Cargo Issues Part 2... Need your creativity

Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Ford SportTrac Forum

Help Support Ford SportTrac Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
H

Heather inOC

Active Member
Joined
May 1, 2005
Messages
286
Reaction score
0
Location
Fullerton, CA
Okay I'm ready to get creative with this thing, so I need some help from you master fabricators. What I want to do is create a rack in the bed that will place crossbars either flush with the bed rail or come just below it. I just can't convice myself to put bikes on the roof since I mostly travel with girls who are no taller than I am, and because I use the roof rack for surfboards. So onto the bed. Here's what I need it to do, and what I don't want:



1. I don't have a tonneau cover, nor do I want one

2. I really don't want to drill into the bed or do any sort of permanent attachment

3. I want to be able to fit as many bikes as I can (3-4), and have all parts of the bikes at least above the wheel-well in the bed to make room for other gear and luggage down below

4. My parents would kill me if I bought a trailer, so that's definately not an option (They're sick of storing my "toys")

5. I want this to look as factory-made as possible, so wood 2x4's are not all that appealing, but if I get desperate I will consider

6. This will be a long-term set-up as my truck will be used as a support vehicle for my boyfriend's cycling team as well as a lot of road trips



So those are the basics, now for some questions- Is it possible to attach roof rack clamps to the bed rail? Is there anything solid under the rail or is it more plastic?? Yakima has some permanent-type clamps that drill into the rain gutters of cars, so I could drill into the bed, but where?

I know I've seen a ST with a similar set-up in the bed, but I don't know who it was or how he did it, so I'm flying blind. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!



-Heather in OC
 
You may be able to attach an aluminum angle to where the oem cover would attach to, run from the front to the back and use the oem cover lock holes. Then run cross bars from each side as to where you need the spacing and just drill in the bike licks that are needed.. IF all done with aluminum angle it will tarnish a little , but not rust and you can adjust as needed..

Todd Z
 
How about just getting one of the Ford bike racks that attaches to the front cargo tie downs in the front of the bed, then put a rod or a board across the back where the back cargo tie downs are, which would allow the rear tires of the bikes sit up and off the bed floor. This would allow room under the bikes to store gear.



The Ford bike rack comes with two mounts for the tire forks, but since it's a Yakima rack, you can add more.



[Broken External Image]:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Heather,

If you want to drill into your bed, I have an option. Use Yakima Landing Pads. These are permanent attachements. Standard Yakima fittings attach to these. They use a toggle bolts to attach to parts of the vehicle you can't reach. I used this on my truck. Difference is I have a roll-up cover, so I drilled into the metal piece of the cover. Since you don't have a cover, you would have to drill into the top of the bed side. I dont know what is underneath there, but I wouldn't imagine much. So in the summer, I put cross bars with bike holders ( I've done three but think you could push four), in the winter I put cross bars with snowboard holder. What nice is the gear is above the bed, so it is easy to load/unload, and you still have the entire bed for gear. And when I'm not being active, the cross bars come off and covers go on the Landing Pads. I will try to get some pics of my set up tomorrow (only the landing pads, cross bars are in Vermont). A lot of my friends with pickups like the setup and plan on doing it to their trucks because it transports gear, but preserves cargo space.
 
Keith-

I looked at the Landing Pads and I think that's the route I'm going to go if I can found out if there's anything substantial to attach to under the bed rail.

I'd love to see pics of your set-up when you get the chance. Thanks!





-Heather in Oc
 
Last edited by a moderator:
3. I want to be able to fit as many bikes as I can (3-4), and have all parts of the bikes at least above the wheel-well in the bed to make room for other gear and luggage down below

6. This will be a long-term set-up as my truck will be used as a support vehicle for my boyfriend's cycling team as well as a lot of road trips
Click to expand...



[Broken External Image]:



:lol:
 
OK. Zero engineering has gone into this, and I don't know what the load capacity of the external tiedowns is. How about a set of cross bars that replace the external tiedowns. You can mount the bicycle attachments to the crossbars, and still retain access to the bed. Sorry for the size of the picture, but it looks better at this size.

[Broken External Image]:
 
Thanks. I've been toying with that idead for a while now. Although with a hard tonneau cover I'd need some sort of a quick release so I could flip the cover open.
 
I seem to recall either the owner's manual or someone here posting that the external tiedowns will support 700 lbs of force each. I am looking for some confirming documentation.
 
Actually, IIRC, it is actually 750 LBS each. I know I have broken 1500 LB straps trying to tie down stuff using the outside tie downs.



A bracket like Todd C. drew up and get a Yakima or Thule bike rack connected to it. You could get three or four racks to hold your bikes down.



