Bed rack and tonneau cover shopping, what to look for?

[IronHorse87]

I’ve read on the forums some pairs others have used but not exactly what to look for to to ensure the two would work together. Looking for any advice. Overall want to get a hard cover and a bed rack. What do I need to look for to ensure they work together if I’m spot shopping around town.

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[Steelglad]

I already have a Bakflip 4xs revolver which I will uninstall today to add my new Tuwa Pro rack. I have seen a few videos that convinced me they work well together. I will return and let you know how it went.

 

[Fpolanco]

Most manufacturers will let you know if a tonneau cover will work and if so, which ones.

For example, I know JCR Offroad racks work with Access brand tonneau covers. The tonneau cover is easier to roll back with a full height vs their half height. This issue isn't specific to JCR Offroad though.

I'm pretty sure Billie Bars recommends a specific bracket for their bars to work with tonneau covers.

 

[IronHorse87]

Thanks I will make sure to check them!

 

[mx5red]

What are you looking for?
I don’t like the look of bed caps but they are way more useful.
I started with a bak4 for security and to keep the truck look.
Since they have t-slots on the bed rails, which are useful, I added Yakima skyline towers/racks and carry skis and bikes that way. Buuut, I can’t roll up the Bak with the Yakima racks on. And I f’ing hate to crawl into the bed under the tonneau (the factory bedliner is very rough!).
By itself I love the bak4 and would be happy with it as a cover, if I didn’t try to carry a bunch of other stuff.

I recently put on a DIY bed rack with aluminum extrusion.. basically what xtrusion-overland sells.
It is also useful to attach stuff to, but I still don’t have a slick way of attaching ski or bike racks onto it… though you could mcguyver that.

@DrJ has a good setup with a retractable bed cover (truckcoversusa), and the Yakima stuff over it. Not many people run retractable covers, they eat up some bed space in the front of the bed where it rolls up, but you don’t have to worry about anything above the tonneau. I’d do that if I started over.

and way more useful would be to just throw an ARE/Leer/RSI/RLD/Alu-cab on and carry everything inside, and your skis on a bike rack up top!
I just can’t get into the look of it. Bed caps seem expensive but the cost probably isn’t a big difference. My bak4 was $1000, my DIY rack with sliders etc was $1000, my Yakima rails were another several hundred dollars. So just about there and less useful than an ARE.
The bike and ski carriers are separate because you’ll probably need something regardless of the rack or tonneau.

 

[cgm]

my bak revolver with the t slots works very well for me with my elevate rack. I wanted a retrax and yakima overhaul hd rack, but retrax doesn't make a tonneau for our jeeps.

The bak revovler simply works well. It rolls up out of the bed so you don't lose any bed space when its back... but it does stick into the bed a bit if you have taller items. it can be removed with four bilts which is nice if needed. When it is down, you can also store stuff on the top of it. The plano storage bins work great when strapped down on top of the tonneau to free up bed space when necessary.

I tried using a Yakima Overhaul HD with the tonneau kit. There is a forum member here that made it work. i had it for about 30 seconds before I removed and sold the overhaul. the rubber at the bed sides of the bak revolver won't lay flat on the side rails because of the tonneau kit and the shape of the overhaul.

The elevate rack works perfectly with no interference, it is vertical as upposed to the shape of the overhaul so it fits the shape of the jeep better. the tonneau rolls up with no fuss or muss. the rack can be quickly slid forwards or backwards in the rails by adjusting 4 nuts. I keep a ratchet with 15mm socket in my toolkit on my jeep at all times if i need to adjust it. The uprights can be adjusted easily as well with the 15mm socket and an alen wrench. my only complaint is that the two positions of the rack are not ideal. the lower position would proabably be good for a RTT, but it is too low for most things. the upper position is too high. At some point I will drill new holes in the side towers to get the load bars just above cab height. This was a simple process on the overhaul hd.

 

[Steelglad]

Here is my follow up. First off. I personally would NEVER trust only the T slots on my Bakflip to carry any kind of load off road. Everything I read said that the Tuwa Moab would work with my Bakflip. Short answer, yes it does. It takes grinding, finagling etc, to get an okay fit that still allows water. The hardware with the Tuwa is crap, but that is the norm. Bottom line. The Tuwa looks good, but is a little janky, BUT costs much less than others. It is NOT plug and play by any stretch and it would be much more easily installed with trail rails. In hindsight, I should have(and may still) drop the 3 hundy to put the rail system in.

 

[OffroadAlliance.com]

The Retrax pro is perfect for having bed racks as it comes with a T slot track to install any bed rack into. Let me know if you're interested! It's the perfect cover/rack combo in my opinion.

 

[Sigz]

I'm one of many that is looking for that perfect setup with a bed rack and a secure hard/tri fold tonneau.

I have the low profile RC tri folding tonneau and am satisfied with how it operates, protects, and secures my gear.

I'm now in search for a rack that will be able to me the ability to open the tri fold panels.

The two that I've basically come down to are:

Max Modular 18" rack: https://www.max-modular.com/jeep-gladiator-bed-racks-1/max-modular-18-high-jt-aluminum-bed-rack

Trukd: https://gettrukd.com/collections/je...5-v2-bed-rack-for-jeep-gladiator-2019-current

I REALLY am liking the looks of the:

XRS overland Rack: https://www.gorhino.com/series-446-xrs-overland-xtreme-rack.html

Along with the

ZRoadz access overland rack: https://zroadz.com/i-23910371-2019-...ry-trail-rail-cargo-systems-part-z834211.html

Unfortunately, the last two don't appear to work with a tri fold tonneau - unless there's some way to finagle it...

 

[BlueScapegoat]

It takes a bit of creativity to get it sealed up but I installed the Access Literider with my Rebel Xplor rack. It's a tight fit and not 100% bolt on compatible, but it works.

It's a soft cover so not really what you're looking for, but as a reference, it works.

 

[IronHorse87]

Thanks for all the replies I’ve got a couple of ideas to check out from here! If racks on the trail rail only supports 200 ilbs on each rail does that limit mean I can only have 3 people (of 200ilbs) in a roof top tent does the beside support most of the weight?

 

[IronHorse87]

Just posting for closure I decided to go with the bak revolver x4s to use in conjunction with the kbvoodoo VRS thank you everybody for your help.

 

[capncking]

Just posting for closure I decided to go with the bak revolver x4s to use in conjunction with the kbvoodoo VRS thank you everybody for your help.

I have decided this is the way to go since I already have the X4S installed on my ‘23 JT

Would you mind posting pics of how yours turned out?

Thanks in advance

 

[NewGladdyOWNR]

Here is my follow up. First off. I personally would NEVER trust only the T slots on my Bakflip to carry any kind of load off road. Everything I read said that the Tuwa Moab would work with my Bakflip. Short answer, yes it does. It takes grinding, finagling etc, to get an okay fit that still allows water. The hardware with the Tuwa is crap, but that is the norm. Bottom line. The Tuwa looks good, but is a little janky, BUT costs much less than others. It is NOT plug and play by any stretch and it would be much more easily installed with trail rails. In hindsight, I should have(and may still) drop the 3 hundy to put the rail system in.

I run the Yakima overhaul hd via t slots with my roll n lock retractable cover.. I mount my RTT and/or kayaks and have NEVER had an issue. Handles the loads just fine.

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