DIY bed cover for keeping toolbox

cowboy_dan

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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:

01-Bed_layout.jpg

02-Design_calcs.jpg

03-materials-1.jpg

04-Materials-2.jpg

06-materials-4.jpg

07-Basic_frame.jpg

08-Basic_frame-hinged.jpg

09-hinges.jpg

10-basic-frame_in-bed.jpg

11-Tailgate-overlap.jpg

12-Toolbox-gap.jpg

13-Applying_bed-liner.jpg

14-coated_bed-rails_LH.jpg

16-Spray-on_bed-liner.jpg

18-Covered.jpg

19-Top-Front_view.jpg

21-rail_clamps.jpg

23-Front_open.jpg

29-RH_rear_front-open.jpg

27-Rear_open.jpg

31-Inside-RH.jpg

30-Inside-LH.jpg

28-RH_rear.jpg

24-LH_rear.jpg

32-Tailgate_open.jpg
 

cowboy_dan

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One other thing worth mentioning is that I built the front panel pretty much 'to print' (such as the 'print' is). Then built the center frame and 'clamps'. After that I built the rear frame and actually tack welded it on the truck to make sure it was exactly the right size.

In all but a few spots where the inner edge of the bed rail is bent, the angle iron clears the sides of the rails by probably 1/8"-3/16" on each side. Tailgate clearance is about the same.

Total: $183.40 + tax, approx 12-18 hours labor, 4 gallons of sweet iced tea, 8 gallons of water, and a few gatorades.
 
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cowboy_dan

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Are you able to hook to a gooseneck without removing your cover?

Not sure. The truck came with the ball in the bed, but I don't have a GN to pull, so it didn't enter into my design requirements.
If you wanted to build this to pull a GN without pulling it, you would just make the back portion a little longer so the center section clamps well forward of the trailer neck. Have to remember to leave some room for turning & vertical articulation too.

If nothing else, you could pull only the rear half off by loosening the clamps then pull the three nuts that hold the halves of the center section together. Then tighten the clamps back up so they hold the front section in place. I'm not sure how that would affect the pivoting ability of the front section though, I didn't design it to be opened with only one section installed.
 

cowboy_dan

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Thanks.

I forgot to mention, I used a draper head canvas for this project. Any of the side draper canvas from a CaseIH 2142, 2152, 2162 or MacDon D50, D60, or FD70 will work.
You have to cut off the fiberglass rods and the V-guides, but that's pretty easy with a utility knife.
I put it on upside-down. So the side that the crop normally rides on is facing the inside of the bed.
So, if you have a dealership nearby that sells or services draper heads, see if they have any that have been removed.

You could probably use material from other brands, but I have no idea what size those are, so no clue if it would work as well.

I'm also using the same material to make an air dam, but that's for another thread.
 

8inchstroker

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One other thing worth mentioning is that I built the front panel pretty much 'to print' (such as the 'print' is). Then built the center frame and 'clamps'. After that I built the rear frame and actually tack welded it on the truck to make sure it was exactly the right size.

In all but a few spots where the inner edge of the bed rail is bent, the angle iron clears the sides of the rails by probably 1/8"-3/16" on each side. Tailgate clearance is about the same.

Total: $183.40 + tax, approx 12-18 hours labor, 4 gallons of sweet iced tea, 8 gallons of water, and a few gatorades:wtf: no beer.......jk looks good man
 

Tree Trimmer

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if you were to get some thin strap steel, say 1/8"x 1.25", and put in a couple extra bolts, you could pull the matt tight. sandwich the matt between the angle and the strap.

line one side up, fasten. pull tight, use vise-grips to clamp everything together while pulling tight, mite need the wife to help, and you could take the waves out of your matt.

imo, after a while, the wind buffeting that matt, will work the bolts through the matt. snow sitting on it, rain pooling there.

wouldnt make it heavier either. well maybe just a tad, but not anything to worry bout.

just a suggestion.
 

cowboy_dan

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if you were to get some thin strap steel, say 1/8"x 1.25", and put in a couple extra bolts, you could pull the matt tight. sandwich the matt between the angle and the strap.

line one side up, fasten. pull tight, use vise-grips to clamp everything together while pulling tight, mite need the wife to help, and you could take the waves out of your matt.

imo, after a while, the wind buffeting that matt, will work the bolts through the matt. snow sitting on it, rain pooling there.

wouldnt make it heavier either. well maybe just a tad, but not anything to worry bout.

just a suggestion.

I thought about doing that. But I think I'm just going to leave it for now and see what happens.
This belting is pretty sturdy stuff. In it's original application, the crop is laying on it to be carried to the center of the head where it gets fed into the combine on another belt. And some crops are surprisingly heavy, but the draper belting seems to hold up fine. We have even had people is traditionally non-corn growing areas use a draper head to harvest the corn as an experiment.

Here's a draper head:
At about 50 seconds you can see the side drapers running, where they would be bringing material into the center.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxniExJw3z0
 

Tree Trimmer

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o, i know that that stuff is strong. its good stuff. just figured that a little tauter(i spell that right?) would look a little cleaner is all.

i gotta line on some cheap 1/8" alum. diamond plate. i think ima make a hard tonneau out of it. i was gonna make it one piece like a standard hard tonneau, though i might use your idea. i dont have a tool box, now anyways, its sitting in the garage, but i do have a stack, and a water inj. tank in the front of the bed that your way would make it easier to fill.
 

cowboy_dan

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o, i know that that stuff is strong. its good stuff. just figured that a little tauter(i spell that right?) would look a little cleaner is all.

i gotta line on some cheap 1/8" alum. diamond plate. i think ima make a hard tonneau out of it. i was gonna make it one piece like a standard hard tonneau, though i might use your idea. i dont have a tool box, now anyways, its sitting in the garage, but i do have a stack, and a water inj. tank in the front of the bed that your way would make it easier to fill.

Tauter is correct.
Well, I tried. I even got one end bolted down and used Vise-grips to get a handle on the other side, but it still didn't lay flat.
What I needed was a nice hydraulic or pneumatic tool to pull on the full width of the canvas while holding the frame down and still. If it had two cylinders, one on each end of the clamps, I could fine tune the stretch to make it lay flat if the other end isn't quite square to the clamps. But that is waaaay out of my price range for this project. :(

This would be perfect for a hard cover like your idea. Just make sure to have the hinges protrude up enough that either side will lay flat on the other. As mine is the bolts hold it up so it doesn't lay perfectly flat when folded open. But it's more than adequate for my purposes.
 

cowboy_dan

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Finally got my latching idea ironed out. It works pretty good, and it's cheap. Not as user-friendly as I originally wanted, but at $20/ea for a t-handle, I figured this way would work juuuust fine.

Weld a nut onto the top rail of the cover. I used 1/4" nuts, and 3/16" rods.
th_132427889_photobucket_112670_.jpg


View from other side. You have to make sure the nut is close enough to the inside edge of the rail so that the latching rod can slide over far enough for the hook to clear the bed rail. you'll see what I mean in a moment.
th_132427889_photobucket_112669_.jpg


Here's the completely bent & welded latching rod.
th_132427889_photobucket_112668_.jpg


Here it is installed, but not bent into locking position. I made all 4 latching rods sit like this so it pre-loads the latch and keeps it from vibrating as much since it's not actually bolted down.
th_132427889_photobucket_112674_.jpg


Super hi tech bending apparatus.
th_132427889_photobucket_112675_.jpg


I've noticed there is a lot of noise from the bed when going over bumps, so I added some camper tape all the way around on the front & rear panels. I didn't unbolt the center section, so there is no tape there.
th_132427889_photobucket_112680_.jpg


Here it is all locked down:
th_132427889_photobucket_112677_.jpg


The locking pins:
th_132427889_photobucket_112679_.jpg


And, bedliner coating on the rod.
th_132427889_photobucket_112682_.jpg


I thought it turned out pretty well.


Design notes:
- Make sure the hook will clear the bottom of the bed rail. This criteria is mainly influenced by the depth of the hook, and the distance between the pivot, and the vertical portion of the hook. Keeping this distance short and the other end (handle) long, also increases the amount of 'spring' you can get out of the rod to really clamp the lid down to the bed.
- Make sure all your bends are wide enough to be able to thread the rod through the welded nut. I found it bad it nicer to drill out the threads from the nuts.
- Don't leave too much room between the ID of the nuts, and the OD of the rod. This gap allows the cover to rattle and bounce on the bed rails. 1/4" nuts with the threads drilled out, and 3/16" rods worked really well.
 

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