Truck Bed Racks

[50 Mission Cap]

Hey all,

Since my sister just had a kid, I sort of inherited her ford ranger. I have an old 2x4 that I have mounted some yakima fork recievers for mounting a bike. My question is, have any of you ever simply bolted those into a truck bed before? It looks like there are some places in the bed that are fabricated for that sort of thing. LMK,

Thanks,

Mick

[jerman]

You could just use some metal self tapping screws and screw the board to the bed.

[tryandgetme]

I made mine removable. I had a mazda truck, which is a ford ranger with a slightly different body style. Drilled holes from the underside to keep from poking anything important, used rivnuts so I can always unbolt the things without having to crawl underneith. and try to figure out how to get a wrench in there. I found it easier to work by pulling out the 6 giant torx bolts and tilting the bed up.

sure, it's not worth much, but the motor blew a few weeks ago a hair before 450,000 km. The tiny little 4 bangers just don't quit. Some guy saw my dad walking along the highway and gave him $100 for the scrap plus a ride home. My dad bought it from me for $200, so he just got 40,000 out of a $100 truck.

[gti2k2000]

If you're going to do it, do it right. You want it secure. Drill holes and bolt the assembly directly to the bed. It is a ford ranger so it's not worth much as it sits. You'll probably double or triple the value with your yakima pieces and a bike or two.

The piece of 2X4 would double the value. You want to make this install secure. My buddy made one that was easy to remove and some one did while he was riding.

[RepublicanSS]

On my GMC Sierra I just drilled through the bed and bolted on the fork mounts. Works great, it keeps the bikes out of the wind and bugs. Easy to lock too.

[PutAwayWet]

I have a cap, so I just have a 1x8 with two fork mounts on it. But I also use my truck bed a ton, so having to remove something mounted to the bed everytime I wanted to slide something in or out would be a real pain in the ass. With the cap, I don't care if the bikes are secure so long as they remain standing.

I have a friend who mounted the fork mounts to the front of the bed, up on the rail. That way is was off the floor and out of the way. I also know people who've mounted them to the side rails of the bed and put the bikes in sideways.

[tryandgetme]

sideways sounds like a winner for my jeep, thanks for the idea!

[noob-to-29]

my brother mounted 2 of the fork receivers straight onto the siderail with nothing beneath it, and from carrying the bikes about 4 times the bed rail got bent from i guess the bike torqing on it so either mount a 2x4 to the bed rail and mount the yakimas to that or do the same on the bottom of the bed, or even a truck box if you have one

[DEFcon2]

This is a little more elaborate than the 2x4 but I like how it turned out. I used a piece of 1'' square tube, a couple yakimas, an L-bracket, and an old fork. Bolted it all together and tek screwed (self-drilling) it under the bed rail. It's been used for over a year and had no problems.