Most affordable yet strongest bed rack for RTT?

I had everything laser cut from my own design then bent the tube brackets on my press at home

 

Dynamic is how much weight stress it can carry with the truck in motion, static is how much weight stress it can hold while standing still.

 

second this. It’s what I have too! Low profile and tent sits below cab height.

also can carry bikes!

 

X2 on Avid Off-road bed bars. Here’s my (extensive) post on my RTT bars build.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/posts/24286460/

 

Idk if anyone mentioned it but I love my RCI bed rack and best looking bed rack IMO.

 

Can't say an exact weight but im pretty sure the roof is made to hold the weight of the truck in a roll over so that the occupants aren't killed so a roof rack and tent probably isn't that much stress on it.

 

like someone said above, static is the weight rating when the truck is parked/not in motion, dynamic is when it's being driven/in motion

 

Dunno about affordability, but I have the Yakima outpost. Made out of aluminium so its lightweight, but the selling point for me, is the "Base" attaches to the bed rail (and sits on the bed sides) allowing the actual Rack "post" to be removed easily if you need to do so.

Edit*

Also Yakima claims to have an "off-road" rating

* Maximum on-road rating of 500 lbs.
* Maximum off-road rating of 300 lbs.

 

I ordered C4 Fab Lo Pro bed bars from @Truck Brigade about 7 days ago and just received them in the mail today! Can’t beat 144 bucks with free shipping. My RTT will sit perfectly flush with the sides of my bed with plenty of room for storage underneath. You have to paint them yourself though but whatever.

 

New offering from KB Voodoo.

https://www.kbvoodoo.com/all-prox-crossbars/prox-tacoma-crossbars-2016-and-up

 

$500 for two extrusions and some bent sheet metal?!

 

Ended up picking getting a steal on a used longbed Vodoo mid height rack got a shortbed but seems to work just fine

 

I can shed some light on the pricing:

1) Material costs are outrageous at the moment. We use 7 gauge steel and very heavy aluminum extrusions. Packaging material is also insanely expensive right now.

2) A lot more goes into making these than you might think. There is machining, laser cutting, CNC brake press operation, welding, deburring, sandblasting, zinc priming, and powder coating. Not to mention handling and packaging.

3) Our bars are the most affordable compared to other similar bars (which by the way were blatantly copied from us)

 

Are there any issues with running your longbed rack in a shortbed? The holes mount up perfectly but there not on the rail

 

No issues, people do it all the time.

Attach the back two legs of the rack to those two existing bolts near the tailgate.

 

don’t get all offensive Chad…oh wait, your name is actually Chad


JK, your rack looks killer!

 

I agree!!

 

Thank you

 

I'm not knocking the quality or how competitive the pricing is with similar products. Had it been in a thread other than, "Most affordable yet strongest bed rack for RTT", I wouldn't have even commented. There are tubular welded rack options that are far stronger and more rigid than the KB design for far less $. I've had my hands on other KB stuff and it's nicely made, but it's also not anything extraordinary, IMO. 10' of HD double wide extruded aluminum and <2 sq/ft of .188" steel, bent up, lasered and coated isn't exactly premium stuff.

What is getting machined on these?

CNC brake and laser cutting makes it cheaper to produce compared to manual bending/cutting, more so at volume.

Is there any welding on these? They look like bolt together parts that are individually just extrusions and bent sheet/plate.

I'm not saying that these are overpriced for the market, I'm just reacting to what they cost compared to what I think the value is.

 

Each end of the crossbars gets two holes tapped in them, so there's the machining.

Each upright had a cradle welded to it.

The tubular racks can be nice, but for the most part, they aren't tonneau compatible, and not as easy to mount accessories to.