DIY Bed Rails

[Bob W]

I installed black channel strut so they’d almost be invisible with my SIL. I don’t know if others have/had this problem, but, all the holes do NOT line up. When I drilled the hole (M8) near the center of the rail, that hole & the M6 hole near the cab & the M8 hole near the tailgate line up. The others do not (both sides of the bed). Unlike the video where the guy uses 3 of the M8 holes for each side, I used all 4. I had to drill & used a round file to make minor adjustments to the holes I drilled in the channel strut. How many of you had no problem lining up all the holes? They look great, but, took more work than I expected. Definitely was not as easy as in the video.

Sponsored

 

[BoskoPColtrane]

Pictures please.

 

[MetalsGeek]

I chose to install aircraft style L-Track for my bed rails. It worked out very nicely in the end, but required some meticulous measurement and machining to fit well, so I would not recommend this to someone looking for a quick and simple "bolt-on" install.

(1) The spacing of the threaded inserts was not made with L-track in mind. I had to shift the track fore and aft slightly to minimize interference between the mounting bolt holes and the tabs on the track. I ended up having to mill off just one set (at arrow in photo).
(2) The nature of L-track requires countersunk flat-head fasteners. I bought some M6 and M8 ones in stainless online, and they worked very well. However, the size of the countersink is pretty large, and ...
(3) The threaded inserts in the bed are spot welded in place and therefore cannot move like a Tinnerman nut. As you mentioned, their locations vary from the ideal one by several mm in random directions. I made what machinists call a "transfer" punch by cutting the head off an M6/M8 bolt and grinding a sharp cone in its place. I could then place screw this into the bed, loosely mount the rail over this with the end bolts, and tap it with a hammer to transfer the center point of the bed insert to a punch mark on the back side of the rail. Using this, I was able to precisely locate each countersunk hole to fit the bed. You have to repeat this for each hole, so it takes a couple hours, but I did it. I had some machine tools which made this easier but it can also be done with a hand drill if you use care.
In summary, I'm very happy with my L-track side rails. Many types of anchor are available for L-Track, although industry standards are not tight enough to assure compatibility between different brands, so I suggest buying your track and anchors from the same vendor. I bought 2 lengths of track from Cargo Equipment Corp in Huntley IL. Part #FE752-01-46 (L-Track - Angled Surface Mount - 46" long) and specified NO HOLES. I may some day TBD consider doing this on the floor of the bed as well, depth permitting. I seem to need to tie things like compressed gas cylinders down to the bed floor more than the sides.

Sponsored