Let's Talk Bed Storage

[AdventureLab]

Made a small production change today that resulted in a huge benefit. If there's one thing I have learned from you guys about these trucks is that you want to be able to easily put them back to stock, quickly. We changed the mounting brackets for the middle rail to sit on top of the rail, making it significantly easier to install and remove. Removing the rails takes about 1 minute now. If you guys are interested, I'll snag a video tomorrow.

This change will apply to the current orders. It's a large enough benefit that we just remade new parts for those orders as it only affected a couple of the components.

We also snuck in a prototype of the rear attachment panel, this one being the Milwaukee Packout version. Unfortunately, I don't think the outer "single" Packout location is going to work. I thought it would, but it's just too tight, so we'll be putting something else there, maybe just a flat plate so everyone can put what they want there. We'll be mounting our Milwaukee M18 Inflator Mount there on this one. The Packouts work great for tools, recovery, etc., including our Starlink Mini Packout Mount.

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[too.many.tacos]

I’ve been waiting on a good solution for bed storage.

I have a GFC topper coming in October and wanting to access my fridge etc.. with ease. Coming from a 2dr Bronco, the useable space sucked and didn’t leave room for much. Definitely love the molle panels and love to have a full bed slide.

 

[AdventureLab]

I’ve been waiting on a good solution for bed storage.

I have a GFC topper coming in October and wanting to access my fridge etc.. with ease. Coming from a 2dr Bronco, the useable space sucked and didn’t leave room for much. Definitely love the molle panels and love to have a full bed slide.

We have you covered! We should have the full length slides done soon. Just waiting on the actual locking drawer slides to arrive.

 

[AdventureLab]

A couple more updates today, this time with the attachments. No changes to the BASE rails. We cut the first production, for stock, run of those today. Official release announcement to come soon.

Product page for just the BASE rails (no attachments live yet) - https://americanadventurelab.com/product/ford-ranger-bed-attachment-system-base/

Note, the photos on the product page do not show the L-track cutouts. I'll work on getting those photos updated when we get the production parts powdered.

 

[Aemonn]

I like how you tucked the inflator in over on the side. Also, after seeing these most recent photos I definitely see myself using the rear two rails as a quick way to strap down some firewood.

I sometimes bring an electric chainsaw depending on where I'm going, these look like a good way to strap that down as well.

 

[AdventureLab]

I like how you tucked the inflator in over on the side. Also, after seeing these most recent photos I definitely see myself using the rear two rails as a quick way to strap down some firewood.

I sometimes bring an electric chainsaw depending on where I'm going, these look like a good way to strap that down as well.

That just turned out to be the perfect spot for inflator. It's out of the way of the drawers and slides as well. That's our existing M18 Inflator Mount connected to a small plate built to go right there and attach to the BASE rails. I'll get some more photos of the plate soon. It'll be an inexpensive addon for the BASE rails.

Which chainsaw do you have? I bought the DeWalt one a while back to build mounts for it, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[Aemonn]

That just turned out to be the perfect spot for inflator. It's out of the way of the drawers and slides as well. That's our existing M18 Inflator Mount connected to a small plate built to go right there and attach to the BASE rails. I'll get some more photos of the plate soon. It'll be an inexpensive addon for the BASE rails.

Which chainsaw do you have? I bought the DeWalt one a while back to build mounts for it, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I have the same inflator, will have to pick up the mount in the future!

I have an EGO chainsaw but am probably going to switch to Milwaukee M18 14" top handle in the next year or so to simplify battery needs. Top handle seems to be more compact--haven't looked too deep into it yet to see if/what are the trade offs outside the obvious leverage points.

Definitely keeping a close eye to see if you come up with an air tank solution to use with the inflator. I think I heard mention of that in one of your videos.

 

[AdventureLab]

I have the same inflator, will have to pick up the mount in the future!

I have an EGO chainsaw but am probably going to switch to Milwaukee M18 14" top handle in the next year or so to simplify battery needs. Top handle seems to be more compact--haven't looked too deep into it yet to see if/what are the trade offs.

Definitely keeping a close eye to see if you come up with an air tank solution to use with the inflator. I think I heard mention of that in one of your videos.

