overland Truss Softopper rack delivered. Cant wait to install it. Just in time too, I just ordered the new Thule Foothill RTT. Bring on the weekend!!

 

Mine will be here tomorrow!

 

We want pics!