Frontrunner Slimline rack with Bak X4s

[TheOpa]

Last weekend I bought a Frontrunner Slimline rack from a forum member and after using it for a week I thought I would share some lessons learned.
First, here is a link to pretty much the same thing if you are buying it new:

• JEEP GLADIATOR (2019-CURRENT) FOLD-TOP SLIMLINE II BED RACK KIT

If you zoom in, you will find the feet installed in this manner:

the problem with that is the Bak cover won’t go past the second set of feet, as shown here:

I sketched out a lot of ideas about creating taller feet, longer legs, or even trying to bend these legs in a bench vise to straighten out some of the way they angle in. Fortunately I thought about it a lot prior to making any of those changes because the light bulb above my head finally lit a little brighter and it turns out simply reversing the feet works perfectly.

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[TheOpa]

If the feet on all three sets of legs are reversed the cover rolls all the way open up to the cab without touching the legs or the bottom of the rack, which is ideal.

 

[TheOpa]

I’m not crazy about the little cover on each foot with the nuts captured in it because I can see it trapping water.

I’m thinking I will just leave that cover off and use the open bracket, using nylock nuts to secure the leg. Despite going to multiple stores last night, I was unsuccessful finding the nuts and bolts in black stainless steel, so I had to order them. When I get the new hardware I will throw some additional pics in here of the finished product and also show the clearance between the cover and rack with the cover rolled up.

 

[1stXMan]

Very cool. Nice work.

 

[TheOpa]

Very cool. Nice work.

Thanks!

 

[TheOpa]

A couple pictures as promised. I did not bother reversing the front brackets because the cover rolls almost all the way up to the cab (see pics below) and it seemed like a lot of work for very little reward.
A couple measurements that I thought some might find useful:
-floor of bed to bottom of rack = 27”
- top rail of bed (or top of closed cover) to bottom of rack = 9”

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