Early Preview - Bed Sliders and Drawers

[AdventureLab]

Keeping with our recent tradition, I wanted to bring you all in pretty early on this project. We’ve got an exciting new system in the works – 54" Bed Slides and Drawers – and I thought I’d share an early CAD preview to get your thoughts. I’ve attached a short Solidworks screen recording below showing the 54" slide paired with our new 6" drawer shell.

Some key features we’re building into this system:

• Fabricated entirely from lightweight 5052 aluminum
• 54" locking slides – lock in and out
• Slide rating at ~500 lbs
• Modular system – a 6" drawer shown here, with a 4" drawer also coming
• Ability to stack drawers and slides for custom setups
• Easy install/uninstall when paired with our BASE floor rails

This is still early, so your input is extremely valuable. What would you like to see in these components? Accessories, mounting options, dividers, latching styles – we’re open to ideas.

More information on our Ford Ranger BASE System can be found here - https://americanadventurelab.com/product/ford-ranger-bed-attachment-system-base/

Looking forward to hearing your feedback. Thanks for helping us shape these products before they hit production!



Here are a few shots of the prototypes we have in the truck now and that we used on the Trail Hero Expeditions show.

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Is it possible to purchase only one side?

 

[timestopper]

From a diy drawer user point of view - there's A LOT of wasted empty space here. I know sliders are easy tu use but they take space and you need a frame to mount the drawers. It quickly adds up and you end up with half empty bed. They look nice and sturdy though.

Since you were asking for and imput - building my drawers, my main principles were lightweight, minimal space lost and easy to remove entirely. Ended up with bare bones simple plywood boxes that fit perfecty and up to something around 80-100kg they still slide fairly easy (for a big guy). There are no sliders or frame so removing them takes few seconds.

Looking for better drawers I'd want something of better quality but similar principles would apply. Dream come true would basically be alu tubs with cleverly fitted tiny wheels. Preferably with some perforations to reduce dead weight.

 

[E40]

I like how slider is mounted low, practically much lower than Decked Cargoglide.
Is it possible to have a slide without side walls? That will allow to use “empty” spaces between slide and drawer (or another slide) by giving more mounting options to the end users.

Also, what would be the rough range of weight for rail + 54” slider + 6” drawer? (Individual weight breakdown will be super beneficial).

I’m halfway sold with low mounting option. If the total weight is less and price is cheaper than Cargoglide, Im 200% down on the AAL. Super excited!

 

[MoBob]

It would be nice if you had a one slider/drawer option or a way to bridge the two together.

I agree with what has been stated, strength to weight is key to these add ons. If it’s overly heavy for its purpose, it will never make it on to my trucks.

 

[John E Davies]

Duplicate a Decked design in aluminum, keep it less than 12” high. Leave the top dead flat with three 5’ flush aircraft tiedown tracks, NOT fixed rings. Offer secure locks for the drawer(s). Waterproof would be nice but not mandatory for me, but they should be at least dust resistant. If you offer slides for it, they need to go on top of that flat area. Your current design is simply too wasteful, use all the volume.

I have zero need for slides (I have perfect side access with my GFC Topper) but would consider a sturdier drawer alternative to a plastic Decked unit for recovery gear etc.

Design it to accept the excellent Decked plastic bins please with minimal wasted space!!! Aluminum allows for thinner walls and top than blow molded plastic, more efficient use!

Make the drawer bottom a Molle pattern, to significantly reduce weight and offer multiple accessory attach points there.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[AdventureLab]

Is it possible to purchase only one side?

Absolutely. I would probably say most of our customers do just that. The slide is amazingly helpful when you have a tonneau cover installed. We'll also have some accessories coming that work directly on the rails (ex. Milwaukee Packout Mount).

 

[AdventureLab]

From a diy drawer user point of view - there's A LOT of wasted empty space here. I know sliders are easy tu use but they take space and you need a frame to mount the drawers. It quickly adds up and you end up with half empty bed. They look nice and sturdy though.

Since you were asking for and imput - building my drawers, my main principles were lightweight, minimal space lost and easy to remove entirely. Ended up with bare bones simple plywood boxes that fit perfecty and up to something around 80-100kg they still slide fairly easy (for a big guy). There are no sliders or frame so removing them takes few seconds.

