Elevate Racks with Bakflip MX-4

I have usually run a camper shell on my truck(s) in the past, and totally thought I would be putting one on this new to me '19 but there are times when it'd be nice to have the open bed so I decided to switch it up on this one.

I usually take a couple of boards with me when I go surfing, so I knew I wanted a tonneau to have some covered and lockable bed storage. The roll-up kind just didn't appeal to me. I might've thought about a retractable if I didn't have the 5.5' CM bed so the tri-fold made the most sense for my likes and needs.

I also have to be able to haul SUP's, my touring board is 14' and the wife's is 12' 6" so racks are a must.

I was really surprised how few options there are available to run racks with a tonneau.

I got the Bakflip MX-4 a few months ago and installed it with the Elevate T-Slot rails to allow adding the Elevate racks, which I put on last night.
I like that the Bakflip allows retaining the use of the bedrails.

Been very happy with the Bakflip so far. The racks are adjustable but in the low setting I can't quite fold the tonneau.
High setting (pictured) is functional but looks a little dorky to me, I'm going to drill some new holes for an in between setting. I think they'll look better with the crossbars just barely above the roofline of the cab.
I don't "Love" the look, but I need the functionality, and they're growing on me.

They feel pretty solid, they're rated for 250 lbs driving off-road, 500 lbs driving on-road, and 750 lbs static load.

So far, so good. Now to get the bedrug, 12V power in the bed, and bedlights, and I think I'm good.

If my SUP's fly off at 80 mph 'cuz these are shit, I'll report back, but I think this'll work.

 

Oh yeah, the TS rails come with some tiedown cleats which are mounted just inside the rack uprights.

I mounted my old Yakima Landing Pads to the cleats, so if I want to I can run my Yakima bars down low. If the need arises I could have triple decker cargo capacity.

Stuff in the bed, stuff on the Yakima bars, and stuff on the tall racks. You know, just in case.

 

There, that's a little better.

 

This also works on a gen 3 with the OEM Bak cover. You have to remove the weatherstripping from the bottom of the Elevate TS rails and also the small weatherstripping from the sides on the tonneau. With that done, it clamps down just fine under the factory mounts. After a few trips to the car wash, and some heavy spring snow and rain, the water resistance isn’t degraded that I can tell.

 

Tell me about your side bars!

I see traction boards and what, some Rotopak mounts? Are those made by Elevate also or someone else?

 

The sidebars are on Real Truck. https://realtruck.com/p/elevate-rack-accessories/ They have different lengths. They bolt into the uprights, kit comes with a longer set of bolts and new nuts. Fits well. I got the short ones because I use the rack to hold bikes and skis, so it can't be too far apart. I use Yakima bike/ski racks, which barely fit on the big Elevate bars, but do.

I got on Amazon for the traction board and rotopack mounts.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BBGLXCC5?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TTU96A?ie=UTF8
Sidebars have t-nut channels inside and out, and I just used some of the extra elevate t-bolts. Had to do some cutting and drilling in a few spots, but it all fits fine. I've got some other nuts and bolts on order to try to make the rotopax mount fit a little better, since I'm not using the carriage bolts it comes with. I had to cut down the Elevate bolts and it still bumps into the fuel can so it wobbles a little in a way I don't like.

 

Interesting! I hadn't seen that they offered those. Is the price listed on there for each or a pair?

 

For the pair.

 

Were the side bars just bolt on? I’m considering elevate like the looks of the side bars. Although I probably don’t need them

 

Yes, bolt on, factory fit. The side bars come with longer mounting bolts to replace what comes with the Elevate. Also, another addition I made to knock down wind noise from my bike rack is a wind deflector. iKamper has one with long mounting brackets that work with this rack on a Tundra, as long as the rack is at the front of the bed.

 

Didn’t really make a difference? I’m not really worried about noise but if it makes a big difference I might consider it for long drives. My rack will be used for kayaks. Our bikes go on a hitch rack either in the back of the truck or camper.

 

Yes. The bars alone are not loud, but those bike racks on the bars were loud in the wind. The deflector cuts it down a lot. Might not help much with kayaks, though, since they'll extend farther forward.

 

How did you mount the racks?? I dont see any clamps holding it on. The pictures from the post above your arent displayed anymore - was it shown there?

