Removable pickup box.

[N80]

I've got a 6 year old F-150 Supercrew. Because it has 4 doors the bed is very short. For years I've had a toolbox that sits down in the bed like this:

Its been okay but its hard to get to from the side of the truck and because it sits on the bed itself you can't put long flat stuff in the bed. The good thing about it is that it hooks to two brackets on the cab end of the bed with two pins making it easy to remove.

Now I want a regular bed box like this:

But, I'd really like to make it easily removable. Anyone done this before? Any ideas? I think a locking rail system would be perfect.

 

[Cat_Driver]

I went with the sliding tool box. Pull two pins and the whole box rolls to your tail gate and you use tout tail gate like a table. When your done it rolls all the way back to the cab on the rails attached to the bed and put the two pins back and off you go.

I hated always having to hop up for stuff dozens of times a day. Now everything is right in front of me.

 

[N80]

Sounds interesting. Where did you get it? Got a link? Did you have to get a 2nd mortgage to buy it?

 

[Western]

A friend of mine used small link pins, like on your tractor.

He had the cotter pins inside the box. He said he got tired of buying a new box every time he bought a truck.

 

[N80]

I did a little research into the track systems. Very good ideas and exactly what I'm looking for. You bolt the tracks to the bed wall. You bolt a guide that fits into the track onto the bottom of the tool box. Two knobs inside the toolbox on each side allow you to tighten it in place. This way the box can be positioned anywhere in the bed or slid out the back.

The problem? They are outrageously priced. The system from TracRac is $700!!! It includes a ladder rack system but they don't sell just the rails as far as I can tell. There is a Canadian firm that sells through J.C. Whitney that sells just the rails and the box kit but even that is over $300. That's just nuts. $300 for two extruded aluminum rails, a few screws and polyurethane guides. I just can't see it. The more I think of the idea the more it makes sense as the perfect solution so maybe $300 will start to look more reasonable. You can slide all sorts of hoops and brackets into the rails too.

But for now, I'll just have to do with out. Might fabricate my own system with pins like Western mentioned. Might be hard with this Ford though because the bed wall is enclosed. It does not have an open lip like they used to.

 

[milkman]

Would this be the one?
Sliding Toolbox

or this one?
http://www.orsracksdirect.com/tracrac-sliding-tool-box-mount-kit.html

 

[N80]

Yes. Those are the two I was referring to. As mentioned, the least you can pay for either one is $300. Seems steep.

 

[Redbug]

Hi George...

Here's the alternative I went with...wheel well boxes. These aluminum tool boxes are bolted on the side walls in the bed. Between the boxes, there is more than 4 feet of space, so you can lay plywood, wall board, etc, flat on the truck bed. With the shell on my truck, it is a good fit.
Mine are made by DeeZee.
Dee Zee Wheel Well Truck Tool Box

They also make them so they open in the back, and even have sliding drawers. Do a google search and there's all kinds of options for you to explore! Ain't the internet great! Hmmm...removable...there should be some other options out there.
Pork Chop Boxes
Van, Truck, or Trailer Tool box - The PC Series

 

[N80]

Thanks Dave. I'll definitely look into that. I've always liked the one's with the drawers but a pair of them would be pretty pricey.

(And if it sounds like I'm a tightwad its just because.......I am. )

 

[tallyho8]

Hi George...

Here's the alternative I went with...wheel well boxes. These aluminum tool boxes are bolted on the side walls in the bed. Between the boxes, there is more than 4 feet of space, so you can lay plywood, wall board, etc, flat on the truck bed. With the shell on my truck, it is a good fit.
Mine are made by DeeZee.

My buddy has some like that but his camper shell has windows that lift open so he can reach right in the toolbox without having to climb up in the bed.

 

[dmccarty]

On my last two trucks I had bed boxes.

I don't want to drill into the bed or bed rails.

I always get a plastic bed liner for the truck. A bed liner that has notches in the side to hold 2x lumber. So what I did is buy some PT lumber and cut it to fit the the bed liner notches. The bed liners I have had all had notches in front of the rear wheel well. I cut the PT wood to fit across the truck bed and then I put in blocks of wood as needed to keep the bed box from moving fore/aft and side to side.

Cheap. Fast. It worked. And removable.

The across the bed PT 2x was high enough so that I could slide material under the bed box.

When I sold my old Chevy I just took out the box before I sold the truck. Nobody knew it was there. Once our house was build on our land I took out the bed box from the truck so I could haul more stuff in the bed.

I might have had $20 worth of PT in my solution. Twas not pretty but it worked.

Later,
Dan

 

[J_J]

N80,

Why not make your own rails or purchase the aluminum rail with a slot. and cut/make the Teflon sliders to bolt on your box, and slide in the rails. You should be able to loosen the knobs on the inside of your box and slide wherever. If you want to really get slick, install double screw rails driven by a 12v DC motor to move your box front to back or in between. Similar to the threaded rods to move electric seats fwd and back.

 

[Egon]

The second box the OP showed are quite common. They are a hassle to get things into and out of if your short or the truck is high. If both apply its even worse.

There are full box length tool boxes that fit on the side and extend above the box rail but do not reach down to the box floor. These are much handier but may not take as large an object.

AZ Truck Accessories | Weather Guard Aluminum Lo-Side Boxes 

 

[Redbug]

TallyHo...I have also seen the windows that open out on the sides of a topper. It sure does make it easier to get stuff inside. I may go that route next time.

 

[CATMAN]

I have my toolbox (across the bed) held down with "nutzerks". They're like rivets but with threads inside. They install just like rivets. I drilled 4 holes into bed rail to match toolbox factory holes, remove toolbox, then drilled to the correct size for the 4 nutzerts. Now, this method does require me to remove 4 bolts for removal, but my tools are in the toolbox anyways. Not a big deal. Cheap and easy, but does leave 4 threaded holes in your pickup's bed rail. It might be an option to consider.








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[Charlesaf3]

I have the trac rack system. Crazy expensive, but its probably worth it. Be tough to build your own for less. You can buy the rails separately if you want.

The sliding box/rails are really nice though. And though I bought the adapters to fit other boxes on there, I ended up buying the track rack box. It just works nicer. Wait till you see what they charge for it!

Just about every contractor up here has a trac rack though.

 

[jayste]

This may or may not apply to your application but I'll throw it out there for everyones "mulling". At one time I was in the garage door business and we would from time to time use rollers and track to fabricate rolling trays and such. I don't have any pics but we mounted our track to the inside of the side boxes of our topper. We fabricated a "tray" to store our springs on and mounted the rollers to the bottom of the tray. By installing the rollers in the track, this tray could roll front to rear so we could easily grab the springs off of the tray and roll it back to the front and lock it in place with a standard sliding lock you find on most residential doors. To keep the tray from coming too far out the rear (tailgate end) we put in a bolt and nut to serve as a positive stop. This worked really well but keep in mind we were using small pickups so the reach wasn't too far. This "theory" or design might be something some of you comrades out in TBN land might be able to apply somewhere.