Unistrut bed rails in a 1st gen?

i was looking at doing the unistrut bed rails that someone showed me in the tundras.com forums. Wondering if anyone has done that mod in a 1st gen? Do the small side walls at the top of the bed hold much weight? Do aftermarket attachments fit them well? Anything that slides that could hold a shovel? I’m picturing something that lets me unlatch the part closest to the bed and then slide the shovel towards me and then detach the other attachment. I think with the unistrut you have to bolt everything into the rail but thought I would ask.

 

Bump

 

Got a link to an example? I’ve always wanted to try this, the unistrut would be a lot stronger than the bed sides, you would have to bolt them on with a large square washer behind each nut.

 

This, right?

(from Tundras.com)


Pretty sure there are people who have done similar things with their first gens.

If you mount in that same location, you'd need to use riv-nuts, and I'm not sure how much space is between the outside and inside fender material at that location. Might not even be enough for a riv nut.

I used riv-nuts for my highlift mounts, but those were riv-nutted quite a bit lower, then I used conventional bolts/nuts on the inside edge of the bed rail.

Either way, I wouldn't use that to tie down anything heavy...

 

I mounted strut on top of my bed rails.
Under the bed mat I some rust. I cleaned it up and coated it but it was weaker and looked bad.
It was great having all the tie down points.
Then I got a neeting that hooked across it and it worked great for camping trips.

Then I was having problems with sticky fingers so I cut 3/4 plywood and slid it in the strut to make a heavy duty cover. I could set my camp right up on top of it and have gear strapped above and below.

Now im building an offroad camper and I left it as my base.

 

Some will hate it but for me it's the function.

 

This is interesting. I have a camper shell
So I can’t do it this way though. I would assume if it’s strong enough to put in the top is should be strong enough to hang on the inside just below where you did. I only want to mount stuff like a shovel and maybe a hi lift if I ever get one. Thanks for showing this!

 

Unistrut is plenty stout for attaching just about anything. I would expect to the weak points to be the bed rail or however it is attached to the bed rail

 

Wulf is right, much stronger than the bed its mounted to.
2 most common sizes,
1 5/8x 1 5/8 the deep or
1 5/8 x 7/8 the shallow

Galvanized coating or painted

You can get it in 12 or 14 gage
even aluminum from Granger supply.

Lowe's and home depot carry it but is usually cheaper from an electrical supply company.

There are a ton of mounting accessories and brackets, bolt and nut combinations for them.

The grown up erector set.

 

I was able to mount a bit of unistrut in the bed. Added some cone nuts and quick fists and created a sliding shovel mount. Allows me to get the shovel out without having to get into my campershell covered bed. Not perfect but I think it’s gonna work. Not bad for my first mod. Couldn’t find anything similar so I had to wing it. I’m sure there are ways to improve it but I’m not that smart.

 

Here are mine:









The mounts slide on and off and I have seen accessories for them. I wouldn't trust them for a ton of weight but they would 100% hold a shovel.

 

This is awesome. Great ideas. On my to do list for sure.

 

This is just what I’ve been looking for! Got the Quickfist, just need the Unistrut and accessory parts. Can you tell me exactly what you used to connect the quickfist to the Unistrut? Cone nuts and square washers between the strut and quickfist? Did you have to drill out the quickfist to use a larger mounting bolt? Thanks for your help!

 

Yeah I sued the 3/8 inch cone nuts. I think that’s what they called it. I drilled out the hole in the quick fist a bit, didn’t need much. Ran bolt straight into the first and spin the whole fist into the nut. I keep it loose so it slides but you can snug it up for a more fixed mount.

 

Many thanks Natenite!

 

Your welcome. Glad it helped someone. Super simple so you should have no problems.

 

I suggest staying away from using this section of the bed as a secure point for these items. Over time, the attach points will be come weak and fail.
Might I suggest looking at USCargo for secure hold down ideas.

 

I just built a support rack for my bed shell the floor of my truck with unistrut pretty damn stout. I haven’t tested it yet but I think the shell will fail way before the unistrut will. I tied it directly into the rails of my shell with 5/16 grade 8 bolts then my prinsu rack Goes onto the rains putting all the pressure on the legs mounted to the bed.

 

I have used the factory captured nuts that are for the tie downs at the front and back of the bed.