DIY Custom Bed Rack

[acelee1895]

Got a fun one for you guys. I made a sized and fitted bed rack out of extruded aluminum. I got the idea from extrusion overland but didn't like their prices. It took custom fabricating a few pieces of hardware but overall was mostly design and build with no issues. I purchased the hardware and aluminum from TNUTZ. Can recommend

I have it mounted in the T slots of the Elevate T rails with 3/16inx3/4 steel bracket working in the slots as the anchor points for the aluminum. Those were the custom pieces, just a piece of steel cut to size, drilled with two holes and tapped to the correct bolt size.

I will throw up a few pictures but as with my other post, this isn't a DIY tutorial, this is a FYI heres some ideas post. I don't know what it is rated to, I don't know how long it will hold up, and I don't know if they Elevate rails will hold the load. I just mounted it so I don't know how it affects fuel economy yet either but I will have that over the next couple days.

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[Another1]

Great idea. I'm sure it's gotta hold decent load. Perhaps the only thing would be vibration causing the t guide rail or the screwed ends to co.e loose. Which is easily fixed with loctite/suoer glue/ or checking periodically

 

[acelee1895]

Great idea. I'm sure it's gotta hold decent load. Perhaps the only thing would be vibration causing the t guide rail or the screwed ends to co.e loose. Which is easily fixed with loctite/suoer glue/ or checking periodically

I have to say that to excuse my self from stupid liability if someone does it and hurts themselves as well as the random person who will, without a doubt in my mind, ask how much weight it can hold

 

[acelee1895]

Can update that it has no noticeable wind noise at highway speed and didn't notice a decrease in my fuel economy today either. both are probably attributed to the fact that I wanted to keep it below the roof line and did so

 

[Maverickman74]

Been thinking about making a platform for my topper out of this. What size extrusion is
that?

 

[acelee1895]

Been thinking about making a platform for my topper out of this. What size extrusion is
that?

Those are 1 inch by 2 inch. it worked out almost perfectly that the t slots on the elevate rails are almost exactly an inch wide as well so they sit very comfortably on top. I think these are more than strong enough for any application. could go 1 inch by 1 inch to save some weight or money, but it really doesn't cost that much more or weigh that much to start with

 

[BLachance75]

What is length of your top bars

 

[acelee1895]

What is length of your top bars

Cross bars are 60 inches, vertical bars are 12 inches, horizontal bars are 43 inches. cross bars can be as long as you want. I wanted a little overhang for potential accessories, but you could square it of to the vertical bars. The horizontal bars are as long as possible. You might be able to squeeze one more inch in but I wanted a little bit a leeway in the T slots

 

[Sembazuru]

Gotta love 80/20 style aluminum extrusion. It's tinker-toys for adults.

 

[acelee1895]

Gotta love 80/20 style aluminum extrusion. It's tinker-toys for adults.

My first time using it. It is sooo cool. Incredibly light and way stronger than it seems. Up to opinion, but I think it looks slick too. I specifically went with the bare metal because I think it looks cooler than blacked out

 

[acelee1895]

For those of you with bed rack, how much vibration is normal? I notice small shakes and vibrations over bumps and at highway speeds. Everything is still tight and shakes the whole truck when I move it. I think it might be a little flex in the elevate rails and if some adhesive between the bedside and the rail would help or if small vibrations are completely normal

 

[HiHo_Silver]

Just curious, what do you plan on hauling on your rack with it below the roof line?

 

[acelee1895]

Just curious, what do you plan on hauling on your rack with it below the roof line?

Two 200 watt solar panels that charge a 1.8 kWh LiFePo4 battery pack that charges an EcoFlow delta

 

[Clive]

Got a fun one for you guys. I made a sized and fitted bed rack out of extruded aluminum. I got the idea from extrusion overland but didn't like their prices. It took custom fabricating a few pieces of hardware but overall was mostly design and build with no issues. I purchased the hardware and aluminum from TNUTZ. Can recommend

I have it mounted in the T slots of the Elevate T rails with 3/16inx3/4 steel bracket working in the slots as the anchor points for the aluminum. Those were the custom pieces, just a piece of steel cut to size, drilled with two holes and tapped to the correct bolt size.

I will throw up a few pictures but as with my other post, this isn't a DIY tutorial, this is a FYI heres some ideas post. I don't know what it is rated to, I don't know how long it will hold up, and I don't know if they Elevate rails will hold the load. I just mounted it so I don't know how it affects fuel economy yet either but I will have that over the next couple days.

This is great work. I saw something similar on a Jeep Gladiator forum and I am planning to do the same. I just got (but have not installed) the TS rails, and was looking at configurations on TNUTZ.

I was anticipating using corner braces to attach everything, but it looks like you had the pieces machined to allow some internal connection. Do you mind sharing what hardware you used?

 

[acelee1895]

This is great work. I saw something similar on a Jeep Gladiator forum and I am planning to do the same. I just got (but have not installed) the TS rails, and was looking at configurations on TNUTZ.

I was anticipating using corner braces to attach everything, but it looks like you had the pieces machined to allow some internal connection. Do you mind sharing what hardware you used?

Of Course! I probably saw the same idea from the Tacoma thread because I remember seeing something there while learning about it.
I thought about using the brackets but I think custom pieces would be needed to be made either way, unless you planned to use the bolts that come with the cleats but I don’t think those would fit in the corner brackets. The pieces I used are called anchors. I decided on those mainly because that are considered the strongest way to attach extruded aluminum, secondly is the clean flush look.
I used TNUTZ anchors to attach it to the bed as well, but the flat bar that comes with the TNUTZ anchors won’t fit in the Elevate slot. I used 3/16 inch x 3/4 inch (I think) plate steel in the elevate slots with drilled and tapped holes to accommodate the anchors. The second picture shows the anchor attached to the diy plate steel. The last picture shows what the plate steel looks like in the groove

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