Mounting ideas for TRED/Maxtrax/etc.

fireball

Explorer
Folks,

I'm looking for all your creative ideas and experience in mounting my TRED ramps in a convenient location. I bought these a few months back but had first occasion to test them out yesterday on the trails. They work great, and we grabbed them a bunch of times throughout the day.

I have a '99LC with factory roof rack and would like to find a quick way to mount them to the crossbars. I had them ratchet strapped up there, but that takes too long to take them on and off. In the afternoon I kept them in the back of the truck laid on top a big blanket. Worked fine yesterday because I didn't have the family along or the truck loaded down, but throwing snow and mud covered ramps in the back will not be ideal on most occasions.

Anyone have any creative mounting solutions?

Thanks!

ubuhe8yj.jpg
 

summerprophet

Adventurer
thule makes a surfboard carrier that you could easily shorten the straps on to lash down your maxtrax. Yakima likely has something similar.
 

lcsodiver

Adventurer
I've seen them tucked vertically behind a trash-a-roo on the spare tire.... I'd add a separate strap through the grab handle on the maxtrax for security, I'd hate to loose them on the trail somewhere.
 

grimbo

Explorer
What about a couple of bolts attached to the cross bars. Drill a hole through each. Slide the Treds over the bolts through one of holes in the tred. Then use either a carbiner or padlock to secure them via the holes in the bolt
 

fireball

Explorer
@lsco - Here's a pretty cool idea for mounting behind the spare tire area: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYiLsGNP6V4 Much more complicated than just tucking behind a Trasharoo. How did they secure them to the tire area though? Does the trasharoo help do it?

Thanks for the suggestions on the Yakima and Thule attachments. The Yakima loadstops are the cheapest option from those two, and would be useful for many other things if you use your truck for hauling, etc. You'd still have to have some type of strap to secure them. http://www.yakima.com/shop/racksystems/accessories/loadstop

Here's another option I found that looks pretty slick but I don't think they've actually started producing these yet: https://plus.google.com/+Evolvegrp360/posts/Lo3DiNRHo9B
3MdqL.jpg
 
@lsco - Here's a pretty cool idea for mounting behind the spare tire area: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYiLsGNP6V4 Much more complicated than just tucking behind a Trasharoo. How did they secure them to the tire area though? Does the trasharoo help do it?

Thanks for the suggestions on the Yakima and Thule attachments. The Yakima loadstops are the cheapest option from those two, and would be useful for many other things if you use your truck for hauling, etc. You'd still have to have some type of strap to secure them. http://www.yakima.com/shop/racksystems/accessories/loadstop

Here's another option I found that looks pretty slick but I don't think they've actually started producing these yet: https://plus.google.com/+Evolvegrp360/posts/Lo3DiNRHo9B
3MdqL.jpg

Might be using one of these ideas to mount my TREDs.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk
 

Richietherocket

Adventurer
I received my TREDs last week from Sierra Expeditions. I have a square Garvin Wilderness rack on my FJC. Decided to use square U bolts with wing nuts to hold them.
The fronts are 2" wide and 4.5" high with 3/8 bolts. The rears are 3.5" wide and 6.5" high with 5/16 bolts. The local Ace hardware did not have a matching set of 3/8 vs 5/16 in these sizes.
I then used Plasti Dip and sprayed from the bottom half to the bottom of the threads and the top plate where the wing nuts thread down on.

I dont have any real world experience with them yet. But they are locked down and I can run my cable lock through them as well as my high lift so not worried about someone stealing them. The TREDs mounting kit does look cool.
 

smiper

Observer
Yakima and Thule both make a number of plastic brackets that wrap around a factory crossbar and leave a bolt sticking straight up. They use them for mounting their other products, but they could be adapted for custom designs.
 

SmoothLC

Explorer
The mounting plate would work very well on a FR rack. I've got a Rotopax plate on the top of mine and can easily store 2 to 3 gas or water containers up top.

With the factory cross bars though, the Yakima Mighty Mounts might be a solution per smiper's comment above.

Another option would be to get tracts from FR or other manufacturer and attach a Yakima or Thule system onto. Then mount the Treds on top of that. Definitely more $ than modding the factory system though.
 

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