Yes, the 14" saw from Milwaukee is the perfect size for trail use. I have been eyeing that one for a while. They're pretty proud of those.

The problem with the air tank and the inflator is how much battery it takes to do any significant volume. It's still on the to-do list, but it quickly ballooned into a large project due to power requirements and duty cycles.

 

[waffleso_0]

Hey Brit! Love all the products you post and how you get feedback from the community. Thanks for your support. My lady will be buying me all your molle panels for xmas and super excited to get them!

You asked for feedback.

I love the diamondback cover. Unfortunately, the extra bins that they sell are not compatible with the ford ranger and I doubt they will make them when I asked sales rep about it..


Curious if this is in your realm of being something you can make or point me in the right direction..I've tried to search for cross bins that fit the ranger with no luck. See link below..I cant imagine its too hard to make if I had the right tool, raw material..

Anybody else have any other place that sells similar bins? See link below

https://diamondbackcovers.com/products/cross-bin-8

I wonder if others have encountered this issue.

 

[AdventureLab]

Hey Brit! Love all the products you post and how you get feedback from the community. Thanks for your support. My lady will be buying me all your molle panels for xmas and super excited to get them!

You asked for feedback.

I love the diamondback cover. Unfortunately, the extra bins that they sell are not compatible with the ford ranger and I doubt they will make them when I asked sales rep about it..


Curious if this is in your realm of being something you can make or point me in the right direction..I've tried to search for cross bins that fit the ranger with no luck. See link below..I cant imagine its too hard to make if I had the right tool, raw material..

Anybody else have any other place that sells similar bins? See link below

https://diamondbackcovers.com/products/cross-bin-8

I wonder if others have encountered this issue.

Thanks!!! I appreciate the interest!

Good hear about the Christmas presents!

Yes, those bins would be in our wheel house. What would you want different from what they offer?


thanks!

 

[waffleso_0]

Thanks!!! I appreciate the interest!

Good hear about the Christmas presents!

Yes, those bins would be in our wheel house. What would you want different from what they offer?


thanks!

Well..I have no hands on experience with their bins per their site they look very nice to store things you access often but still want the bed storage underneath. I tried searching all sort of tool boxes, cross bins but could not find anything...

I'd be willing to buy a bin and have it shipped to you so you can see it hands on. I guess having a divider that you can slide to adjust..plastic? Does not need to be metal unless it needs to for integrity

I'm really surprised Diamondback will not make these bins for all the models they sell their top for. Only full size trucks I guess...

I can expect anything really if the demand is not there.

 

[AdventureLab]

I can expect anything really if the demand is not there.

That's exactly the dilemma. With larger corporate companies like that, it's more about the profit than the customer. The larger companies are great (well, some of them ) for building quality products at an affordable price, though. Economies of scale just work in both directions.

I would rather not have someone else's product here in the shop. We work very hard to solve our own problems in our own way and I don't like to be influenced with someone else's design decisions.

I would be surprised if we were able to create a product out of this due to it being a subset of a subset of Ranger customers, but I'm glad to discuss it over a direct message and see if it's something we could build for you as a one-off project. If you would like to do that, just send me a message and we can go from there. Thanks!

 

[AlloyPony]

What would be cool is a bed cover that slides with a boxed in drawer system, effectively turning the 5' box into a box that can be 6' or more and still enclosed (anti-weather, anti-theft). That's always been the one shortcoming on Ranger; the tiny cargo bed.

Imagine the tailgate down, boxed in drawer slid out to the end of it, and then the bed cover can slide overtop to close it off. That seems like a potentially really cool idea.

 

[AdventureLab]

What would be cool is a bed cover that slides with a boxed in drawer system, effectively turning the 5' box into a box that can be 6' or more and still enclosed (anti-weather, anti-theft). That's always been the one shortcoming on Ranger; the tiny cargo bed.

Imagine the tailgate down, boxed in drawer slid out to the end of it, and then the bed cover can slide overtop to close it off. That seems like a potentially really cool idea.

I have seen a few sleep-in truck cap setups like that. Pretty slick, but a lot of sealing issues since there are so many moving surfaces. It would have to seal in the short and long scenarios.

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