Bed rack/decked/fridge combo?

Hey folks, building out the bed of my '21 tacoma and looking for some advice on setup. I currently have a decked system (which I love and not planning to switch that up). I am however in the market for a low or mid height rack to mount my roam vagabond RTT on (no other accessories need to be mounted to the rack). I am also planning to do a fridge in the bed as well. Ideally (but not required) said rack would also be fairly easy to install/uninstall between trips and/or accommodate a roll-up tonneau.

You may already see the issue. I need the fridge to fit under the rack and over the Decked but I don't want a cab height rack as I wheel pretty hard and want to keep weight low and MPGs as good as possible. I know for sure I will need a slide/tilt fridge slide, that's unavoidable, but just fitting it normally is my concern.

Does anyone have a setup that combines that three, or have any advice on a rack/fridge combo that could fit in tandem, and accounting for extra height added from the tilting slide? Or if not, at least a good mid height bed rack or, maybe more importantly, a shorter fridge? (Ideally still 35+ liters as I take longer trips) but one that is wider and shorter maybe? Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks folks

 

I had a fridge on my backseat.

If I was determining if a fridge would fit in a bed with a rack, I would take online dimensions and use a tape measure.

Not sure what you mean by MPG, off roading, and Tacoma. It is an off road Tacoma.

 

Fridge in the backseat is viable, I'd just prefer it closer to the kitchen setup if possible. Also backseat gets cramped between dog(s), and clothing I try to keep inside to stay dry.

I was just hoping to see if anyone had done something like this before and could suggest a rack/fridge/slide setup to replicate on mine. I have taken measurements but those are always a little iffy and I'd prefer not to receive everything just to find it doesn't quite fit. Also just curious if anyone has good recs on shorter fridges or good mid height racks to accommodate a fridge that I might not have found in my research. But yeah, MPGs and off road tacoma are a bad combo haha. Just trying to do the best I can to preserve range on longer trips, and keep my center of gravity low with a lower height rack. Thanks for your reply!

 

Why would you want a tonneau and a Decked? The Decked already takes up most of the vertical bed space and makes the bed fairly useless. I guess the couple inches of space on top might be useful for skis or something small like that. I’ll second the fridge with the backseat 40% section replaced by a simple platform. Keeps your fridge running way longer and walking up to the door to grab something isn’t difficult.

 

Not sure what the layout could look like in a DCab but the AC is setup prime for this setup:
Jackery 1000 Pro sits in the foot well behind the drivers seat and running on DC Power I keep foods cold, and I mean cold-cold for
days at a time. When the truck is running, a secondary DC Input under the cubby re-powers the Jackery, and if all else fails the
solar panels get deployed.

With dry goods, coffee and smokes + clean water I could last for 30+ days if I had too.... heck we did a 16 day excursion to YellowStone with less.

** Special thanks to the wife for building the platform **

 

I don't necessarily care that much about the tonneau, I just have one already (came with the truck) and it's handy for keeping hunting gear (guns, decoys, etc) or other flat items like chairs dry on top of the decked when not camping since they lay flat, and I wouldn't mind keeping that when I get a rack. Then again, that can just go in the backseat when hunting, or stuffed in the decked. Backseat might be the right option, and then I save on not getting a slide too. Just reluctant to lose that much seat space as we camp with the dogs usually. But certainly a good option, and thanks for the recommendation!

 

Good looking setup! Almost makes me wish I had an AC. Roomier than I thought back there. Is the platform temporary (i.e. take it out alongside the fridge between trips?). If so, that could be a good option, and not too difficult to make. Thanks!

 

Oh yea it slips in and out easily, but I leave it there full time and set stuff on it now and again.
I rarely use those jump-seats for 'people', like very very rare and if need be it slips out and into the truck bed.

It's a nice spot for the dog to sit on as well... and there's a bit of space underneath for camera gear and jumper cables
and what-not.

 

You would have to consider if the fridge is weatherproof or waterproof. You don’t really see many fridges exposed to the elements like that

 

just realized some other stuff
1. A slide will add some height
2. Each fridge has a different opening style
3. You’ll need to account for if you have a slide, where that moves the fridge to when pulled out. Some go straight. Some go straight then angle down I think.
I imagine angle would spill things inside if not packed well. But so would driving.
4. if the fridge is not weatherproof maybe you can cover it or the whole bed. Say for example a home made GFC. That would give you a flat top, “RTT”, and enclosed bed that can be further insulated. And solar panel mounting surface.

you could potentially try a fridge fitment and return it if not, without scratching it.
I picked up my previous Dometic from REI but found it too small. Kinda wish I got the $750 dual zone iceco back when Costco had it 6-12mo ago.

 

Hope Costco brings those back, the IceCo ones are sweet, thats my frontrunner right now.

I was planning on a slide and tilt one (I think Alu-Cab and TuffStuff make one) but between the height from that, and most of the fridges on the market being 16-19" tall at least, even fitting it underneath the rack (never mind opening, which a tilt slide would hopefully solve) is gonna be tough. Not to mention the weatherproof issue. Most advertise as weatherproof/resistant but even so it would likely decrease the life/reliability of the fridge either way. And storing batteries back there brings the same issue.

A camper shell w/ roof rack on top, or as you mentioned, homemade GFC (or real GFC) would be ideal, but all of the above are either A- pricey, B- complicated, or C- my primary issue, putting a lot of weight up high, my reason for avoiding a cab height rack in the first place, since I wheel fairly hard and want to keep COG low. Looks like for now the best solution is fridge in the backseat like this.

My concern was losing space for dry clothes/dogs in backseat but it seems it's going to be much easier to find a weatherproof solution for clothes/personal items in the bed (like even something as simple as an Ikea bag) then trying to make a fridge work back there. Anyways, excited to mount up the vagabond RTT once I settle on a rack, now without the concern of a fridge underneath! (Also saving $$ on no slide and more diverse rack options) Thanks everyone for your ideas/help.

Eyeing the CBI Universal bed bars, DRT's lo-pro bars, Caliraised's 11" rack, or maybe a marketplace find Billie Bars. If anyone has recs/thoughts on those or others for low/mid height solid and affordable racks, I'd love to hear em