You would still have full use of the bed, but still haul the bikes.



Great idea Todd. At work, I was actually thinking the same thing.



You can buy some 1" square bar stock in either aluminum oir steel and make some brackets. get a fab shop, or someone that knows how to weld to weld them up. You could either remove the tie downs you want to install them to, or get longer bolts and bolt them to the outside of the tie downs.



Go to a large fastner shop, not Home Depot or Lowes, they suck for fasteners, and get some tamper proof screws to mount them to prevent someone from trying to steal it. Do not use one way screws. Those can not be removed. Some tamper proof screws would be spanner screws (they have two holes on the head) a torx with a center pin to prevent the use of a regular torx bit.



Have the brackets powder coated and you are set.





Tom
 
Todd's design looks good, but you would have to tweak the cross bar a little. The front tie-downs are too close to the truck cab. My landing pad/cross bar are set back about two inches from the existing tie-down, towards the back of the bed. My mountain bike tire (26-inch) hits the rear window, and the bike carrier (yakima king cobra) is right at the cab when loaded. So, if you move the cross bar closer to the cab, a typical bike and carrier might not fit. If you can fabricate something that uses the tie-down as shown in Todd's design, but then angle the cross bar back, you might get a good fit, without drilling into the truck.
 
I took a quick look at the design. Since I don't have my MTB handy to get its weight, I assumed 40lbs per bicycle, 3 bicycles, and the weight evenly distributed between the front and rear brackets. I assumed a max vertical acceleration of 3g's to simulate going over a bump the estimate the maximum load on the bracket. There is one bicycle located in the middle and the other two are located near the ends of the bracket.



Materials:

End Plates: 6061 T6511 Aluminum, 1/4" Thick

Crossbar: 6063 T52 Aluminum 1" x 1" x 0.125" wall



The stress in the end plate peaks at around 25ksi, which is well below the 40ksi yield for the 6061 Aluminum. Max stress in the crossbar is around 10ksi which is getting close to the 16ksi published yield for the square tube. It may be better to go up to 1.25" x 1.25" tube. Max deflection at the center of the bracket is 0.4". Material cost is around $65 from McMaster Carr.



[Broken External Image]:
 
Heather, Look at the Thule 822 Bed Rider. I is pressure fitted at the top of the bed, lockable, comes with 2 mounts but you can add more. If you get 2 and put 1 at the front and 1 at the back you should be able to fit 4 bikes, and have them all above the bed leaving plenty of cargo space. I have 1 for my truck
 
ok, here is what I did. I took a thule raingutter mounted bike rake. Modified the guttermounts tograb onto the bed cleats, and mounted the bike rakes to that. Was planning to do a project on it. In the spring. If you want pics. Email me, and I will post some this weekend..
 
You could also take Todd's idea and use it to make a mount for the Yakima mounts. So instead of the clip coming up into a bar that goes across the bed, it goes up to a piece that rests on top of the bedrail and it is attached to tiedowns at the front and the back. Then on top of that you mount the Yakima towers. That would put the weight onto the bed rails and provide more flexible positioning of the mounts.



The other idea I had was something similar using the tonneau cover mounts, but it seems like it would be much easier to use the tie downs. Plus I am thinking that I could do this and it wouldn't interfere with my softcover.



This is a great discussion!
 
Sean-I like the idea of having the mount sit on the bedrail in order to take most of the weight. Thanks for that!

Todd- Thank you for the schematic you rigged up. That will prove to be really helpful in my design.



I'm stopping at REI on my way home today to pick up the Yakima Landing Pads and then some metal from the shop. I'll work on fabbing something tonight and then I'll report back with the results.

Thanks for all the input guys! This site is the best.



-Heather in OC



 
Seems like this is a little off track from the original request of "either flush with the rails or a little below". Maybe a change of the bracket to bend it around, down and inside the bed is more in line with what is being asked? I definitely like the idea of using the cargo hook mounting. That's cool.

Also, consideration should be given to the height of the bikes when installed onto the rack. The headset bearings. brakes, shifters, cables, etc., although sealed are exposed to wind/dirt/rain coming off of the roof if mounted too high. You should never wash a bike using pressurized water to ensure that you don't force water or debris into any of these areas. On a windy and/or rainy day you would be doing just that. Potential high dollar replacement items. At least cover them with a plastic bag or something for a little protection.

That's why I put my mounting down into the bed.



Lou...

 
Lou-

Thanks for Bike Care 101 :D

I use these even when I mount them low in the bed just because I'm a bike weenie



[Broken External Image]:



-Heather in OC
 

Latest posts

Top