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I'm mulling over ideas for a bed rack and I'm wondering if anyone's done anything like this.
If you've seen any of my posts about the Boxlink system, you know I think it's mostly useless for anything but tiedowns. Ford screwed up a big opportunity to make a really useful system with modular accessories. I've gone every which way with it: I've built a side-mount bike rack; I've had custom brackets made for load bars; I've tried the original ones with horizontal holes, and now I'm using the newer ones with vertical holes.
I have a Softopper, and so rail-mounted and stake-hole solutions are out of the question. I'm wondering if anyone has designed a rack that works with the Boxlink cleats. I sometimes haul canoes and kayaks, and would like to be able to fold my topper down and quickly assemble a bed rack for watercraft. It would probably have to be wood. Ideally, I could have a bracket like this made that would accept 2x4 verticals:
This is a quick mock-up in Fusion 360 to show some threaded studs that could drop down and bolt into the cleats. The rectangular tube part would accept a 2x6 that would go all the way down to the bed, and as high as the rack would have to be. Having gone down this road with just a flat bracket, I shudder to think what it would cost to have something like this machined.
I’ve seen people do something similar with soft toppers on Tacoma’s using PVC. I like that idea best personally because it’s easy to just drop the gate and slide out when you need to use the bed without removing topper.
If I were building off of boxlink though, I’d use a 2x4 E track bracket with a short <12” 2x4 attaching your vertical leg to the boxlink interface instead of bolting onto the actual cleat.
I’ve seen people do something similar with soft toppers on Tacoma’s using PVC. I like that idea best personally because it’s easy to just drop the gate and slide out when you need to use the bed without removing topper.
If I were building off of boxlink though, I’d use a 2x4 E track bracket with a short <12” 2x4 attaching your vertical leg to the boxlink interface instead of bolting onto the actual cleat.
Mm, PVC could work, I suppose. I was thinking of something I could fold up and put away in the garage when it's not in use, though.
I've tried the 2x4 e-track brackets, but not for this application. I dismissed that this morning because it wasn't really obvious to me how I'd attach uprights to them. I don't think there'd be a lot of strength keeping those transverse 2x4s from twisting in the brackets. Maybe I'm overthinking it... I could just use two through-bolts per upright and come up with a way to make them from moving front-to-back too much. That's probably the best method so far, thanks.
If I were building off of boxlink though, I’d use a 2x4 E track bracket with a short <12” 2x4 attaching your vertical leg to the boxlink interface instead of bolting onto the actual cleat.
This is exactly what I've been planning for building a rack for my fishing rods using the boxlink cleats.
Bed rack using Boxlink cleats
