New owner - newbie bed idea (Peragon cover and Milwaukee toolboxes mounted to bed mat)

Just picked up a '23 Offroad in white. It's my first pickup, so I want to bounce my plans off someone before I go too far. Three problems with a bed that I want to address: no security, stuff moving around on that slick plastic bed in the corners, and limited organized storage.

Here's my thinking: a tonneau cover, a bed mat, and some cleats mounted to the bed mat to removably lock some Milwaukee pack-out toolboxes to the floor under the cover.

I like the Peragon tonneau cover (https://www.peragon.com/truck-tonneau-covers/) and I can get it in white, which should look good and not get too hot in the New Mexico sun. From reviews, I understand it can be problematic to open the cover if your gear shifts forward. This can prevent the forward-most panels from folding down to open the Peragon cover. If I had a way to mount some packouts to the bed floor, this would prevent things from shifting forward to interfere with he cover and give me removable organized storage. (The boxes will need to be whatever the largest size that fits under the accordion-folded Paragon cover.) The nice thing about this setup is that both the packout boxes and the peragon cover can be easily removed when I need the full bed (I have the 5 ft bed because it's the only option available in a manual transmission and I'm coming from the Jeep wrangler world and the taco wheelbase is already much longer than I'm used to).

I picked up some of these packout brackets and they seem like a great option for cleats without affecting the bed too much when the boxes are removed. https://www.etsy.com/listing/838269...fc1b51b41b9cb0deb85131c4c77e333a838:838269231

However, I'm hesitant to drill 6 holes per toolbox through the composite bed and then hope I can get access to put nuts on underneath. So, I'm thinking of getting a bed mat and mounting those packout cleats through the bed mat into some sort of bar or sheet stock underneath the mat. I think that will hold the toolboxes in place well enough. And it gives me a bed mat to limit how much things slip when in the bed.

So, I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts or feedback before I commit to this mod/build.

Thanks for reading! I'll post an update after the build if I pull the trigger.

 

I would add front bed rail, get bed mat, get better hooks for the rails, get good containers for alot less $$, use straps to secure stuff..........your needs may change and the containers can be put in different spots

 

That's a fair point. But, I'm already in the packout system for other reasons. And they're really nice with their locking system. You just slide it to lock it in. You can remove with one hand, as well. There's a reason there's such a big mod community for the packout system. The reason I have those cleats from the Etsy link I included is that I had plans to do something like this to the roof of my Jeep before I traded it in (mounted flush to the fiberglass top and I preferred the simple aluminum bar design to the raised plastic plates this guy uses): https://youtu.be/hJXmJVPm_EY

 

Welcome to TW.

 

I like the idea of that front rail, but I don't think I'll be able to use it to hold boxes while the peragon cover because it accordions into the bed. If one wanted to use different boxes and avoid the floor cleats, I think they could accomplish what you refer to using a ratcheting load bar. That would also be a decent way to secure boxes in the front to prevent taller items from shifting forward and preventing the peragon cover from opening.

 

I would think you could rig something up near the tailgate on the floor of the bed. Couldn’t you just use the existing bed bolts (possibly get longer ones) and bolt an aluminum sheet to the floor? The channels in the existing bed may be deep enough to then mount the packout holders so the sheet of aluminum lies flat. Just thinking.

 

Unfortunately, the spacing on the ribs is off by about a half inch to allow the spacing to work. The packout mounts come with a template that states the screws need to be 10" on center. I imagine Toyota used metric to lay out the floor ribs.

 

I like those rail cleats. What are they?

 

toyota 2nd gen style
metal back is square and not rounded like 3rd gen so looks like its stronger and has to be slid on from the end.

 

If your going to drill the boxes don’t waste your money on the Milwaukee pack outs. Check out the Bauer stackable boxes at harbor freight. Pretty rugged for 1/3 the cost. Better to experiment with less $ than more.

 

Which packouts do you have and want to mount?

 

The packouts will remain stock. They have cleats molded on the bottom that slide into tabs on molded on the lid of the packout they stack onto. Because there's such a robust mod and after market community for the packout, you can find mounting plates or mounting rails like in that Etsy link. These aluminum rails will be mounted to the bed mat (or bed floor, but that seems impractical). I have the mounting rails. I'll go a mock up some pictures to give you the idea later tonight.

 

Cool. Thanks.

 

I can't find enough information on the peragon cover to say how much height will be left when the cover is folded up. I'm guessing it's probably the medium tool box.

 

This is a rough mock-up with a small toolbox I had handy to give you guys an idea.

 

Here's how I 'mount and secure mine'...

 

Doing the mockup makes me wonder if I shouldn't put some XL tool boxes and go with a roll-up cover like the BAK revolver

 

did it work out? hiw does it look with the peragon opened?

 

there's absolutely no reason to drill through the bed, especially when there's 2 large exposed bed bolts right where you need them. and another 4 bolts up on the bedsides with the tiedown hooks.

build a plate of your favorite material that spans the front of the bed and uses those bolts to secure it. from there you can attach anything you want to the plate.