Kekkan's TRD Sport DCLB MTB bed build etc

I bought this 2021 TRD Sport in April 2021, ordered a topper shorty after. I spent weeks searching these pages and many others on the interwebs for ideas on a build for the bed of the truck.

I wanted to somehow put a tray into the bed for my mountain bikes, kinda like you see in all the van builds. But I could not find many, plenty of draw units just no trays

I liked the idea of using 80/20 as I figured it would be lighter and possibly easier to take out if I needed to. I found this build https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/extruded-aluminum-and-plywood-bed-box.715843/ by @captain_beefheart14 which helped me decide to go with 80/20 which I got from Tnutz.

This thing sat in my garage for 6 or so weeks driving me nuts as I wanted the topper on so I could finish it, 18 weeks later and I finally get my Leer 180, so the past couple of weeks I have been getting this together.

I got a few things I think I will eventually change as I am not 100% happy with, but it works pretty good, anyway this is what I got so far,

 

Super slick bed build. You should link that in over on the below bike thread. Questions regarding transporting bikes in the bed under a topper come up fairly frequently.

Oh yea, nice Evil.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/all-things-bikes-and-tacos.445155/page-1671#post-26269161

 

@backcountryj I tried but seems I don't have enough cred to post in that thread yet lol it told me I needed more posts

 

Weird. Might something newer.

That’s one of the more active bike threads around on this site.

Regardless welcome to TW. You clearly have some great content to share with the collective.

 

Thank you

 

This is exactly the build I have been wanting to do! My topper is a bit shorter so I suspect I would need to remove both wheels and build some kind of rear axle/derailleur catch. Is the frame all bolted together?

 

@Uncle Chair yes the frame is all held together with L-brackets, here is a few pictures from when I started building it

 

Nicely done! I like the hi-vis orange for the inside of the drawers. Are you using those pieces of extrusion for drawer slides? Clever. What is that piece of material that is attached to the aluminum that acts as the drawer guide?

 

@captain_beefheart14 Thanks. The thin white piece between the draw and the extrusion is just PVC board I ripped down, The draw moved around too much for my liking so I added that. It's one one the thing I want to eventually fix. After installing it all I have a few things I want to change/fix but for now I think it works good

 

I like the simplicity of your build. What do the bottom of the drawers look like? Do they use 8020 for framing also or are they plywood boxes? How much weight could the drawer carry and slide well? I'm in the planning stages of a drawer and bike tray build myself.

 

@Wile_E_RedDog Thanks, the draws are just 3/4" sanded plywood from Home Depot, painted with a couple coats of gloss poly. The bottom of the draws just slide on the extrusion. Right now in the draw I would say I have about 50lbs in the draw plus the weight of the draw and it slides very well.

 

Great looking build. Would you be willing to share the widths of the platform and mtb slide? I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to fit a second bike in there. TIA

 

@ttaaooaa thanks, The draw is 19-3/4" wide, the entire extrusion frame is 42" wide by 68" long, 9-1/4" tall I think, basically flush with the top of the wheel wells . The platform is 30" wide, the tray is currently out and getting a remodel as I bought draw slides for it. It was about 18-1/2", once it's back together it will be about 16-1/4" wide. I lost 1-1/2" to allow for the slides and another inch cause I changed something, I have this picture when I experimented with a tray before I started the build, this tray is the same size as the 18-1/2" tray that was in the pictures above. It's tight in the truck but it works. I should have it back together in a couple days, I'll try and see if I can make it work and get some pictures. I am determined to get 2 bike in myself.

 

Why did you move to drawer slides? I was interested to see your workaround for slides with the previous design.

 

@captain_beefheart14 I struggled with the tray sliding, I couldn't get it to slide easily with the bike on it. I couldn't figure it out, the draw with 40ish lbs in it slides great almost like it was on slides. The tray as soon as I put the bike on (32lbs) was just too hard to push in. I am not sure if its the way the weight is distributed but it bothered me lol. Now its a 2 piece system, due to the weight of the draw slides I decided to cut it into 2 units. so it is easier to remove if I need to. The draw unit is currently back in the truck and works as normal, the tray I had to reconfigure a little, I am hoping to get the slides on tonight.

 

Sweet build! Loving the bed.