ADD Custom Bed Rack, "BigJ" style

[phydough]

No, that's not far to fall after too much beer at base camp, not to far at all.

 

[Fozzy]

BigJ, what's your review of the Rotopax containers. I need a below bed cap solution also. Thanks.

 

[Ni9mm]

Big J

I may have missed it but this looks fixed in place ( bolted ). You think there's any way to drop this on some type of low profile track so it could slide or pull toward you from the tailgate?

Damn I'm lazy!

 

[cbs001]

You Sir, are a clever man You're describing phase 2 of my plan to a tee.

I can't speak for other covers, but my FoldACover will hold 600lbs easily (tested it myself). I plan to add cleats that line up with the front and middle feet on the cot, and extended bars that mount to the lowered tailgate. If done right, the cot won't move an inch.

Here's some very rough proof of concept pics I just ran out and took. Please note the cot isn't fully set up; with the end support bars installed it is tight as a drum.







I'm not sure when or really even if I'll get there though. The cot on the ground right up against the truck has worked out so well so far I don't necessarily feel the need to put it up high normally. I might end up making it more of a priority after spending a night or two in bear country. Not sure.

But either way, you and I are on the same page, and I picked this cot with the idea of going up top in mind.

PS: For size perspective, here's the cot, tent and pad all wrapped up in the bag that comes with the cot:



I can go from this bag, to fully set up in 5 minutes or so without hurrying.

Big J, I took one look at your cot and tent set up and said got to have that. Got mine last week, will start working on a way to extend the rear legs to work with either the tail gait up or down.

Thanks again for providing me with great ideas.

Regarding the bed rack, any pics of the pins that will hold it in place?

 

[panda]

Met BigJ at the run this weekend, and got a close look at the cage. That thing is sweet!

---------- Post added at 02:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:32 PM ----------

(I guess he was OK too)

 

[whisler151]

Met BigJ at the run this weekend, and got a close look at the cage. That thing is sweet!

---------- Post added at 02:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:32 PM ----------

(I guess he was OK too)

Haha...same here. Good to meet you J.

 

[BigJ]

Hah great to meet you guys too. Damn what an event!

I'm still on the road home, so I'm not ignoring the questions. I've got one more day to go, so hang in there. I've got lots of pics, some thoughts and some suggestions for anyone looking to replicate this setup. Overall this thing is 95% there; the ADD work is 110% but my design has a few issues with it. There are a couple things that are easily tweaked that will make it 100% and totally functional. All in all though, its seriously bitchin.

Lots more to come tomorrow when I can think straight

 

[BigJ]

Okiedokie then, how about some pics?!




I originally dropped the ball and forgot to tell ADD that I had a BedRug I wanted to keep. They made it work, but that's a good example as to why it reeeaallly help to have all the stuff there for them to work with. There's no guesswork or miscommunication that way.








They had machined these down before powder, to allow room for that powder. Good thinkin, that.




The Rotopax mounts. More on these later.


























Can ya believe it?! It all fits!








---------- Post added at 10:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 AM ----------

A handful of notes:

-The ADD fab work on this thing is 100%. These guys clearly know how to work metal, and they have a real commitment to quality work that slaps you in the face no matter where you look on this rack. They did *exactly* what I asked for, and then some

-So yeah... about that whole 'what I asked for' thing... there are a few tweaks I would make if I were to do this all over again. These are things that honestly I couldn't predict before just using the thing. These may be issues for some of you, or may not. If you're considering going this route, think about this stuff pretty carefully...

--The RotoPax gas and water cans are awesome. Seriously, they rock. And with the exception of the included nuts and bolts (that totally suck, by the way) so do the RotoPax mounts. The important parts are aluminum instead of plastic, and everthing screws in with a solid *click* assuring you they're in nice and tight. But, here's the thing... how does one get the cans off the mounts when everything is installed nice and tight?

