in-bed toolbox

[jrusko]

I'm looking for a decent in-bed toolbox. My requirements are:

Has to be one of the ones that goes in the front of the bed

Has to be the "over the rails" type

Silver-colored diamond-plate finish

Single lid

Lockable

Stainless steel, aluminum, or something else that won't rust

Waterproof

Must mount with a bracket in the stake pocket, and not require drilling.



I saw one yesterday at k-mart of all places, that was like $130 because they're going out of business. But to mount it you hafta drill holes in your bed rails. I refuse to drill holes in the body sheetmetal of a $40,000 truck. Someone has to make one that mounts with a bracket that goes into the stake pocket...



Anyone have any suggestions? Preferably not too horribly expensive...



Thanks

 

[BV]

Maybe this will help

I can't help with who makes one that mounts to the stake pocket but I can tell you that we (the neighbor and I) took some 5/16" eye bolts and opened up the eye to make a hook that would grab the hole on the inside of the pocket and then drilled a hole in the box for the threaded part to go through. The box has been mounted for over a year now without any sign of problems.

 

[sberrio]

mounts

Saw some neet mounts at Lowe's & Walmart. They use Allen head set screws to CLAMP to the underside of the bed rails. As far as the box goes. Lowe's sells a nice single lid deep box made by Delta. about $200. Should be easy to find. Saw them both in North Carolina and the North East.



I'd buy it myself, but I have a tonneau cover.

simon

 

[Cummins Cowboy]

after studying and looking at tool boxed for a couple years and deciding if i could spend the money i decided that i wanted a deep one ie will go about 5 inches to the truck bed. The only prob was these where about 300-400 bucks in most cases. I went to home depot last june close to fathers day and they had a special on an aluminum diamond plate tool box deep like i wanted and with a single lid all the things i wanted and it was only 199$ so i couldn't pass it up. I think they still have um for about 225$ that is he best deal on a tool box of this quaility i can find husky is the brand. As far as mounting goes a buddy bought one like mine and he used J hooks use the hook on the under side of the bed and then put the bolt up through the drilled hole on the edge bottom of the tool box tighten the nut and that should work just fine.

 

[jrusko]

I ended up getting the box at k-mart, it was a delta, same model as they had at lowes (but not the deep one). The deep one was about $230 at lowes, and I couldn't justify an extra hundred when I don't think I have enough to fill even the shallow one (yet ). Picked up those clamps at lowes that use the allen bolts and clamp onto the bedrail, and installed it... seems pretty spiffy so far

 

[Briar Hopper]

Those neat clamps from Lowe's are the greatest thing... BUT... I've had to cut one or two off in the past, in order to remove my toolbox. The bolts corrode, and become impossible to remove, especially the horizontal one that does the clamping. I'd recommend putting some anti-seize on those bolts.

 

[csevers]

In my case

I couldn't find a tool box that I thaught was good enough so I had a awsome aluminum welder man make a custom one for me single lid two sliding trays one on top of the other (my idea) that he made work perfect all dimond plate but side that faces cab you can't see much of it anyway and it was a little taller than normal above box and you can still put a L shape fuel tank under it, it will hold a 1 gallon jug upright and a fire extingusher up right also the price tag $550. 00 but this is HEAVIER than any I have seen anywhere. Only one problem I had it on my 98 and had put foam tape under box to protect box rails the tool box and contents is so heavy that it cut tape and left a dimond imprint on the bed rail right down to the bare metal both sides I had to buy a set of bed raill covers to install before I traded the truck in This was just before I traded thats how I found out what had happend, this time I put a peice of mudflap between box and rail.





just my 3 cents

 

[sberrio]

I'm looking for a bed mounted box, that will fit under the rails. saw a nice big Delta box at lowe's, but I don't have a clue how to mount it. I'm taking a trip to Oklahoma this summer, and I'm not leaving without my tools!!! Do you think that gravity will hold about 200 pounds of toolbox at the front of the bed.



The tonneau is limiting my choices. I'd get rid of it, but I love my new dry storage area.



Thanks,

simon

 

[RClark]

sberrio, I got a BetterBilt box at Wallyworld for about $200. It just fits at bed hight. I have a Lund bed cover that is some work bht the rollup ones all fastened to the insides of the bed rails. Lund fastens on top and clears everything.

If sosmeone would give me a digital camera i could post pictures.

 

[sberrio]

saw it today

rclark,

I saw that box today! Looks like it will be what I need. Did you bolt it in, or let gravity do it's work? I have the lund tonneau too. I agree that the snaps are a PITA, but I still like the soft cover.

simon

 

[RClark]

I used 2 1/4" x 11/2" Satinless steel Bolts, one on each side. With washers and a self locking nut.

I got the Elite cover, velcro instead of snaps. I like the way it roll up when i tow.

 

[sberrio]

thanks

Thanks,

that looks like the way to go.

 

[CPH]

Tool Box

Do a search for Highway Products out of Oregon. The best boxes made with out exception! I turned my dad on to them in 91. He was a full time rv,er. Still has the box. No leaks latches and stuff work like new. You get what you pay for.



cph

 

[BV]

Here is what I did

My neighbor was nice enough to give me a Knack (single lid) truck box out of this s10 company rig that was sold lat year and I finally got it installed over the weekend.



The box is just the right width to fit between the rails (on the floor) and still have room to push the latches and work the keys in the locks on the sides.



Now to mount it so it can't fly around while bouncing through the woods on fishing/hunting trips. Since I really don't want to drill holes I start looking at the in-bed cargo mounts. Looked like I could drill holes through the box bottom right at front edge then hook a threaded rod into the cargo pocket and up through the box. It was a good idea but it put the box to close to the bed front to open the lid all the way. I ended up mounting the box on 2, 1. 5" square steel tubing that was 3" longer than the box bottom which allowed me to move the box away from the front about 2. 5" and still use the hooks in the cargo pockets. The neighbor didn't even know it was installed because it comes up flush with the bed rails.



The only disadvantage I see is that now I have a short bed unless I want to remove the tool box but I really don't need the 8' very often since we traded the slide in for a trailer.