Looking for better drawers I'd want something of better quality but similar principles would apply. Dream come true would basically be alu tubs with cleverly fitted tiny wheels. Preferably with some perforations to reduce dead weight.

There are 6 bolts holding in the sliders. They can be removed in about a minute. A little longer for the drawers. These are 3mm 5052 aluminum. I don't think anything is going to beat the weight for similar durability.

As for wasted space, these slides are 3/4" (19mm). I'm sure your plywood is close to that thick. By the time you use plywood for the boxes and the container for the boxes, it's going to add up to a lot of wasted space.

This setup is nowhere close to 100kg.

Thanks for the feedback, but I believe we have already incorporated your suggestions if you look closer. Keep in mind, we have been selling this drawer design for 7 years at this point.

 

[AdventureLab]

I like how slider is mounted low, practically much lower than Decked Cargoglide.
Is it possible to have a slide without side walls? That will allow to use “empty” spaces between slide and drawer (or another slide) by giving more mounting options to the end users.

Also, what would be the rough range of weight for rail + 54” slider + 6” drawer? (Individual weight breakdown will be super beneficial).

I’m halfway sold with low mounting option. If the total weight is less and price is cheaper than Cargoglide, Im 200% down on the AAL. Super excited!

Thanks! That's as low as we can get it and it still slide over the tailgate.

As for weight, the slides themselves weigh 29.98 lbs. The aluminum parts probably adds maybe 15-20 lbs depending on the drawer/slide. We'll have final weights once they're done.

 

[AdventureLab]

It would be nice if you had a one slider/drawer option or a way to bridge the two together.

I agree with what has been stated, strength to weight is key to these add ons. If it’s overly heavy for its purpose, it will never make it on to my trucks.

I'm not sure what you mean by one slider/drawer option. Please give me some more detail. In case my post didn't explain far enough, each of our "modules" is available separately.

As for weight, it isn't possible to make a lighter drawer/slide of this durability. We use 3mm 5052 aluminum. Strength to weight ratio to cost is impossible to beat. Plus, you can spray them off with the pressure washer and not worry about corrosion or rotting.

 

[AdventureLab]

Duplicate a Decked design in aluminum, keep it less than 12” high. Leave the top dead flat with three 5’ flush aircraft tiedown tracks, NOT fixed rings. Offer secure locks for the drawer(s). Waterproof would be nice but not mandatory for me, but they should be at least dust resistant. If you offer slides for it, they need to go on top of that flat area. Your current design is simply too wasteful, use all the volume.

I have zero need for slides (I have perfect side access with my GFC Topper) but would consider a sturdier drawer alternative to a plastic Decked unit for recovery gear etc.

Design it to accept the excellent Decked plastic bins please with minimal wasted space!!! Aluminum allows for thinner walls and top than blow molded plastic, more efficient use!

Make the drawer bottom a Molle pattern, to significantly reduce weight and offer multiple accessory attach points there.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

Thanks, John. We have definitely considered a top plate that sits on top of two side by side drawers with access doors similar to our SUV platforms (pictured below). To be fair, we were selling these drawers several years before Decked launched. Now, they are about 1/8" mile from our manufacturing facility. Strange how that works.

As for tie down points, each of our drawers has threaded bungs in the top spaced at 1" increments. We have had several customers attach L-Track to those holes, creating endless mounting options. That is the reason for the 1" spacing, so it lines up to L-Track.

Due to Decked being made out of plastic, they have to mold in a bunch of structure. We don't have that issue with aluminum, so our side walls can occupy much less space. We can also get our drawer sides vertical and much closer to each other (check out the middle gap between our drawers and the Decked system).

I have never actually had anyone say we wasted space with this design. If you look at the CAD rendering, we're about 5mm from the outside on each side. We can't get any closer than that. There's a 15mm (0.59") gap between the stack. We have to keep some gap there for the bolt heads that attach the slides.

Keep in mind, the main driver with this system it to keep everything low enough to fit below a tonneau cover. Once you put a platform on top, then slides, you're forced into a topper. That's great if you want to run a topper, but not so great if you would rather use a tonneau. We try to make our systems flexible so they can be adapted to many different scenarios, including tonneau or topper.