I'll tell ya how... you open the front facing panel of your bed cover, you climb up on a step ladder, you unscrew the mount from one side, you move your ladder and yourself to the other side, you unscrew that mount and then you tilt the whole thing out.

How do you put it back when empty? Or worse, when full? Gooooood luck. The pivot and strength needed to hold it up so you can align both sides is pretty severe, and you will be walking back and forth a few times until its aligned right.

I'll say again, these cans and mounts make a TON of sense in many many applications. For me, this isn't one of those applications. So when I got home, I dumped the RotoPax and mounts, threw in my jerry cans and locked them down with a couple cam straps. There's plenty of room, and a side benefit here is I can carry 2 extra gallons this way.

If I were to do it again, I would have had ADD design this area for three jerry cans. They'd fit fine with little impact on the surrounding area.

 

[BigJ]

-The Yeti cooler. Dayum what a cooler! Among its other awesome features, are grooves for strapping it down. So ADD gave me two eyelets, front and back to allow locking that sucker down rock solid.



What I didn't realize is that the Yeti does even one better. The problem with the above is that you have to unstrap it every time you want to open it. Not a big deal, but there's gotta be a better way. Sure enough, Yeti gives you strap slots on each side, under the lid. Bingo!







Now, I can open 'er up without having to unstrap. Verra nice!

And for those times I don't plan to throw everything all over hell on the trail, I can actually leave the latches 'up' on the cooler, allowing me to open it without dropping the tailgate.





If I were to do it all over again, I'd ask ADD to not put the eyelets front and rear, and instead side to side.

---------- Post added at 11:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 AM ----------

-The water Rotopax... this is where me not telling ADD about the BedRug really bit us in the butt. They had designed it so that the water cans mounted right against the bed floor. Obviously with a 3/4" BedRug in the way thats no bueno. So, Micah being the perfectionist that he is, got his fabricator to create an adapter plate so that they mounted nice and neat as originally planned, just a bit higher.

But as I used the cans, I ran into the same 'well this is a lot of work' issue I ran into with the gas cans. You have to unscrew the mount out all the way before the can will come free. We're talking like 4" of fine thread... not fun when all ya want is a quick refill of water.

So when I got home, I pulled the mount and threw in my 5 gal water jerry can, and locked it down again with a cam strap.



Now its a simple matter of pressing the cam lever, and out comes the can. Also this can carries one more gallon over the RotoPax for the same space. If I had to do it all over again, I'd ask ADD to build out this area to hold two water Jerry cans.

---------- Post added at 11:14 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:03 AM ----------

Other than those minor easily-dealt-with muffs on my part, this thing is really works. After picking up the rack, I got my helmet and clothes bag, my cot, camp chair, tent and sleeping bag all in there, and proceeded to put over 2500miles on it, including dozens of off road miles at the Texas Raptor run. *Nothing* moved or clunked or broke or even squeaked. That's a first for me when it comes to stuff back there. I would always come home with damage of some sort, and that was before carrying a 70lb spare tire back there! I am reeeally happy to say, there's no damage to anything back there, and never did I have to deal with weight shifts or bangs or clunks as I hit the hard stuff.

In terms of you getting one of these, what you're looking at here is custom work. However, if there's enough interest ADD said they could productize it fairly easily and quickly, maybe even allowing for an option or two (aka an extra large basket instead of a spare mount, for those that don't need to carry a spare in their bed?). If you are interested, give Micah and ADD a call or PM and let them know.

Thanks for looking! And THANK YOU ADD for pulling off what we both that was kinda impossible.

---------- Post added at 11:34 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:14 AM ----------

Oh I almost forgot...

-Biasing everything to the passenger side really makes a difference. I can tell the truck is better balanced this way.

-As for weight on the rack, nobody had a scale big enough for it, but a few educated guesses put it right around the 80lb mark. And that's a-ok with me given the dramatic improvement in bed functionality that it offers.

 

[KaiserM715]

I got to see J's bed rack in person and it is pretty cool and well organized. Good to know on the jerry can vs Rotopack. Where did you get your water jug?