Addicted Offroad – Bed Rack Reflections

Details: By Bob Holliday

As Thanksgiving came and went, so did the one year mark of the first adventures with my Addicted Offroad bed rack on my 2006 Toyota Tacoma. The bed rack has been an important member to the transformation that has led me to more exploration style trips and ability to push our limits in the overlanding lifestyle.

Addicted Bed Rack Reflections

First test for the bed rack came on an overnight trip over Weston Pass over to tackle the Holy Cross trail in Colorado. The big concern with the RTT mounted on the bed rack was the effect the higher center of gravity would have while handling the harder off-road trails. For those familiar with Holy Cross, you know it’s not a walk in the park getting up to the creek. I was very surprised and relieved when the new addition was barely noticed on the trail. Addicted Offroad was able to build the rack low enough to keep the COG down as much as possible and building the rack to the bed bolts created a very solid mounting not allowing any unwanted movement by the bed rack.

After the initial shakedown run, it was time to get the final piece to the rear end overhaul on the Tacoma. Despite the cold temperatures, I was off to Idaho Falls to see the crew at CBI Off Road and install the Bushmaster 2.0 (April 2014 TCT Magazine).

With a couple short trips under my belt with the new setup, it was time to pack up and take the new gear on a proper trip. So we checked and packed the CVT Mt Hood, loaded up the Maxtrax and Rotopax on the bed rack, packed the bed full of our camping bins and set sail west into Utah for the week. The trip consisted of: camping along Willow Springs “road”, Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park, camping outside of Crescent Junction, hiking Emerald Pools in Zion National Park then camping below the rich red cliffs within the Park, down to the White Pockets in the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, then up to Gooseneck State Park to camp along the cliff edge, then Valley of the Gods before heading back to Denver. The trip didn’t test the off-road boundaries of the rig, but it showed to me the possibilities that were now possible.

Now over a year later and nearly 30,000 miles tacked onto the odometer since the best transformation the truck has seen to date, the Addicted Offroad bed rack is holding on as strong today as it was the day Scotty had installed it. Since then, I’ve added a couple sets of QuickFists under the RTT for axe and shovel mounts, wired up some dust lights and side lights, put a tube mounted fire extinguisher easily accessible in the bed, upgraded the RTT to a CVT Mt Rainier and added a CVT 55” awning to cover the “kitchen”. Structurally, there has been no weak point on the rack. Cosmetically, I’ve been fighting paint chips and surface rusting. When finalizing the bed rack, I chose not to go through with powdercoating which might have stood up to the elements better. With periodic touchups, the bed rack is looking as good as new.

As far as RTT compatibility goes, the 6-foot bed of the Tacoma allows a comfortable fit with the three person roof top tents. We ran the CVT Mt Hood for a while until we moved up to the CVT Mt Rainier. Both tents have a closed size of 48x72. The solid mounting to the bed bolts create a sturdy platform for the tent both on the trail and at camp. We’ve never had any concerns regarding the stability while running the RTT. One of the downfalls with the lowered bed rack can be seen while setting up the annex. The RTT is made to fit on the roof (obviously) so when you bring the mounting surface down, you create slack in the annex walls and the room under the RTT is a bit low to stand under.