 

The Elevate racks mount to their T-Slot rails which are mounted in conjunction with the tonneau.

I love mine.

 

They seem sweet i cant wait to get mine.

I wasnt very clear in my question - I actually meant how did they mount the Tslot rails. I dont see any brackets connecting them to the OEM rails.

 

The pictures should still be there. Pull the weatherstripping off the elevate rails. Take the Bak rails off the bed and pull off their weatherstripping, then just nest the elevate rails underneath the Bak rails and re-tighten the bolts that mount the Bak rails to the bed rail.

 

Mine (which I got about 18 months ago) came with drop down brackets to relocate the bed rails, and the T-slot rails are mounted with the BAK rails.

My understanding is that BAK has since changed the design, and the current ones do not drop the bedrails down, and they now mount to the bed rails.

I dunno why they'd go messing with a good thing, as the brackets for relocation was one of the things that attracted me to the MX4.
I think the bedrails must lose some functionality with the tonneau sitting right on top of them.

 

That's interesting. My bed rails are also dropped down to accommodate the Bak cover. Came from the factory that way. But it's a different setup than yours. Either way, I just nested the Elevate rails under the side rails of the Bak cover and re-tightened the Bak cover. It didn't quite fit until I realized I needed to pull the weatherstripping from the bottom of both of those, then it fit great and doesn't have any leaking problems either.

 

Yeah I think it's a fairly recent thing, I didn't realize it till someone posted on here asking about "Hey I just got a Bakflip tonneau and can't use my factory bedrail cleats" or something like that.

What year is your truck?

 

24.

 

Some reading on the subject

https://www.tundras.com/threads/folding-tonneau-cover-that-works-with-oem-rails-cleats.141703/page-2

 

I had some confusion with my local rack shop and communication with TruXedo. They said I needed the Toyota tundra clamps to mount from the tundra bed rail to the Elevate rail.
I understand now after installing it that’s probably not true.
The elevate rails are installed under the OEM tonneau cover rails. So the Elevate racks aren’t actually bolted down at all. The OEM tonneau cover rails is bolted on and the Elevate rails are underneath - so in theory they should be fine - unless you way overload the rack and it forces its way out.
I just drove 3,500km (2,200miles) through the Rockies with a 150lb kayak on the rack and it did stayed perfectly solid.
I also had to rip all the weather stripping off to get it to fit under the Tonneau rails.
In the one photo you can see a Truxedo clamp installed. It's barely hanging on - I wanted to see if it was worth it but they do nothing and I couldnt put the bed rail back on with those. Thats why I ordered the 'Toyota clamps' but they also have nothing to bite onto so its pointless.

 

Nice!!

Did I read that correctly... 150 lb. kayak?!

 

The Recon kayak is 122lbs with pedal drive system. I don't have the pedal drive attached when commuting but I do put other stuff inside the kayak so its probably closer to 120lbs I guess. Slight exaggeration on my part saying 150lbs.

 

Holy smoke, I didn't realize 'Yaks got that heavy.

My newest toy I'm strapping to my racks is only about 36 lbs. but man she's looonng.

 

hey, is everything still working well? I also have a 2024 Tundra that came with the backflip installed and I’m looking to add racks for my Kayaks. Everything says that the two aren’t compatible, but it looks like you’ve made it work. I spoke with one dealer that said that the deck rails will squeeze the backflip too much and it won’t flip up well. Have you had any issues?

 

Working out great so far. Keep in mind I have an OEM tonneau cover - not Bakflip brand.

I agree there would be issues if you leave all the rubber/foam weather stripping on the tonneau cover rails. As shown in my pictures I had to peel that all off to make the tonneau cover work.
I live in a cold snowy climate but we dont get a ton of rain - so its less of an issue for me. I would imagine some water can leak in now that I've ripped off the weather stripping but to me its worth it.

 

Nice! Thank you for the response! I have the Toyota branded one as well. I’ll post a pic. I am pretty sure we have the same set up.

 

It works! I did the same thing. Just took off those two weather strips and it’s a perfect fit!

 

at what height level are the elevate racks in your pic? About to purchase, thinking about running it with the GrandTour 18 Roof Box… I’m sure it will look a little funny but I got a lot of skis to transport (coming to salt lake this winter)