Mounting a Roll Bar to Bed

I know, I feel the same way. That's why I'm chopping off the feet by a couple inches and extending the rear struts to hug the bed rails better. I'm trying to get the top beam line up with the roof of the cab.

This came from a full size Chevy pickup truck which is why it doesn't fit right. I have to do some modification to get it to fit right.

I'm trying to achieve the Back to the Future truck look

 

What are you going to do about that roof / hood clearcoat? It's giving me the shivers looking at it - your light bar is going to make it more difficult to paint that area, but not impossible. Looking forward to seeing the back to the future look on your truck!

 

One of these days I'm going to have the whole truck repainted by MAACO. Yeah I know they aren't the best but I called about 10-15 different body shops and they all quoted me $5,000 plus, I just don't have the money for that.

20 years in the California sun is bad for paint.

 

Luckily we live in a place where as long as the paint job is decent and well cared for, things like rust and extreme temperatures aren't going to wear on the paint as much as others. I'd never pay $5k - I think if you get into looking around there's probably even better resources out there that would get your truck painted for as much as Maaco, but by a more professional person if you buy the paint and they can do it as a side job on the weekend or after hours - only a legit person obviously. Going back to black or a different color?

 

I reaaalllly wanted the Sunfire Red Pearl color. After I found out how much more a complete color change costs I decided to just stick to black. There's this MAACO near me that has some of the best ratings in the state, people drive for hours to go to this specific branch. I think I'll take a risk.

 

Reviews kick @$$. If it wasn't for the internet I'd have wasted a lot of money. Sounds good! I like that red pearl tho.

Edit: If it wasn't for the internet there wouldn't be as many things I'd know about to spend money on...

 

So here's the plan to make it fit the bed better and line up with the roofline and sides of the cab:

- Cut off 2-3 inches of each support strut
- Reweld Mounting Pads
- Extend L/R struts by 2-3 inches to clear wheel well
- Wire front KC fog lights, side and bed LED pods

 

Excited to see how this turns out!

 

I had a "roll bar" on my ford ranger before I got a tacoma. It mounted directly onto the bed rails and didn't take up any bed space. Of course the best picture I can find of it is one after the truck rolled.

 

Damn it actually worked!? Wow.

 

Haha I doubt it did anything, truck only rolled onto its side, even though it was at 70mph.

 

Back to the Future... Lets go all out "80's