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Wanting to build a custom bed rack

Discussion in 'Recovery & Gear' started by KissMyAxe1, Feb 18, 2020.

  1. May 2, 2020 at 10:52 PM
    #31
    Ely010606

    Ely010606 New Member

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    Tag, i cant wait for the finished product.
     
  2. May 7, 2020 at 10:19 PM
    #32
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    Here's the new hinge idea. I'd like to make it so it only has a certain range of motion, so that it can't over extend, meaning the tent cant go flying front or back and can't lower too much either.
    20200506_222600-01.jpg
    I'll weld a plate on top, and that's where the arms will mount to. I'm thinking I can just weld the pipe straight onto plate on this, I will just have to be careful welding galvanized steel.

    Also, bought a new tool, it's way more powerful than the 20 year old no name brand grinder I was using. So far, I'm loving it!
    20200507_230829-01.jpg
     
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  3. May 23, 2020 at 1:09 PM
    #33
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    I got some more welding done! Still have a bit of work to do, but it's getting much closer! The base plates want to roll, so I may need to get some metal down to the bed rails to hold it down better, and since I need to pull out the bed liner anyways, thay could be easily done. But the goal now to get everything mounted to the truck to do an actual test fit this weekend!
    20200523_124528.jpg 20200523_124038.jpg
     
  4. May 23, 2020 at 1:44 PM
    #34
    SC_TRD

    SC_TRD Big BASTRD 4x4 Enthusiast

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    this is awesome! I had the idea of something similar to this, but definitely couldn’t have designed something like this! Very legit!
     
  5. May 23, 2020 at 8:40 PM
    #35
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    Thanks! I'm definitely learning as I go. Made some more progress today! Got one of the arms assembled! And then of course, as I'm tapping the next set, the tap decides to break!

    ZomboDroid 23052020202219.jpg
    20200523_204436.jpg
     
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  6. May 25, 2020 at 1:55 PM
    #36
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    I put it on the truck today! Definitely not ready yet, but it's getting closer! Also I took the bed liner out, and what do you know, there's 4 rust spots under there. I grinded them down a little, but they weren't easing up, so I'm just going to paint over them for now and put the bed liner back in. They weren't too bad, the biggest one being about 2 square inches.
    20200525_133445.jpg
    20200525_135516.jpg


    It doesnt sit as low as I'd like, but that's okay. I'm thinking I could put a third set of arms connecting from the base somewhere near the middle and then on the front of the rack, to eliminate that wobble. The other issue I could see is the base (the part that's sitting on the bed sides) seems to twist a little as I put weight on it. I got my while body weight on there, and it definitely seemed solid, but I could see the base plates twisting just a little. So I think I'll have to connect those together. An option there could be 2 bars with bends that attach the two base plates together, or maybe I could attach two arms in the front that connect the front corners of the base plates to the middle of the rack. I'll have some things weighing in my head while I wait for pay day.
     
  7. Jun 23, 2020 at 8:17 AM
    #37
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    Another update! I didn't take as many pictures as I should've, but I did take a video as it broke.. haha I was jumping all over it, and it felt really solid, and then I heard a crack, kept raising it up and down and as I took a video, one of the arms broke off.. The problem is the rack will shift to a side when raising or lowering, putting lots of stress on the arms. And then I went a little too far with grinding down those corners, so I'm headed back to weld all of those again, really get them solid.

    You can see in the video how the rack is a little crooked as it's going up, and then straitens out as it gets to the top. That's what caused the arm to break off.
    https://youtu.be/uLM-pdB80r4
     
  8. Jun 23, 2020 at 8:34 AM
    #38
    chugs

    chugs New Member

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    Nice!
    [​IMG]
     
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  9. Jun 23, 2020 at 8:39 AM
    #39
    Mountun Goat

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    Killer build so far :headbang:, how do you fasten it to the bed?
     
