DIY Bed Rail System

[injaneer]

I know many of you have done this, and I have seen many threads on this. Thanks to all that have posted before. I am going to include my story here in case I can help someone with an idea or something a little different.

Over the past few weeks I have created my own custom bed rail system out of Unistrut from the local "home" stores.

I bought 2 10' pieces of unistrut and cut them a little over 5" for the top, and about 52" I think for the sides.

The two longer runs are to cross the bed for my storage rack, or for bikes, etc in the future.

I used these L brackets and hand tight knobs to secure the cross rails, allowing me to move and adjust them, and to make them easy to secure and remove.

Painted it all black. And added clear coat.

Installed.

and made these tie down cleats.

And tie down cleats installed.

Very pleased with the results, we will see how the paint/clear coat holds up.

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[injaneer]

I can and probably ad more detail on actual parts used.

 

[mdyucca]

Nice work! Where did you find the knobs?

 

[injaneer]

Nice work! Where did you find the knobs?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DO3XNU8?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WQSYWN2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

The rubber washers and unistrut nuts came from local "home" store.

 

[Jaxmax]

Looks great, good idea about the cross struts for bikes and such, only comment I have is on the angle brackets you are using to attach the strut to cross bar strut, all the strut companies make angle brackets the are designed for what you are doing and much heavier duty. You can’t find them PM me I’ll send ya some.

Nice color Glady!…..Jack

 

[injaneer]

Looks great, good idea about the cross struts for bikes and such, only comment I have is on the angle brackets you are using to attach the strut to cross bar strut, all the strut companies make angle brackets the are designed for what you are doing and much heavier duty. You can’t find them PM me I’ll send ya some.

Nice color Glady!…..Jack

These are pretty thick, but I will PM you as well to see if something is better.

 

[BrettWeir]

What did you do about the strut being galvanized? My past experience says that paint doesn't adhere to the galvanized coating. I know you can get painted or powder coated strut as well. Please let us know how it holds up. It looks great!

 

[injaneer]

What did you do about the strut being galvanized? My past experience says that paint doesn't adhere to the galvanized coating. I know you can get painted or powder coated strut as well. Please let us know how it holds up. It looks great!

Yeah a bit concerned on how the paint will hold up, but I put many coats and then added clear coat on top. So hoping for the best. I did think about having it sprayed with bed liner material, if /when I get my bed sprayed. So I may do that if the paint does not hold up.

 

[cutter1138]

very nice. I did a very similar install but my tiedown points are slightly different. I like yours better and my have to copy them.

 

[injaneer]

very nice. I did a very similar install but my tiedown points are slightly different. I like yours better and my have to copy them.

More than welcome, if you need more details just let me know.

 

[injaneer]

Looks great, good idea about the cross struts for bikes and such, only comment I have is on the angle brackets you are using to attach the strut to cross bar strut, all the strut companies make angle brackets the are designed for what you are doing and much heavier duty. You can’t find them PM me I’ll send ya some.

Nice color Glady!…..Jack

Also I have it setup that the cross rails rest on the top of the bed, so the l brackets are not really taking the load.

 

[mdyucca]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DO3XNU8?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WQSYWN2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

The rubber washers and unistrut nuts came from local "home" store.

I did the same with the Unistrut. I like the knob you used better than the bolts I used. Thanks

 

[injaneer]

I did the same with the Unistrut. I like the knob you used better than the bolts I used. Thanks

Exactly why I created this thread, was hoping some might like the difference's and might consider these choices.

Thanks

 

[AmishMike]

Chris,

Great job!
I do have to agree with Jack, some better 'L' brackets maybe. Heck, even shelf brackets would work just something with a gusset to help with side to side movement depending on what you mount and how crazy you drive. For me, I like to over-engineer.
As far as paint on galvanized metal....sometimes scuffing with scotch-brite works, sometimes a good etching primer, sometimes nothing sticks. The good news is that either way they should not rust.

 

[InvertedLogic]

Very nice. I made a similar set up last year to hold two bike trays above the bed. Where did you find those end caps?

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