Anybody weld up their own Bed Racks?

Anybody weld up their own Bed racks or roof racks? I plan on welding up my own to haul the kayak. I want to see what some of you guys came up with and maybe some tips and pointers. Would love to see pictures as well!
(All gens!)

 

Check in my build thread I'm my signature. I build most of my own armor and things of that nature unless it is not cost effective to do so.

Also have this rack built out of UniStrut and channel iron for a lower profile when needed.

 

what model bender do you have? I have a jd2 model 3 always wondered how hard it was to bend tubing of that size without hydrolics. everything i do is 1" or smaller

 

I picked mine up new never used off craigslist for 1/2 price of a new one. Saved time, even though I already bought the tubing to build my own

 

I have a Gen1 Speedway bender with 90* dies. It's hydraulic but I have bent lots of 1.75 DOM tube on a model 3 bender with out any issue. Bend a little and catch another notch and go some more.

 

Fuck yeah bro.



JD2 bender, it's not that hard to bend, just make sure you anchor it good.

 

I welded up a stupid simple pair of bed bars for holding my rtt, hilift, and traction mats. I dont own a tube bender or anything fancy, just a 140 welder and an angle grinder.

No pictures on hand, Ill share some tomorrow.

 

nice! might be time for some new dies!

 

Those sr stickers are rad

 

All these look badass, I really wanted to go with the tubing it looks a lot cleaner, but I don't have a tube bender hopefully it won't look half bad with just square tubing. Thanks guys

 

Depending on how you design it, it could look bad ass.

 

I have an aluminum rack on my project list. But it has a few other aluminum projects ahead in the queue. I want it light and easily removable by one person in under 5 minutes and bolt on to the bed rail system. Basically I want some extra ability to carry stuff without hooking up the trailer or the ability to carry without filling the trailer up.

I might morph it into a canvas shelled cap or make another for that.

 

thats pretty cool. I ordered a custom tarp to stretch over mine, safari style, I just haven't gotten around to putting it on. I'm getting inspired in here. Also, I used .120 wall dom, pretty heavy for a rack, and I can unbolt at the 4 points and remove it alone. I think a person would be hard pressed to make a rack that was a struggle to remove.

 

@Box Rocket did a really nice rectangular tube bed rack on his 1st gen Tacoma you might look it up for some inspiration. Look around and see if any members on here are local to you that might have a bender and be willing to give you a hand.

 

Yeah where are you located op?

 

I work at a steel tube mill. 95% of what I build is from sq / rec tubing due to circumstances. Anything can be made nice in tube provided you plan ahead. Sometimes I make my corners by only cutting part way through the tube and bend the last bit so you have a nice little radius. It helps not cutting, grinding then filling with weld, grinding again to get a smooth rad. Or else grind a nice sweeping rad then take 10ga and cap the corner and blend it in with weld and further grinding.

 

You can also make a series of relief cuts on the square tube to make a nice radius bend and then weld up and blend grind.

 

I made this one for my 2nd gen.

 

My bed rack is Allpro offroad diy weld, I fabbed an adjustable kayak/canoe rackto attach to it. I made it adjuatable because my canvas and cedar canoe has some pretty good rocker. Made it wide enough can carry 2 kayaks . Hobie Outback and a hobie Revo 13

 

@medic2230 do you remember where you sourced the L-track?