The Atomic Bed Rack

Ryan · May 10, 2021

A great bed rack option for the Diamondback bed cover is the unit offered by Front Runner. It's made incredibly well and does what it is designed to do perfect...

To read the rest of this blog entry from The Garage Journal, click here.

.

4xdog · May 10, 2021

Cool! I've not seen those Front Runner mounting rails before, Ryan.

I have South African Front Runner bed rails on my Gen 2 Tacoma, which mount to the C-channels on the bed sides. The rails get used for my ARB rooftop tent. Very sturdy, and beautifully made, as you noted.

I've just finished modifying my old Gen 1 Tacoma Mountain Top aluminium tonneau to fit the Gen 2 truck. (My use case needs a bicycle fork mount more than maker materials, so the one-piece Mountain Top lets the tonneau lift with the bike tray in place. That long-out-of-production tonneau uses Perrycraft Dynasport side rails.

I gotta see if the existing holes in the tonneau might allow those nifty Front Runner tracks to fit... I really like that fitment on your Diamond Back.

-- Don

Ryan · May 11, 2021

4xdog said:
Cool! I've not seen those Front Runner mounting rails before, Ryan.

I have South African Front Runner bed rails on my Gen 2 Tacoma, which mount to the C-channels on the bed sides. The rails get used for my ARB rooftop tent. Very sturdy, and beautifully made, as you noted.

I've just finished modifying my old Gen 1 Tacoma Mountain Top aluminium tonneau to fit the Gen 2 truck. (My use case needs a bicycle fork mount more than maker materials, so the one-piece Mountain Top lets the tonneau lift with the bike tray in place. That long-out-of-production tonneau uses Perrycraft Dynasport side rails.

I gotta see if the existing holes in the tonneau might allow those nifty Front Runner tracks to fit... I really like that fitment on your Diamond Back.

-- Don

It's interesting... I thought my 1/2-ton GMC was at the very limit I could live with as far as size goes. I just didn't think going any smaller would work for me, but... I was given a tacoma test truck for a bit and oddly fell in love with it.

I say oddly, because I think the motor is incredibly inappropriate for a truck (not much torque at low rpm) and the transmission is out dated and works too hard to compensate for the lack of torque and US fuel economy numbers... It just hunts far too much...

I've even tuned mine and it's still not great... But I love the truck anyway. It's just very honest and "trucky" if that makes sense. In fact, it feels more like my '64 F100 than my '18 GMC did...

And the size? Man... I love the mid-sized form factor. Now that I have this bed rack on the thing, it's as capable for the stuff that I haul as my GMC was... and I can fling it into economy parking spots. It feels sooo tiny...

What I would love to do is drive this thing for a year or two and then go to a used low-mileage 200-series Land Cruiser. I doubt that happens, but a boy can dream... And I really want to build a lumber hauling roof rack for one of those.

Ohhh... And BTW, I think the 2nd get tacoma is the best looking post 1990 truck ever made... I love those things and yours is GREAT.

Mainiac Mat · May 11, 2021

Looks cool and very flexible for recreation uses...

Maybe not so much for work... at least not construction/carpentry.

Ryan · May 11, 2021

Mainiac Mat said:
Looks cool and very flexible for recreation uses...

Maybe not so much for work... at least not construction/carpentry.

I use it mostly for hauling 8' materials - both 4x8 sheets of plywood and tube steel. In hobby like quantities... For that, it's fantastic...

But, yeah - anything longer than 8' and I'm pretty sure it would ****.

MOTODOJO · May 11, 2021

As far as any thing 8' and beyond, make an adjustable extension that plugs into the receiver hitch.

Ryan · May 11, 2021

MOTODOJO said:
As far as any thing 8' and beyond, make an adjustable extension that plugs into the receiver hitch.

I had planned on making a flip out or detachable extension to the tailgate side rack to fully support 8' material and longer stuff... It would be really easy to do and fun to engineer... But I've been using this thing for a couple of months now and have found I don't need it as I don't really haul anything longer than 8'.

Bert_ · May 11, 2021

Maybe someone can explain. What does it do vs just putting stuff in the bed? Are you using it for wider material that won't lay flat in the bed?

I wouldn't mind a ladder rack for hauling 20' pipe. Otherwise have to use a trailer.

Ryan · May 11, 2021

Bert_ said:
Maybe someone can explain. What does it do vs just putting stuff in the bed? Are you using it for wider material that won't lay flat in the bed?

I wouldn't mind a ladder rack for hauling 20' pipe. Otherwise have to use a trailer.

Yes, it's a mid sized truck... so, full sized sheets of plywood won't fit between the wheel wells in the bed. Alternatively, you could build something to support plywood over the wheel wells, but that doesn't make sense in my use case.

Bert_ · May 11, 2021

Ryan said:
Yes, it's a mid sized truck... so, full sized sheets of plywood won't fit between the wheel wells in the bed. Alternatively, you could build something to support plywood over the wheel wells, but that doesn't make sense in my use case.

Makes sense.

Gm in the 90's has notches in the bed where you could put a 2x4 across the bed. Was just above the wheel wells where it was wider.

Ryan · May 12, 2021

Bert_ said:
Makes sense.

Gm in the 90's has notches in the bed where you could put a 2x4 across the bed. Was just above the wheel wells where it was wider.

The Tacoma has that as well, but you still have to figure out support on the tailgate. I considered doing something with that, but I couldn't think of a way to have all that support accessible at all times and not have something bulky in my bed. I have old car parts and other random **** in my bed like 90% of the time and need the space...

Bodj Built · May 12, 2021

Hah FrontRunner is here in my neighborhood. One of my good friends does a lot of their custom installs and R&D

4xdog · May 12, 2021

Ryan, the universal tracks as described on the Front Runner website are stated to have no pre-drilling. I like that idea -- it would help any project for my truck -- but from the video on your project and the images on the FR site, it looks like there might be predrilled mounting holes. Not that too many holes would be a deal breaker, but what was your experience?

-- Don

Here's their 200mm / 8" nominal track length (10.5" / 237mm OAL) universal track:
https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.c...d-bar-components/universal-track-200mm-l.html

4xdog · May 12, 2021

Bodj Built said:
Hah FrontRunner is here in my neighborhood...

I'll sometimes get an email from Front Runner for one of their open house weekends. Sounds like fun, but it's a couple of thousand miles from me.

Ryan · May 12, 2021

Bodj Built said:
Hah FrontRunner is here in my neighborhood. One of my good friends does a lot of their custom installs and R&D

Compliments to your pal man... Cuz their stuff is over the top nice. In fact, I'd call those load bars some of the nicest extrusions I've ever seen. They are crazy nice...

4xdog said:
Ryan, the universal tracks as described on the Front Runner website are stated to have no pre-drilling. I like that idea -- it would help any project for my truck -- but from the video on your project and the images on the FR site, it looks like there might be predrilled mounting holes. Not that too many holes would be a deal breaker, but what was your experience?

-- Don

Here's their 200mm / 8" nominal track length (10.5" / 237mm OAL) universal track:
https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.c...d-bar-components/universal-track-200mm-l.html

My starting point was a Front Runner kit for the Diamondback. And they are pre-drilled for the diamondback - which made things quicker for me.

However, I wouldn't be scare of drilling the universal bars at all. Just be sure to countersink appropriately and you should be good.

Ryan · May 28, 2021

This feature was deleted... and then republished here: