TracRac with Tonneau Cover

[WillDiet]

I looked around for a long time for a rack that would work in conjunction with the Paragon tonneau cover that I have on the truck. There were several that would work out of the box, but cost [emoji383].

 

I picked up a two year old TracRac from a local sales website. The previous owner had it set up for a F150. After a little haggling I gave him his [emoji765]and I was on my way.

 

I love the TracRac, but was not a fan of the aluminum color. So, I opted for a matte black Plasti-dip coating. I applied 5-6 coats.

 

After test fitting the rack to the truck, the racks stuck up above the cab by about 5". Not wanting to look like a contractor all the time, I shortened the supports by 3.5", this left the crossbars about 1.5" above the can (not really noticable from the front).

 

My original plan was to elevate the tonneau cover enough to slide the TracRac under the edge. But, without major modifications to the cover and the track system it uses, this wasn't going to work. So, plan B was to cut off the lip of the TracRac support that goes into the bed.

 

After shortening the supports and trimming off the lip, I used a 3/8" thread dye to re-establish the threads in the supports.

 

This is the part I thought about for awhile. The TracRac comes with C clamps that secure the rack to the bed without holes. However, because of the cover, I had to go with drilling into the bed rails. I know, not my first choice, but after looking at many of the other racks that have tracks, they mount to the bed with bolts anyway. In the event that I no longer need the rack, I'll use some nylon plugs for the holes.

 

Everything fits really well and now, I can bring the kayak and paddle board with us when going camping.

 

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