Modular Bed Racks

So I've been seeing alot of these "Modular Bed Racks" lately, and it has me thinking. Now, I'm more of a tube-construction fan, but these things are everywhere. Every one I've seen so far has been made of C-channel steel, with bolts holding it together...and some have holes everywhere that serve to make it "modular"...

My question is couldn't the average joe with a welder in his garage make one out of standard warehouse shelving? Like the stuff you see holding lumber at Home Depot. Already pre-drilled with holes and you'd be damn sure it can support any weight you put on it unless your welds pop. And you can buy surplus shelving for next to nothing on craigslist.

Let me know what you think.

 

Could you? Possibly, anything is doable with some ingenuity.
Would I? Definitely not.

To me I wouldn't consider doing something like that as I have to think it would come out looking a little ghetto rigged. Sure wouldnt want something like that mounted on my new(ish) $30k-40k truck, it would make the whole truck look bad IMO.

All the racks (tube, modular, or otherwise) from a reputable manufacturer would look way cleaner, professional, and compliment a cleanly built truck

 

Heard RelentlessFab has these nice bedbars...lol

https://www.relentlessfabrication.c...cts/2016-tacoma-bed-cargo-cross-bars-set-of-3

 

Im talking about something like this...bolt faces sticking out of it everywhere...and if you have to climb under it to get something out of your bed, you deal with smacking your head on the edges of the C-channel. Or with warehouse shelving, at least its rounded off, clean, sturdy, predrilled.

And I like relentless fab's stuff, but I'm hoping to find something with adjustable height...but no idea how that'd work...unless its truly modular and you can add height risers.

 

Sometimes a rack would be nice but not all the time. I am looking to tig an aluminum rack that will sit on the bedside caps and bolt into the side rails. Sturdy enough for anything I need but light enough to remove without much effort.

 

That sounds good... I'd like having just 2 bars, welded together, and have a 3rd bar thats removeable...because sometimes you just need use of the bed and nowhere to download a bed rack that wouldnt get stolen.

 

I had a diamondback aluminum tonneau on my last truck which flipped back for additional access and could be removed (completely) by one person in under 10 minutes so I get the access thing. Nothing worse than seeing a deal that has to be picked up right now and you have to drive home to remove your rack and drive back or you miss out completely because you can't load it right now.

Now one possibility that could work is electrical unistrut with spring nuts (strut nuts). Weld up a structure with strut for your adjustability points. You could use a tube structure and then strut where needed or the whole thing in strut.

Here is a frame I made a few years back to mount a couple of panels where there were no walls to mount to. Initially there was only one panel but 4 months later we needed a mount for a second panel so the initial strut for the panel were replaced one at a time with longer strut and in ten minutes we had space for the second panel. Rectangular ends were welded and the rest is all assembled by spring nuts and bolts.


Being adjustable makes a huge difference when you need a to add something later or you make a mistake in overlooking something. This could allow you to move your cross members forward toward the cab allowing you more height for loading at the rear.

 

Any average joe with a welder could make one, but use the appropriate metal instead of home depot shelving lol.