Roll Bar & Bed Cover in Harmony?

Heya Gang!

New to this thread and to the Tacoma. Just ordered my 2016 TRD Sport 4x4 access cab truck and was told 3-6 months (the wait is killing me)! I had a little Ranger for 13 years until it finally died and have been truckless for 4 years now, never thought I'd miss it as much as I do! In the mean time I thought I'd start doing some research on what my plans are for my new baby.

I'm interested in a roll bar to use as a light mount (to be honest its mainly for looks) but due to the intended use of the truck I have to have a bed cover and have decided to go with a Retrax. Not a big fan of Headache Racks, although I know that would be an easy solution. Has anyone seen or know of any roll bars that would work or could be modified to work with a bed cover? So far Google has failed me....

Thanks in advance!

 

If you just want to mount lights why not put a light bar in the grill? If you just want a roll-bar go to any race shop and they can bend up a hoop for you and figure out a way to bolt it/weld it in.

 

Thanks for the suggestion! I'm thinking about the light bar on the grill but I'm kinda in love with the looks of the roll bar too...

 

1) it's not a roll bar unless it's tied to the frame in several key places.

2) as you described for your Ranger, its really a light bar or 'style' bar.

3) there are dozens of lighting alternatives. My suggestion is to a) determine what you really are trying to illuminate b) find proper positions that that lighting should come from (why light up the top of the truck?) c) research various fixtures, mounting locations and switching arrangements.

4) keep in mind that today's LED auxiliary lighting options may well do better than whatever lighting you had in the past, with less electrical drain and a lower profile. (just like the po-po lights are now)

All this will give you lots to research during a long winter's wait.

 

Winter is coming

 

Bill, thanks for the response! I've looked (and will continue to lol) at a bunch of options but its really the aesthetic of the "roll bar" look that I like. I may just need to have something fabricated if I can find what I'm searching for.

 

Ranger bolted into the floor of the bed up front and with legs to the wheel wells, correct? That kind of look?

You do realize the Tacoma has a composite bed, not particularly favorable for that kind of mounting, correct? Backing plates would be required of course, but still the foot of the bar and the backing plate are clamping plastic, not steel. I'm not actually sure that you'd be able to get a quality fabricator to make something like that for you, just from a risk standpoint.

I guess if you are willing to cut up the bed and have the structure pass through it and mount to the frame, even bolted, it wouldn't be too bad. Other than a cut up bed being weakened with the holes?

Any tonneau will have to either be custom made at an upholstery shop, or have a shop modify a store bought cover. And it will leak like a sieve around the leg points. Not sure if that matters.

Of course the bed capacity will be compromised with the bar and legs in place.

Please proceed, it's your truck, your $. Just trying to toss out some thoughts to give consideration to before hauling out the sawsall.

 

You can just wait a few years and pick up a Ranger when Ford finally starts selling them stateside again

 

I don't know how they mounted it, I I don't have any idea how you would get a hard cover to work with it, but if you haven't seen them, these pics are pretty cool.
http://m.caranddriver.com/photo-gallery/toyota-creates-bad-ass-homage-to-marty-mcflys-pickup#1

 

Bill, thanks again! I think you may have misunderstood what I was looking for. I know that a roll bar, in order to function fully as it is intended, needs to be bolted to the frame however thats not what I'm looking for. The "roll bar" is more for the aesthetic of the truck and the bed cover I'm going with is the Retrax which is a hard retractable cover. The "Roll bar" would need to be mounted on the sides of the truck bed and bolt-on is ok because of its functionality. Thanks again!

 

Nickel, exactly! That Taco is BA!

 

Saw the Back to the Future truck this past weekend at NAIAS:



Unfortunately it seems that this light bar is definitely *not* a roll bar, as it is only attached to the accessory rail. This means it would serve zero function in the case of a roll over, and likely contributes little to chassis rigidity in any meaningful way.



But hey, at least it's a manual

 

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

You must be waiting for a 6-speed manual too....

Come on Toyota! Can you please stop churning out all these auto double cabs and make some Manual access cabs? And while you're at it, make some double cab long beds too ?

Every dealer in So Cal seems to have a minuscule inventory of 1 to 4 Tacomas and most are 2x4s and double cabs. Maybe its the fault of the desk jockey morons at the dealer placing orders? Maybe there is a method to their madness: "Oh, you want a [DCLB], [Manual AC]? Those are rare! We can maybe get one in like 3 months but because it's so rare you'll have to pay $4,000 over MSRP...If it even shows up, then you may have to get in a bidding war with a guy who was in here yesterday looking for the same truck.... Just take what we have on the lot. It's only $500 over MSRP and every other dealer in the area would charge you at least $1,000 to $2,000 over MSRP for the same truck. Trust me."

 

Hey man, just seeing if you ever found anything as far as 'roll bar' look alike/old school light bars went? I want one like the 2016 back to the future Tacoma as well but can't find anyike it. That one hooks up to the utility bars inside the bed which is nice. Just seeing if you found anything since it has almost been a year now.

 

I’m starting to design a tonneau solution for my truck with rollbar light bar. Did you ever find a solution or ideas?

 

I'll build 1 for you

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ynamic-bed-cage-tonnaue-cover-version.582736/

 

I like the idea that you can remove the back/bed light bar! I wonder if Toyota sales it?

 

It's a one-off, best I could tell.

The GoRhino Sport Bar 2.0 as well as the Vanguard bars are designed to work with tonneau covers (but not the OEM). I dislike that you need to drill the truck to fit these bars. Black Horse Off-Road used to offer a bolt in option (RB-TOTAB) but it's out of production. I like the GoRhino design better, but I dislike that it requires drilling. My plan is to swap out as needed. I told myself I wouldn't get another roll bar, yet here I am.

 

I’m not sure, I’ve never seen one again so maybe it was just made for this show truck. The mounting brackets just look like CNC milled aluminum pieces, probably wasn’t a whole lot of development made in that, and done CNC milled because it’s one off. The bar looks like thin wall bent tube, lots of shops could do that. If you can’t find one, could probably find a shop to build one.