Guys with a Leitner long bed rack, could it fit a short bed?

i found a pretty good deal on a leitner rack for a long bed, and I have a short bed.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me how much fabrication/cutting/welding it would take to fit the 6ft model on a short bed.

https://www.leitnerdesigns.com/tacoma-bed-rack-short-bed-2016-plus-p/04-0060-m-01-1181.htm

 

Its TIG welded aluminum, gonna be a bitch to weld and likely not worth the effort as you'd have to get it down to millimeters to bolt up properly.

Just get one made for your shortbed. I'm not even sure where you'd cut it and still be able to use the slot systems already in place, you'd have to be one helluva welder.

 

Side note though the Leitner is worth every penny, fucking love my rack

 

I agree that it would be too much work unless the thing was free, I don't think tig welding is TOO terribly difficult to do or have done. My shit's never looked pretty on mig or tig, but it's functional and I've seen much worse!

 

TIG is a little trickier than MIG but that’s not the part I consider difficult... it’s that it’s aluminum.

Maybe I just suck at welding but aluminum kicked my ass whereas steel I actually was pretty good at (for a high school kid anyways)

 

What makes this bed rack so special? Doesn't seem all that different from every other bed rack on the market.

Buy local and support small businesses.

Personally I'm a big fan of SOS Concepts, Eddy can customize it however you want and ship it for cheap.

http://sosoffroadconcepts.com/lp-advantage-bedrack/

Any questions you can ask @SOS CONCEPTS or myself.

 

The Leitner is the only bed rack available for the Tacoma that bolts to the bedsides AND directly to the frame giving it way more torsional rigidity and strength. Thats what sold me on it as I've already cracked a camper shell on my 1st gen and fucked up the bedsides on my 2nd gen... both from offroading hard with a load on the bed rack/shell. There's a reason none of the other rack manufacturers list a dynamic weight rating, they don't want to be liable if you fuck something up.

Given its the strongest AND lightest full bed rack on the market (only 70lbs) I'd say its pretty special

Nothing agains't SOS seems like a great deal for what you get, and the Leitner is twice the price so I wouldn't fault anyone for saving some $. But if you need the offroad capability and can afford the Leitner there really is nothing else comparable currently on the market. Leitner is also a small business so I feel good supporting them

 

So you have to cut out parts of the bed to tie this rack into the frame? If you are carrying so much weight your bending bedsides and cracking the composite bed, you should consider either a custom flatbed or moving to a full size - IMO

 

Nope no cutting needed it use the factory frame bolt locations in the rear (where bed stiffeners attach to). It also uses torsional stability bars up front that bolt into the factory tonneau holes.

Its not really about the raw weight and more about the kind of offroading you do. Hitting whoops and 35 degree sideways angles with a 300lbs of gear on the rack and you can fuck shit up quick, don't need a full size for 300lbs and not everyone wants to take it easy offroad

I can def see a custom flatbed in my future though

But for the meantime I like the ability to quickly return everything to stock if needed.

Another plus on the Leitner is the top rails slide forward in like 30 seconds so I can stuff my dirt bike in there and still have my gas/storage cubbies bolted on the sides with all my gear in them.

Just can't do RTT and motorcycle at same time.

 

The quality of the build is what makes it special and the functionality. Also I was a big supporter of Eddie's at one point, good luck getting any communication or customer service tho. I'll have a really good deal on some of his parts very soon if you know someone looking.

agreed, .I'm looking into these now just concerned about the limitation of coverage to the bed for dry storage.Obviously no option for things like a tonneau cover but I've been planning a camper shell I just really love the looks and style of a bed rack.

 

honestly if its a real good deal id say its fine, the only thing that you would have to reweld would be the bed rail part, and you don't "have to" you could just cut it and put extra bolts attachments to the bed track. the top bars bolt in so you shorten them and bolt them in the same way.