Car-top Carrier in Bed

[Bob Camarena]

I don't have a shell or Tonneau and was going on a trip next weekend with 2 other people filling up the cab, so I mounted my Yakima Space Cadet car-top carrier in the bed!

The mounting holes conveniently lined up with the Utili-traks in the bed. If they hadn't have lined up, my plan was to mount a couple of pieces of wood aross the bed and screw the carrier to the wood cross-pieces. I cut some short pieces of 1" x 1/4" aluminum flat bar stock that fit in the tracks. After drilling and tapping 1/4" threads in them it was a pretty simple matter to mount the carrier to the tracks. I put 1/4" machine screws up from the bottom of the "nuts" before sliding them into the tracks and sat the carrier down on the screws and secured them with nuts on the inside. The 1" aluminum is narrow enough to "toggle" into the track, but wide enough to grab when twisted a bit.

Eventually I plan on getting a shell, but this will work in the meantime, keeping my luggage from getting wet and providing me with a locking compartment in the bed. I can even still carry a piece of plywood or some 2x4s without removing the carrier.

[DFisher]

You didn't even need to go through all that trouble...four "cone-nuts" would've slipped right into the Utilitracks and your're set to roll. Total cost $4.00 at Home Depot.