Haven’t done anything major to the PW.. but have been getting it ready for a few upcoming trips.
I had ordered all the pieces of extruded aluminum and plate aluminum to build a low profile roof rack on my ARE shell on my 2014. The idea was increase cargo capacity and have a spot for the awnings, treds, etc.
Fast forward to this week. I very carefully drilled holes in the side plates (3”x5’ aluminum), painstakingly painted it in a bed liner, and assembled the sides with six pieces of extruded bars (think prinsu). Then I went to put it on the tracks of the rsi shell… and surprise! They taper from front to back.. so having the plate edges wouldn’t work.
So I don’t net back to the drawing board and used 8020 all the way around..
This is the final product.
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The goals were achieved. Plenty of space for mounting cargo or fancy adventure accessories.. easy mounting of the OVS awning and driver side awning.. and fairly low profile.
Long way to say measure more than you think you need. Haha
Next step was playing Tetris on the Bedslide with the 37” spare (still working on hinges and latches for a swing out)
Remember, whatever side you think your fridge should be mounted on.. is wrong. After switching to the Smartcap, the fridge would fit under my driver side bin, which allowed chuck box to sit on passenger side and be a little more accessible
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Simple enough, but had to move the cargo track and will have to move the threaded outlet to the driver side. Just obnoxious.
This is the space I’ll have to work with.. could be better could be worse.
While messing with this, I also used some cheap
Brackets to stiffen up the bins on the Bedslide. Huge improvement from some scrap laying around the shop.
I promise there will be some actual adventure posts soon. Maybe.
