Bed Rack - Gutter Style Adaptation

Hey guys. I've been wanting a bed rack for quite some time now, but I have never been able to justify the cost of buying something and then running the risk of not being able to mount it the way I wanted it. Anyways, yesterday, I noticed a big pile of "junk" sitting on the curb of my neighbors house. I couldnt believe my eyes when I saw a Thule High Rise roof rack! I scooped it up and headed to Lowes to pick up some materials for my installation.

Here is what I ended up with. This will work for any of the "gutter style" roof racks out there. I couldnt be happier.

 

Nice setup

 

thats really cool

 

seems like your load capacity is limited. so be watchful of how the rail mounts hold.

if you could reinforce the mounts somehow by running something down from the cleats to the inner bed side or help spread some of the weight over to the top of the bed sides, it would take some pressure off the cleats themselves...not sure how much weight they'd be able to hold before busting the rail or ripping out of the rail

but nice find and way to make something out of it

 

OK, great thinking!

Just the solution I was working toward (but didn't yet know it) for a way to mount a highlift in the bed!

Saw one last night that required drilling the bed rail system to mount inside those tracks, then hung across the bed with a cross bar, where the highlift was mounted. Tight, tidy and outta sight under my tonneau. Well, their example won't fit under the tonneau, but you get the idea...

I may get their highlift brackets, but make my own crossbar using this idea - gotta hit the dealer today and snag a couple more of those cleats (or check under my seat in case I already bought more and am forgetting...LOL)

 

Looks good. Thanks for posting this. Might have to try doing something similar.