  10. Jun 23, 2020 at 8:48 AM
    #40
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    It's got 2 base plates that run along the top of the bed sides, mounting into the stake pockets, and brackets that will go between the bed and the bed cover and hold onto the rails. I'll take some pictures later of it. It's a bit ghetto, since I didn't find 1/8" l brackets to weld on, so I got a hitch reciever, chopped it in half to make an L bracket, cut it up, ground down one side so it's closer to an 1/8" thick, and that's what I have on.
     
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  11. Jun 23, 2020 at 9:26 AM
    #41
    Mountun Goat

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    Cool! This is a killer idea for a bed rack. I love when someone sees something in their head, and manages to make it happen in real life! :hattip::thumbsup:
     
  12. Jun 24, 2020 at 9:09 PM
    #42
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    Here's some more pictures of the rack. The wifi controller is cool, but I'm not a fan of it, so I'm sending it back and am going to build my own controller. A bunch of toggle switches, and should be good to go. I'll have a master power switch, a switch to raise and lower all the actuators at once, and a switch per actuator to control them individually.

    20200624_085809.jpg
    20200624_085938.jpg

    Here's a close up of the mounting system.
    20200624_085822.jpg
    20200624_085833.jpg
    I still have a bit of grinding to do on those L brackets, I want to be able to fit the bed cover back on with those in there, and it'll be tight, but I think it'll work.

    This is what originally broke, I went a little too far with grinding down welds and took too much off, so these are now much more reinforced.
    20200624_085849.jpg


    This is some of the parts for the controller. I still have a few switches coming. There's a few things I dont know how to do, like wiring a master control switch and wiring individual switches and if there needs to be separation between those circuits and how I do that or if I need relays.
    20200624_195511.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2020
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  13. Jun 24, 2020 at 9:20 PM
    #43
    Mountun Goat

    Mountun Goat She baaaaaahd

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    The actuators look so cool. The plan is to have the L brackets thin as you’ve got there the whole length of piece? Does the bed cover mount inside the rails? Looks like tedious work. What’s the plan for final material coating?:popcorn:
     
  14. Jun 24, 2020 at 9:37 PM
    #44
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    Yeah, you can see that little lip on the top of the L brackets, I think I'll have to take that off, make it look like the lower part of the L bracket. The bed cover does sit inside of that, just clamps onto the rails. These L brackets will use the same mounting bolts the bed cover does, the clamps will just be in between the nut and the L bracket. This whole project is tedious, mostly because I'm learning on the go, and adjusting as I'm going. All the angles for the arms and actuators were eyeballed, so they're not quite right, but close enough to work. So I'm trying to fix all these little things as I'm going, and come up with new ideas to fix the problems I run into. The controller with toggle switches wasn't part of the plan, but it is now!

    The plan is to get it powdercoated, but I may hold off for a while and put some black spray paint on just to give it a good amount of time for testing before I get it powdercoated.
     
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  15. Jun 24, 2020 at 10:09 PM
    #45
    Mountun Goat

    Mountun Goat She baaaaaahd

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    :notsure:
    Nice work, it’s a wild undertaking haha. It’s looking so good! The spray paint for a good shake down run makes sense for sure. Don’t know if you’d be interested, but I built a bed/roof rack and built steak hole pegs that bolt it in. Seems like a very strong, engineered way to hold a bed rack to the bed. Might be worth taking a look at if your bed cover ends up not fitting with your brackets. Just an FYI. I’m a dyi kind of fella and just love seeing others doing the same and expanding their minds. Kudos sir and I’ll be watching until the end :) :popcorn:
     
  16. Jun 24, 2020 at 10:14 PM
    #46
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    I'm actually using the stake pockets with some bolt on pegs that bolt in there. There's a bolt under each of the "arms" (part with the gas strut), but I noticed when I put pressure on the rack, the base plates would twist out away from the bed, so that's why I put the L brackets on. It would probably work better if I had a better way to attach those pegs. If I made some that welded to the base plates, that would be super strong!
     
