Alu-Cab Gladiator Bed Cap

[Barnaby’sdad]

You can put it in the bed with the gate down.
Then run a strap or 2 around the back of the package to the front tie downs to hold it forward.

Piece of cake. Its better to keep it protected for the ride home.

This topic came up when someone asked about transporting an 80 inch TV in a Gladiator. It seems people are afraid to put things in with the gate down. Its nothing to worry about. Just tie it down well.

Or go by U-Haul and spend $20 to rent a utility trailer. I did that a few times and eventually ended up getting my own trailer w/ramp. As it turns out, I prefer that to muscling items in and out of a truck bed.

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[dcmdon]

Or go by U-Haul and spend $20 to rent a utility trailer. I did that a few times and eventually ended up getting my own trailer w/ramp. As it turns out, I prefer that to muscling items in and out of a truck bed.

I'm a big fan of trailers. I love my aluminum 5' x 8' trailer. And a trailer is certainly preferable.

But that wasn't offered. The question was whether it would fit in the bed. And the answer is yes, with the gate down. It would be a piece of cake and perfectly safe.

Back to trailers. One of the reasons I was able to put a cap on my truck was because I don't have to do "pickup truck" type stuff with my truck. I have a trailer. And its better at pickup truck type stuff than a pickup truck. Loading a motorcycle onto a deck 12 inches off the ground is super easy.

I can also carry about 3x as much weight in the trailer as I can in a Gladiator. (3000 lbs)

 

[Barnaby’sdad]

Ordered mine today. Looking at 3+ months for the wait. Times flies when I’m having fun, so I’m sure it’ll be here before I know it.

 

[Fouts]

Can anyone tell me if it is ok to trim the extra gasket material around the back door?

 

[JT850]

Mounted the ARB Twin and a 2.5gal air tank to the ceiling, and set up a pneumatic stack on the back wall of the port side cupboard. It's powered by an aux battery in the bed, charged by a 20A DC-DC charger.

You have a cupboard in there?

 

[MDV Hank]

Can anyone tell me if it is ok to trim the extra gasket material around the back door?

mine sticks out also and it's snug to open and close for a month or so.

 

[Fouts]

mine sticks out also and it's snug to open and close for a month or so.

Mine is snug also. A bit afraid opening and closing may tear off some of the weatherstripping.

 

[MDV Hank]

Mine is snug also. A bit afraid opening and closing may tear off some of the weatherstripping.

I agree but I shimmed mine as per instructions, I think the tailgate cap design is the main issue. Also I love the color of our JT they didn't offer that when I got mine I had the same color JKU prior to the JT.

 

[Kaumajet]

You have a cupboard in there?

1450mm cupboard on each side, mounted aft.

 

[JT850]

1450mm cupboard on each side, mounted aft.

oh damn. i though the biggest they made was 1250mm. looks good. im waiting in mine to come in

 

[Kaumajet]

oh damn. i though the biggest they made was 1250mm. looks good. im waiting in mine to come in

My bad — they're 750s. Half cupboards.

 

[Kaumajet]

Latest addition to the canopy is a home-made table slide to keep my camp table clean and out of the way.

 

[ttn333]

Latest addition to the canopy is a home-made table slide to keep my camp table clean and out of the way.

That's awesome! When can I put in my order ?

 

[Kaumajet]

That's awesome! When can I put in my order ?

With the hours that have gone into making this, I'm afraid there aren't enough dollars printed

But feel free to make your own; it's not that difficult.

The slide is made from aluminium channel that closely matches the table profile (2.5 x 1.5 in my case). I drilled lightening holes along the span of the channel to shave a couple pounds from the system.

I made the pivot hinges out of 2x3 aluminium angle and hung them from the second canopy rail from the front using two M8 x 20 stainless bolts per side (two bolts to keep the hinge straight). Using the second rail – as opposed to the front one – means the front portion of the channels contact the front canopy rail when deploying the table, which negates using a separate down-stop.

In the front, the latching mechanism consists of a pair of automotive hood-pin latches with the male part mounted to the aft canopy rail with 2x3 angle, which I also use as a front guide to keep the whole assembly centred. I'm also using two bolts per side on these mounts to keep them straight. The female latch is mounted to the channel with 1x2 angle.

The hinges and latch mounts are mounted to the channel using carriage bolts so they can be tightened without tools on the inside end, and to minimise the intrusion inside the slide. I profiled the carriage slots with a small file (super easy in alu). The top is braced with 2” flat bar in an X pattern to keep the system square and solid, and there are a pair of aluminium cross braces running perpendicular to the channels on the bottom.
I attached the four cross brace pieces to the upper and lower runs of the channel with M4 button-head bolts, because the table is fairly snug in the channel and I didn’t have a lot of space left over for bolt heads. I couldn’t get a rivet gun in there, so the button head was the next smallest profile I could find. The lower fasteners use acorn nuts to keep the bolt ends from carving lines in my bald head.

The original plan was to drill a hole through one channel and the table, and use a ball-lock pin to secure the table from migrating fore-and-aft. This proved unnecessary, as the fit is very snug with some foam tape lining the channel. The table position when stowed is also above the window lines, so with the table pushed all the way forward against the front wall when stowed, it can’t go further, even in hard braking to a collision. In the event of a rear-end collision, it would simply hit the back wall.

 

[JT850]

My bad — they're 750s. Half cupboards.

ah ok...gotcha. Do they take up a lot of bed width? Wasn't sure how deep they were from front to back.

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