Truck bed rack for 70 series? Got photos?

[Reinhardtius]

Hi Folks,

I would like to be able to transport a sculling single on top of the 70 series with factory bed. All the Thule racks look great except the clamps require a lip on the inside of the bed, whereas the 70 series factory beds have the lip on the outside.

Any clever ideas?

Here is what the single scull (ca. 7.9m, ca. 15kg) looks like:

 

[coldtaco]

can you just flip the mounts?

 

[Reinhardtius]

can you just flip the mounts?

This may be possible. I am looking at the Yakima Outdoorsman 300 rack. It may require grinding off the base and flipping it. More soon.

 

[Reinhardtius]

Ya'll,

A local machine shop can flip the mounts, but what I am now seeing is that the cost is going to be close to $400 for a rear rack.

What do you think about buying another headache rack and and modifying it? That would look more factory. I could cut out the vertical inserts to improve visibility. I'd rather spend $500 and have it look original.

The part is 65400A for the rack, and 66411 and 66412 for the side supports to bolt the rack to the bed.

 

[AirheadNut]

I would say that a modified factory rack would look the best. Another option would be to find a local fab shop that can bend up some square tubing to the same profile, and then just make some mounts for it in the bed.

 

[ozcrusier]

The truck should have a tow bar why not make a rack that slips into the tow hitch. Single bar straight up would have no problems with the weight of the scull and you could add another on the front bull bar seeing its 7.9 long

 

[Reinhardtius]

The truck should have a tow bar why not make a rack that slips into the tow hitch. Single bar straight up would have no problems with the weight of the scull and you could add another on the front bull bar seeing its 7.9 long

It does have a tow ball bolted to a tongue. It is not a receiver style, but I could unbolt the tow ball and create a bracket that I could weld something like this Thule Goal Post to. It just does not look very stable compared to a bed-mounted rack.

 

[ozcrusier]

The strength would be held by the headboard and both mounts front and back would support the scull's length is 7.9 meters. The Landcruiser is around 6 meters long so there's still 1.9 overhang basically 3 foot something each end so the scull will need three supports or risk breakage. Single pole V both ends with main headboard support in the middle. The single post will give good vision both ways so it's a win win cost wise.