Mini Molle Panel for bedside

[Torr_ATL]

Hi all,

Thought I’d share this mini Molle panel I cooked up to hold a fire extinguisher and a storage pouch in the bed.

It was designed for an Amerex 2.5 lbs dry chemical extinguisher using their mounting bracket next to a Builtright small Molle pouch.

1/8” aluminum powder coated in black wrinkle.

Mounting holes and slots sized for M6 or 1/4-20 hardware. It did require drilling into the inner bedside for rivnuts and uses 10mm spacers behind the panel.

I picked this position and orientation as it matches a factory recess in the bedside, keeps the pouch and extinguisher inside of the bed corner and wheel well, and has the extinguisher handle well out if the way to avoid any accidental discharge. It also keeps the factory cargo hooks usable.

The pouch right now hold my cargo net and tool for removing my bed cover. Could fit a couple ratchet straps in it.

Thanks for looking. Would appreciate any feedback.

Sponsored

 

[EzequielArgentina]

looks really good. Sorry for the dumb question.. how do you know where to make holes in your bed to put the bolts on? I am designing my own molle panel, and I am working how to fix it to the truck bed...
I will try to use existing bolts.. but in some cases there are no bolts holes where i need it.. so I have no idea if I can just drill anywhere.

 

[Torr_ATL]

Not a dumb question at all. I did a couple of things:

1) looked through the holes (under the 6 small covers) in the bed rails with a flashlight to see what I could see.

2) I had pulled off the plastic bed rail covers for another project. That gave me more holes to look through. Note that getting the rails off without breaking clips is dicey. Apparently Ford considers this a non reusable part so it isn’t designed to come off undamaged.

3) I tried looking between the bedsides from underneath, but I have the side steps so couldn’t see.

4) I knew that some companies sell compressor mounts that fit into the area I was planning to drill into so felt confident it would be clear.

5) I tapped on the inner bedside hoping I’d be able to hear if there was a reinforcement or similar. Not sure how good that works though.

6) as I was drilling in the middle of the bedside I was comfortable assuming their wasn’t a fuel line or electrical cable. Note I was drilling on the passenger side. If I was working on the drivers side I would have been extra careful to stay away from the fuel filler neck as they can zig or zag in unexpected ways.

Hope this helps!

 

[EzequielArgentina]

thanks!. did you use Rivet Nuts? or just used the bolts?

 

[Torr_ATL]

Riv nuts. I bought a kit that has an installation tool and a number of different size rivnuts, both SAE and Metric. It was about $50 or so. Worked well.

I also hit the edges of the drilled holes with some cold galvanizing primer to provide some corrosion protection. I’m in the south so no salt and have a bed cover, so not overly concerned, but figured it couldn’t hurt.

 

[EzequielArgentina]

lovely. thanks so much

 

[ADVNTURR]

Like seeing other people doing little custom bits (also like the custom logo in the bottom corner). You really snuck that extinguisher in there.

 

[Torr_ATL]

lovely. thanks so much

Glad to help!

 

[Torr_ATL]

Like seeing other people doing little custom bits (also like the custom logo in the bottom corner). You really snuck that extinguisher in there.

thanks. I think that is my favorite part. The extinguisher tucks in nice and tight out of the way..

Sponsored