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  17. Jun 24, 2020 at 10:53 PM
    #47
    Mountun Goat

    Mountun Goat She baaaaaahd

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  18. Jun 25, 2020 at 12:01 AM
    #48
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    I've already got a CVT rtt, just need to get a rack to put it on! This was at Burning Man last year, on my jeep. Got hit by a semi on Halloween, so the jeep went away. I'm pretty excited about the swap to the tundra though!

    20190824_203827-01.jpg
     
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  19. Jun 25, 2020 at 6:37 AM
    #49
    Mountun Goat

    Mountun Goat She baaaaaahd

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    Rad setup!:popcorn:
     
  20. Jun 25, 2020 at 3:18 PM
    #50
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    So here's a super quick drawing of the wired controller. 5 DPDT and 2 SPST switches. Master power switch, another on/off switch to turn on or off the master control switch, and the 4 indiviual control switches. It would be awesome to get some cannon plugs, or some kind of quick disconnect option. But maybe it's not all that necessary anyways. Put some rubber sealant on all around the box and get it good and watertight after everything works. Should have it all built next week when the diodes come in.

    Super Technical Electrical Drawing.jpg
     
  21. Jun 26, 2020 at 8:13 PM
    #51
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    So, a friend looked over this schematic and brought a very important detail to my attention. With those diodes connected on the master switch, it will not let the circuit close, which makes the switch useless. So I need to get 8 relays and rig them up to sitch between the positive and ground to make it all work.

    Today I put the tent on the rack. Its taller than I remember! But I broke one of the mounting points of a linear actuator, so i need to see if i can get a replacement part or get the actuator replaced. I think the issue was the angle of the mounting base was off, creating more tension than it could take when bouncing down the road with weight. So the rack is on hold for a bit.

    20200626_181519.jpg
    20200626_191656.jpg
     
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  22. Jun 26, 2020 at 8:28 PM
    #52
    Mountun Goat

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    Damn!
     
  23. Jul 8, 2020 at 11:07 PM
    #53
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    Since this project is going on the back burner for a while, I thought I may as well make some legs and actually make use of a lot of my work. So I found a 4 foot square tube, cut it up, and made some solid legs so I can actually use the rack.

    I sanded off the surface rust, and up the bar into 4 chunks.
    20200707_123043-01.jpg

    Make sure to measure twice before cutting... I already cut one bar wrong.. you can see where I added an extra line.
    20200707_162307-01.jpg

    And the final piece!
    20200707_153613-01.jpg

    Took a bit of work to make it all work, but got it all welded together!
    20200708_210919-01.jpg

    20200708_211444-01.jpg

    Due to money and design problems, I'm back to the drawing board on the moving parts of this. So while it may be some time before I come up with some solutions, this will let me use the rack. After this weekend I'll pull it back off, cut off all the shock mounts and extra bits and grind it all smooth and coat with something to prevent rust and leave it for a while. I'm thinking it would be cool to leave the metal look, like just spray it with clear coat or something.
     
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  24. Jul 9, 2020 at 7:25 AM
    #54
    Mountun Goat

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    Nice, v2 looks great too!
     
  25. Jul 31, 2020 at 10:15 PM
    #55
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    Got it coated (just plastidip) so here it stops for a while. Anybody know of any tools for figuring out 4 bar linkages and the lengths of the 4 bars? Lol that's where I'm a little stuck..

    FB_IMG_1596258655057.jpg
     
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  26. Aug 3, 2020 at 8:41 AM
    #56
    Mountun Goat

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    Auto-cad?
     
  27. Aug 3, 2020 at 10:46 AM
    #57
    KissMyAxe1

    KissMyAxe1 [OP] New Member

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    I drew up the initial sketch in Sketchup, but now I'm learning Inventor, since it's easier to animate and "test" things out virutally. So I can draw things up, animate them and see the range of motion, I'm just wondering if there's some kind of program or calculation to figure out those lengths needed. Might have to just settle with messing around to figure out what works and doesn't work.
     
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  28. Aug 7, 2020 at 7:17 PM
    #58
    Mountun Goat

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    Oh ya your way over my head haha
     

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