cowboy_dan
Member
I've got three weddings to go to in as many weeks coming up, and well over 5000 miles for them.
So, I decided it was time for some semi-aero changes.
First was a truck bed cover. I have a pretty standard low profile over-rail toolbox in the bed, and I'm not willing to give it up unless I could get a really killer deal on a in-bed toolbox. Basically it would have to be a straight trade, or free.
So I started looking for a cover that would fit with the toolbox. The only ones I found didn't work with the low profile toolbox (handle & lock are below level of bed rails), wouldn't raise in the front (I'm not removing the cover just to get in the toolbox), or just too danged expensive ($600).
I pondered this for several weeks, daydreaming and looking at pictures of other bed covers for ideas. Then I sketched out my ideas and threw them out one by one for various reasons that made them impractical to build, or just plain wouldn't work.
Eventually I settled on this design. The results are what you see here. It still isn't done, I need to make a little latch of some sort to keep it from bouncing around and rattling.
BOM:
Vendor Part number Desc pkg qty qty unit price
Metal world N/A Angle 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 3/16" x 20' cut in half 1 3 36.70
Lee's truevalue hdw N/A 5/16 X 3" stainless carriage bolt 1 7 2.00
Menards 554705 spray on bed liner 1 3 7.49
Menards N/A 5/16 x 2 SS carriage bolt 23 1 6.99
Menards N/A 5/16" SS nuts 96 1 5.99
Menards N/A 5/16" SS washers 87 1 4.99
Menards N/A 2 1/2" hinge captive pin 1 4 2.49
And, pictures:
So, I decided it was time for some semi-aero changes.
First was a truck bed cover. I have a pretty standard low profile over-rail toolbox in the bed, and I'm not willing to give it up unless I could get a really killer deal on a in-bed toolbox. Basically it would have to be a straight trade, or free.
So I started looking for a cover that would fit with the toolbox. The only ones I found didn't work with the low profile toolbox (handle & lock are below level of bed rails), wouldn't raise in the front (I'm not removing the cover just to get in the toolbox), or just too danged expensive ($600).
I pondered this for several weeks, daydreaming and looking at pictures of other bed covers for ideas. Then I sketched out my ideas and threw them out one by one for various reasons that made them impractical to build, or just plain wouldn't work.
Eventually I settled on this design. The results are what you see here. It still isn't done, I need to make a little latch of some sort to keep it from bouncing around and rattling.
BOM:
Vendor Part number Desc pkg qty qty unit price
Metal world N/A Angle 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 3/16" x 20' cut in half 1 3 36.70
Lee's truevalue hdw N/A 5/16 X 3" stainless carriage bolt 1 7 2.00
Menards 554705 spray on bed liner 1 3 7.49
Menards N/A 5/16 x 2 SS carriage bolt 23 1 6.99
Menards N/A 5/16" SS nuts 96 1 5.99
Menards N/A 5/16" SS washers 87 1 4.99
Menards N/A 2 1/2" hinge captive pin 1 4 2.49
And, pictures: