Home made RTT rack 10" tall

Hello everyone. Just got my truck about a month ago. Sold my Tacoma and upgraded to tundra. I had the tent on my taco and did not want to spend a fortune on a new rack. So I built my own. Also my truck did not come with the bed rail system so I made that also. I used super strut and hardware from Home Depot. The whole project cost was under 300.00 and leaves room for modifications down the road.

 

Thanks. I totally agree. And I did not want the strut sitting directly in the bed liner so I welded some 2" plate to the bottom like feet.

 

I love the diy rails too!! I’m for sure going to do this!

 

Nice work, but I would cut the top uni strut longer and sit on top of the support...just my 2 cents tho

 

If you plan on doing any decent off-roading I’d look into trying to tie that rack to the frame somehow unless you want to ruin the bed. Racks on the bed rails at least do a decent job at dispersing the weight across the length of the bed, but still have caused issues with my truck as well as others. Just a heads up.

 

Great job!

 

Hey, another Smittybilt owner! Nice work on the rack!

 

Looks good! Anything you'd do differently if you did it again?

How did you determine where to rest the poles in the bed? Are they sitting directly on cross supports?

 

There’s several types of unistrut bolt on base supports available (perhaps not at home desperate), if you don’t want to weld.

 

Nope. I think it's all good. Only time will tell. There are some flat spots in the bed and just spaced the cross rails in those spots. The weight is sitting on the bed and the side rails hold it from moving around.

 

Yes but the 2" plate fit perfectly between the ridges on the bed floor.

 

sweet. nicely done

 

Wow. Kudos on the creativity. What was the $$ overall cost of this build? Have you taken it out yet? Wondering how it holds up.

 

It was a little up 300 bucks. I have not had a chance to take it out yet but desert session is around the corner.

 

Just checking in to see if you've had a chance to try this rig out yet? I'm about to build something similar but for a short bed and wanted to know if there was anything you'd change about your setup. The only thing I'm thinking is that I might opt for two side rails on the top instead of the one down the center. This would add a little weight but would allow for mounting an awning on the non-tent-opening side of the truck.

Thanks for sharing. It looks great and I can't wait to copy what you've done here.

 

I have not had a chance to use it and won't be able too. I bought an RV lol. Sold the tent and am selling the rack. Doing the two rails in each side is a good idea. I was going to do that but did not want to buy another stick of super strut. It was super strong and didn't notice any shaking when driving. It's always fun and a little cheeper to do it your self.

 

Nice work! What size super strut did you use for the bed rail?

 

I used your pictures as a starting point for mine so thank you for that . Went a little different for stabilizing it for off roading metal brace behind each extra brace ! Still going to add more for attaching high low Jack and recovery boards

 

FYI for anyone who intends to weld with unistrut, you have to grind the zinc off and down to bare metal before welding. If you don't the fumes are very toxic and can literally kill you.

You should grind any metal prior to welding so you have a clean surface to work with, but don't take any chances with this stuff.

Nice job on the rack.