Bobzdar
Well-Known Member
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- #1
Wanted to do a quick write up on this setup. Given there's nothing available for mounting a bed rack to the trail rail setup (yet), I pieced together my own. I used the TracRac bed rails with the 2016+ Tacoma with bed accessory rail mount kit from Thule. Here are the parts I used:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003DMFDM2
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CKQPTJ8
It required a couple of modifications to work - first was the bolts were too long for all but the rear mounts due to the bed side contours, so I replaced them with shorter bolts (easy) as seen in the above pic. The longer bolts that came with it, seen in the rear most mount, fit but were too difficult to tighten as the allen wrench couldn't get full engagement due to being right up against the bed sides.
The second modification was to the mounting feet that go between the bolts and the trail rail - apparently the trail rail setup has pretty much identical rail spacing and accessory size, but are thicker than the tacoma setup so I had to trim the feet to fit. Here's what that looks like, original on the left and modified on the right:
Tested it out this weekend - the bar spacing is tighter than a lot of people will probably run in order to fit my Thule roof bubble. The goal was to have water proof locking storage while not impacting bed capacity (like with a tonneau cover or bed cap), in which the setup succeeded perfectly. It went 450 miles each way to upstate NY, handled some mild off-roading (only had to winch once) and worked perfectly with the roof bubble while allowing me to pack the bed full of equipment. They're rated for 800lbs, so I may look into some other cargo mounts for up there so I don't need the trailer as often.
Only other thing to consider - the front rail can only move about 2 more inches to the front of the bed as the gas tank bump out interferes with the brackets and they require a 3" minimum spacing - I have them at 5-6" on the driver's side, so there's another 2" it could move forward. They also need to go together in a certain order as the only place you can insert the accessories is at the front, and once mounted the cargo tie downs on the side rails are pretty much stuck in place. If you forget to put them in and need them, you'll have to remove the front bar again to get them in. You may be able to move them 4-5 notches if you put the bars at maximum spacing, but with mine set to 34" to fit the roof bubble, I couldn't move them (see top pic). That was still fine as there wasn't much need to move them, but just one other thing to consider.
This also means that other stuff made for the 2016+ tacoma setup should be adaptable, but may need some modification. The spacing from the trail rail to the top of the bed appears to be very close to, if not identical to, the later tacoma. Don't get the 2015 down setup as it doesn't work - I ordered both as I wasn't sure, 2015 doesn't fit at all as they're apparently a lot closer to the top of the bed than 2016+.
The kit I got also came with toolbox mount, but looks like it could work for all kinds of trail rail accessories as it's basically an additional set of 2 clamps with a flat piece that sticks into the bed with a bolt hole in it.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003DMFDM2
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CKQPTJ8
It required a couple of modifications to work - first was the bolts were too long for all but the rear mounts due to the bed side contours, so I replaced them with shorter bolts (easy) as seen in the above pic. The longer bolts that came with it, seen in the rear most mount, fit but were too difficult to tighten as the allen wrench couldn't get full engagement due to being right up against the bed sides.
The second modification was to the mounting feet that go between the bolts and the trail rail - apparently the trail rail setup has pretty much identical rail spacing and accessory size, but are thicker than the tacoma setup so I had to trim the feet to fit. Here's what that looks like, original on the left and modified on the right:
Tested it out this weekend - the bar spacing is tighter than a lot of people will probably run in order to fit my Thule roof bubble. The goal was to have water proof locking storage while not impacting bed capacity (like with a tonneau cover or bed cap), in which the setup succeeded perfectly. It went 450 miles each way to upstate NY, handled some mild off-roading (only had to winch once) and worked perfectly with the roof bubble while allowing me to pack the bed full of equipment. They're rated for 800lbs, so I may look into some other cargo mounts for up there so I don't need the trailer as often.
Only other thing to consider - the front rail can only move about 2 more inches to the front of the bed as the gas tank bump out interferes with the brackets and they require a 3" minimum spacing - I have them at 5-6" on the driver's side, so there's another 2" it could move forward. They also need to go together in a certain order as the only place you can insert the accessories is at the front, and once mounted the cargo tie downs on the side rails are pretty much stuck in place. If you forget to put them in and need them, you'll have to remove the front bar again to get them in. You may be able to move them 4-5 notches if you put the bars at maximum spacing, but with mine set to 34" to fit the roof bubble, I couldn't move them (see top pic). That was still fine as there wasn't much need to move them, but just one other thing to consider.
This also means that other stuff made for the 2016+ tacoma setup should be adaptable, but may need some modification. The spacing from the trail rail to the top of the bed appears to be very close to, if not identical to, the later tacoma. Don't get the 2015 down setup as it doesn't work - I ordered both as I wasn't sure, 2015 doesn't fit at all as they're apparently a lot closer to the top of the bed than 2016+.
The kit I got also came with toolbox mount, but looks like it could work for all kinds of trail rail accessories as it's basically an additional set of 2 clamps with a flat piece that sticks into the bed with a bolt hole in it.
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