I wanted to have a few curves instead of a box so it would match the style of new Tacoma's.
My fabricator, John Hunter did that and more! I stole several ideas from others on the board. The basic idea of mounting a Maggiolina like this came from DesertDude's Tacoma.
Then TacoDoc's platform got me thinking about adding a front piece to create a place for lights and anteneas.
Flyingwil's older rack incorporated removable crossbars for easy tent removal and increased utility of the truck bed.
To make that feature even cleaner, Hunter used
these babies. Haven't tried them out yet, but they are pretty trick. They fit together like puzzle pieces and secure with 2 allen bolts.
All the the angles match various lines in the truck. Little aluminum blocks were milled and threaded to fit in the stock tie-down rail for mounting. The tie-downs are still usable and adjustable.
For additional rigidity, gussets were added that can function as additional tie-downs. All in all, I think it looks great and is uber-functional!
The Tacoma is pretty tall now, but the rack and tent only weight around 200 lbs. Any changes in performance while rock crawling, highway acceleration and street cornering are barely detectable. :ylsmoke: