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My Bed Top Cross Bars and Bike Rack
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Awesome setup, could you tell us what components you used? I just got my truck and really don't want to use a hitch rack. How hard is it to remove the racks to open up the bed cover?
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Here's what I used to make the crossbars, there are a plethora of options when it comes to bike racks. I got a Thule Freeride on clearance for $80 and should have bought more than one as they're sold out right now. The Swagman Upright is an ok budget rack although it's definitely that, a budget rack.
Thule Guttered Footpack 15cm for... INNO IN-434A Square Cross Bars... Thule 542 Artificial Raingutters... |
I'll put together a write-up later on how I did it. For whatever reason the one I wrote earlier didn't get included with the photos. Essentially I have a Bak Revolver X2 and had to put together a rack to play nice with the tonneau cover rails.
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Now that I've got a little bit of time.
The install was pretty simple. Since the Bak Revolver takes up the inside of the bed rails and there's only a certain amount of room on the rails to mount the artificial gutters. The backing plates that came with the gutters were too wide so I had to use 3/4 inch aluminum bar to make new plates and drill guide holes. It's important with the F-150 bed to make sure the bracket placement on top of the rails is going to clear the inside of the bed. The inside of the bed walls isn't straight and can get pretty close to where the rails for the tonneau cover are. From there it's pretty self explanatory how the rack feet and bars mount up. The install isn't perfect as the cover catches the second set of feet towards the cab, it passes with a little coaxing but it's not seemless. I'll likely mount the artifical gutters to 1" square steel tubing so I can run rope through as a spare tie down when the covers rolled up and fix the clearance issues. It's also important to make sure the bolts have some sort of coating like a polyurethane on them, otherwise you can have corrosion from the touching of dissimilar metals. I haven't noticed a huge dip in MPG, about 2 MPG at 75 MPH which is perfectly livable to me. I no longer have the issues I had with my Kuat Beta rack where I couldn't open the tailgate, use my backup camera, or use my backup sensors. |
Originally Posted by Tdaniel93
(Post 6285688)
Now that I've got a little bit of time.
The install was pretty simple. Since the Bak Revolver takes up the inside of the bed rails and there's only a certain amount of room on the rails to mount the artificial gutters. The backing plates that came with the gutters were too wide so I had to use 3/4 inch aluminum bar to make new plates and drill guide holes. It's important with the F-150 bed to make sure the bracket placement on top of the rails is going to clear the inside of the bed. The inside of the bed walls isn't straight and can get pretty close to where the rails for the tonneau cover are. From there it's pretty self explanatory how the rack feet and bars mount up. The install isn't perfect as the cover catches the second set of feet towards the cab, it passes with a little coaxing but it's not seemless. I'll likely mount the artifical gutters to 1" square steel tubing so I can run rope through as a spare tie down when the covers rolled up and fix the clearance issues. It's also important to make sure the bolts have some sort of coating like a polyurethane on them, otherwise you can have corrosion from the touching of dissimilar metals. I haven't noticed a huge dip in MPG, about 2 MPG at 75 MPH which is perfectly livable to me. I no longer have the issues I had with my Kuat Beta rack where I couldn't open the tailgate, use my backup camera, or use my backup sensors. |
Originally Posted by timatoz
(Post 6329203)
Tdaniel93, did you buy Thule Guttered Footpack 15cm from AmazonUK? AmazonUS doesn't carry it. Any alternative source or different gutters you recommend? Thanks.
If you have a bakrevolver I'd recommend getting the even taller version of the foot pack. I got around this by getting longer bolts and mounting them on top of black 1.5" perforated square tubing. It gives you additional tie down spots on top of the bed rails for cargo so it's multifunctional. |
Originally Posted by Tdaniel93
(Post 6329230)
Ya that's who I bought it through. I believe they make a US version, don't remember the model number though. The European version doesn't. One with locking knobs so I bought a set of Curt looking knobs for like $15.
If you have a bakrevolver I'd recommend getting the even taller version of the foot pack. I got around this by getting longer bolts and mounting them on top of black 1.5" perforated square tubing. It gives you additional tie down spots on top of the bed rails for cargo so it's multifunctional. |
Originally Posted by timatoz
(Post 6329399)
Thanks. If possible, could you post some pictures with the current setup on 1.5" square tubing? I wonder how you mounted the square tubing to the bed.
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