Home Built RTT Bed Rack, Pictures

Tanner

Observer
Great job, Tanner! The rack looks great, and you have that much more satisfaction of doing it yourself rather than buying one. If you don't mind me asking, how much money did you spend in materials?

Thank you ! It was $120 for all the steel. I have to paint still but that won't cost very much.
 

Tanner

Observer
Tent showed up yesterday, looks great! Hopefully the weather will turn around soon, it feels like it's been storming for weeks now.







 

taco_tay

Adventurer
Cool thread. Looks like a nice rack. I've been debating on building (haggering) my own rack or buying the all-pro. Haven't decided yet.
 

NM_Rescue

New member
I'll contribute. Made mine last Thursday, mounted the tent on Friday. Still in test phase as I need to make brackets for my hi-lift, axe, and shovel mounts. Once I am satisfied that it all works as needed, I still need to remove it for paint.
Thee are a few reasons I decided to build it myself. I wanted a rack that I could set the desired height for the RTT. It needed to be tall enough to stand under the tent when opened, but when closed, even with the rack I have over the cab to help from being an even greater wind block. Plus, I wanted it to be cheap (don't we all). For $100 in steel, and lunch for a couple buddies, not bad for a few hours of work. Very happy with the results so far.
taco bed rack 1.jpg
taco bed rack 2.jpg
taco bed rack 3.jpg

one more with the tent
tent 1.jpg
 

2scars

Adventurer
Looks cool, but you may want to add a couple of gussets here and there to keep the side loads from overwhelming it when offroading. Just my .02

Brandon
 

NM_Rescue

New member
Looks cool, but you may want to add a couple of gussets here and there to keep the side loads from overwhelming it when offroading. Just my .02

Brandon

I may end up doing that in the future if deemed at all necessary. We did some pretty extensive "testing" of the weight and welds before mounting it up to the truck with over 500lbs attempting to find any flaws. Thought process being that if it's going to break, I'd rather have it break in a controlled environment of the shop. May be hard to tell in those picts, but it is 1" boxed A513 (.120 thick) and mounts to 3"x3" A36 angle iron (3/16" thick) attached to the bed.
Seriously tried to break it before mounting as I certainly do not want any surprises off road. Side load will certainly be amplified by the weight of the RTT and was a concern, but this thing is extremely stout as it sits.

Thanks for the input. I will certainly continue to monitor it in the current state and look at any additional needs. Do not want to add unnecessary weight, but would certainly rather err on the side of strength.

Was looking at potentially making a cover in the future. In that case, these additional gussets could be designed to help with the lay for the fabric and water shedding also.

Thanks.
 

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