 

[MoBob]

I was implying a single platform across the bed instead of two. It would open up more layout possibilities for different containers and help the bike guys using it without a cover. It would probably sacrifice of a few inches of height in the bed, so it would be a trade off.

The Weights sound good. Glad to see you are keeping this prioritized.

 

[AdventureLab]

I was implying a single platform across the bed instead of two. It would open up more layout possibilities for different containers and help the bike guys using it without a cover. It would probably sacrifice of a few inches of height in the bed, so it would be a trade off.

The Weights sound good. Glad to see you are keeping this prioritized.

You're referring to something similar to the "Bed Slide" (attached) setup, correct? If so, I don't see a compelling reason to compete with that setup. It has its trade-offs like everything else does, including our system, but if someone wants that type of platform, that one seems to do the job. Those are manufactured next to our shop.

 

[timestopper]

These are 3mm 5052 aluminum. I don't think anything is going to beat the weight for similar durability.

True and I would swap plywood for aluminum in a heartbeat. Sooner or later I'll probably will but, since noone offers what I need, I guess I'll have to learn to weld aluminum.

As for wasted space, these slides are 3/4" (19mm). I'm sure your plywood is close to that thick. By the time you use plywood for the boxes and the container for the boxes, it's going to add up to a lot of wasted space.

By wasted space I meant space between slides/drawers, between slide/drawer and bed sidewall and under. It's understandable that space comes from used components and is necessary but there's always that last tool you need to squeeze in or that last bag wife forgot to mention about...

The plywood I used is 10mm and drawers look like this. Loaded setup fits exactly, down to milimeters, under the cover and between wheel arches. For that reason I don't have any container for the drawers thus no wasted space. Other reason is that I want to be able to easily get rid of drawers when I need to put a pallet onto the bed without worrying abot damaging anything or having and obstructions.

This setup is nowhere close to 100kg.

Of course. I meant my drawers, loaded.

Thanks for the feedback, but I believe we have already incorporated your suggestions if you look closer. Keep in mind, we have been selling this drawer design for 7 years at this point.

Didn't mean to offend you in any way and I'm sure many people appreciate theese. You were asking for feedback so I provided, from a perspective of someone who decided not to buy a "proper" drawer system and gave you a hint why. I'm also not comparing my diy project to your preffesional product by any means.

I think that bolted systems make a truck less versatile and I believe there's a market there to explore. I think there are more people like me, not willing to sacrifice the truck to a limited purpose but looking for a simple solution for bed space management.

 

[AdventureLab]

True and I would swap plywood for aluminum in a heartbeat. Sooner or later I'll probably will but, since noone offers what I need, I guess I'll have to learn to weld aluminum.



By wasted space I meant space between slides/drawers, between slide/drawer and bed sidewall and under. It's understandable that space comes from used components and is necessary but there's always that last tool you need to squeeze in or that last bag wife forgot to mention about...

The plywood I used is 10mm and drawers look like this. Loaded setup fits exactly, down to milimeters, under the cover and between wheel arches. For that reason I don't have any container for the drawers thus no wasted space. Other reason is that I want to be able to easily get rid of drawers when I need to put a pallet onto the bed without worrying abot damaging anything or having and obstructions.



Of course. I meant my drawers, loaded.



Didn't mean to offend you in any way and I'm sure many people appreciate theese. You were asking for feedback so I provided, from a perspective of someone who decided not to buy a "proper" drawer system and gave you a hint why. I'm also not comparing my diy project to your preffesional product by any means.

I think that bolted systems make a truck less versatile and I believe there's a market there to explore. I think there are more people like me, not willing to sacrifice the truck to a limited purpose but looking for a simple solution for bed space management.

That's all understandable and no offense taken. If someone is looking for bins that fit in their truck bed, this is not the solution for that. They should just get bins or build them as you have. Those look nice, by the way. The use case for this system is someone that needs durable storage that will withstand tons of abuse in harsh situations and remove quickly-enough for flexibility.

Here is a Jeep with our system installed that rolled 7 times on the freeway. Notice his fridge is still bolted to the slide. We take great pride in building products that withstand the abuse these trucks are capable of giving them.

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