idea for rack over bed

i do not have a program to draw what i want to do but i am wondering if anyone could draw and or make me a few brackets

i was thinking of having some brackets that bolt into the bed rail system, extend up to the bed rail, then out about 3 or 4 inches then up a couple inches to attach some thule or yamika style cross bars to. this way you could put a rack over a soft tonneau

maybe shaped like this
***** didnt work

 

well that came out F'd up, lol

 

2nd try

 

has anyone done this? did it work? i am also looking into a roof rack instead or in addition

 

any local metal shop could bend you some steel pretty cheap.its a simple design

 

ok i think this will work, any input guys?

 

I would try taking the rail system off and install your rail behind it, That way you would still have use of the rails for tie downs.

 

maybe more people would be interested in these as well? i have seen many over the bed style racks for surfboards and stuff like that, but none work with a soft tonneau cover because of the way that they mount. if someone wants to make these ill be the guinea pig.

 

I could probably fab something up. What are you thinking for the bar thickness?

 

i am going to look at home depot for some bars. i am thinking i can use steel pipe like they use for plumbing gas? 3/4 should be strong enough right? i wont be loading too much on it

also i was going to look for the "rain gutter style" cross bars that they put on work vans. those could clamp up to the lip on the top. i need to make sure they are wide enough

 

That stuff is tough to weld. Its what i made my bar and my first set of RTOffroad bars out of. I am going to start making mine out of 1.75"x.125" wall tubing. With a set of my bed bars, we put a piece of 1" plywood on top of them and set up a couple folding chairs, perfect for watching a race.

 

i wouldnt weld the bars, i would just slide them in and hold them on with ubolts or some clamps

 

oh ok i see what you want to do. The only problem i see is that it is going to be pretty unstable without the bar being welded. Because even if it is ubolted the still gives the bracket the ability to move independently of the bar and vise versa.

 

Here's how I did it.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/116520-easy-bike-rack-bed.html

 

But he is looking for a solution to be able to have the rack over a toneau cover.

 

any other input or ideas here? what do you think it would take to fab something like this?

 

A shear, metal brake and a drill.

 

i have a drill

 

How about this for you, I took the dimensions that you put on your previous drawing. My one suggestion is where you have the 1" hole for the bar is to get something welded in there to the other side for rigidity and then mount your crossbar to the 1" rain gutter lip.

 

that looks really great, i am not sure what you mean by this " My one suggestion is where you have the 1" hole for the bar is to get something welded in there to the other side for rigidity" also the 2 holes for the bolts that mount to the bed rails need to be 1.5" from the top where it bends over the rail