looking for DIY bed cargo slide ideas

I am day dreaming about a bed slide/drawer.

MUST HAVES

• DIY (putting a pause on expensive parts).
• Low profile to maximize space under the retrax tonneau cover.
• Removed easily enough for when I need to haul brush or dirt or rocks

MAYBES

• currently have a bedrug, but that could easily come off.
• Maybe held in place with preform bed inserts OR sister onto the bed bolts?
• More slides than drawers, again, for the low profile.
  
• Preferably something with two side by side, that could also be linked as one wide slide.
• Maybe with heavy duty drawer slides or on rollers.

I've spent a good deal of time on google and youtube looking at what others have done, but nothing feels right yet.

Let me know if you've seen something or thought of something cool.
thanks

 

Not DIY but sounds like the rough country slides would do the trick.

 

Gotta say I really like my tmat. Great for holding cargo and will slide out with I think up to 300 pounds on it. (I don’t have carpet). Totally modular and easy to install.
If you do a search I did a review on it

 

Thanks. I have seen both of those before, and they are pretty close to what I want. Low profile. Easy to remove.
Ideally though, there would be more structure, and also could lock in place (all the way in, or pulled out).

I was toying with the idea of plywood, shaped around the wheel well - so between the wheel wells all the way to the front of the bed, but full width at the tailgate.
That would be strong enough, and low profile, but sliding on the bed or bedrug won't lock. And I still think if there is enough weight, none of them will slide well.

And all of those scenarios may tip with too much weight on the back. the tie downs to the front corners seem like they would be ok with small weights, but not for hefty loads.

 

It seems to me there is at least one thread about it with good descriptions with measurements, try to run a search.
At least two of them had good designs, exactly as you describe.

I see you did not have your luck there as well
https://www.tundra3.com/threads/looking-for-diy-bed-cargo-slide-ideas.491/

 

This forum has much more activity than the tundra3 one, so I am not surprised.

Thanks for letting me know about other threads. I looked earlier and did not find any, but I probably need to change the search terms or maybe just dig into more threads a bit.

 

Here is one of them
https://www.tundras.com/threads/diy-truck-bed-slide.45997/

Also you can look here:
https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/diy-full-extension-bed-drawer-for-under-200.38050/

And here

https://www.google.com/search?q=diy...-8#imgrc=aWkUZOu4Om-t2M&imgdii=t2rgQ-gr8blPuM

 

Thanks. I have seen both of those first two.

The first kind I have seen several versions of, with the individual rollers. I think this method has the potential for lowest profile. Especially if those rollers were installed a slightly different way. They are usually installed on top of a piece of plywood, so the height is the plywood + the height of the rollers. But I think you could drill a whole the size of the roller, and pull the roller up through the plywood. Then the height is just the height of the roller. that only saves you 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch, but since I have a tonneau cover, every little bit will help.

But that method doesn't have a built in 'locking' mechanism. While one could be built, the drawer slides, like in the second link, have a built in locking mechanism. Safer and more convenient. The challenge is that all of the ones that are strong enough and long enough are both more expensive and take up more vertical space. I know that vertical space isn't as big of an issue if it's just the sides where the drawer slides are mounted. The bottom of the entire slide can be almost touching the truck bed in this case. But I also wanted to take advantage of the overall width and NOT just have the slide be between the wheel wells. That is more of a challenge using drawer slides on the side.

I think my next step is to draw out a couple of designs. Perhaps I'll know which direction to go after that happens.
Thanks for all the ideas though. if anyone has anymore, I'm always listening.

 

I think to build one without bottom plywood. Just the rollers on the bottom of the sliding part. The only thing is how to make the tray not tip over when you pull it too much.
Something like this. BTW, i tried many tonneau covers and for me, i know most ppl would not agree, but for me the roll uo, the cheapest one works the best. Just pull on the cord, it jumps, push it forward, do what you need and pull it back without moving your feet.

 

As for the tonneau covers, I was against them for the longest time. But I left a laptop in the bed of my truck once. I decided I needed a way to lock things up. I liked the Diamondback ones the best (like in your picture above), but I wanted a rack for things like paddleboards and a roof top tent (and lumber. While the lumber is on there temporarily, the other items tend be attached during times where you also need to get into the bed or you might be carrying things that are taller than the bed. And you can't open the Diamondback easily when something solid is on top of both rack bars. None of the options are perfect, but I went with the Retrax, and despite losing a little bit of bed space and not being 100% rain proof, I have been very happy with it.

And now I want to make it easier to get things that are deep in the bed. The side steps help for getting up to the rack and attaching things, and getting something way in the front corners. But the front middle and middle middle is just too far. So that's why I am plotting out a slide.

I want something close to your above pic. Low profile. I don't want to lose too much vertical space, and I don't want to overbuild drawers and lose too much real estate with a bulky cabinet either. I've seen people sliding on the bed floor or a carpet, but I am skeptical of how that would be with something heavy, with rollers and without. And the locking / non-tipping part is important too. I've seen some tie into the front bed corner hooks. That has potential, but still fairly wobbly. I thought of building a small frame that fits under the Retrax box at the front, and slides down into a couple of the bed side preformed slats for stability. Then a low profile slide that is anchored to that with rails or drawer slides. If I could do that and only lose an inch or two, I would. I fear it would need to be at least 3-4 though, and I don't like that.

I want two slides, side by side, that can easily be joined and moved as one. And i THINK, though I keep going back and forth on this, that I want the back of the slides to flare out around the wheel wells. I think the reason that most people keep it in between the wheel wells is that it is a straight box, just simpler to work with. But I want to lose as little space in this process as I can, and right now, that involves making a wider back.

I think I am going to build out two slides that flare around the wheel wells from some 3/4 ply, that for now, just slides on the bed rug. And see how that fits and works for a bit. Then I'm not committing to a big budget or specific hardware just yet.