Dee Zee Hex Side Rails Installed As Stake Pocket Cross Bars

The DZ99705 Truck Bed Rails kit arrived from Summit Racing. They have great prices on these kits and free shipping on items over $99, but this had a small $10 oversize charge (came in a 7ft long triangle box).

So happy to get all the hardware in black. I would have ordered the DZ99704TB (5.5ft Texture Black rails) if I didn't get such a great deal on this discontinued 6.5ft Silver rail kit. Haven't decided if I will have the rails done in gold, black or leave them silver yet.

The stake pocket rail mounts can be turned to the crossbar position without drilling any new holes and can be slide front to back for a range of 26.5" to 28.5" center-to-center positions. If you wanted the brackets on the plates centered, you can drill new holes and slide the plates inward, but they seem fine like this to me.

The stake pocket mounts can be used without the rails as shown for 4 additional tie-off points similar to the loop tie mounts made by many other manufacturers.

The 6.5ft rails are longer than I want, so they will be cut down. The tape measure on the upper crossbar is set to 5.5ft, so that is how long the DZ99704TB kit crossbars will be for reference.

I set my Kamp-Rite Oversize Cot Tent on the rails with the legs folded up and it remains well below the roof line of the cab.

The round hole leg mounts are just outside the crossbars, that are set to about 28.25" center-to-center. All the legs simply unbolt from the tent cot. It should be easy to make mounts out of a flat plate that can bolt to the tracks on the crossbars with the short tube that fits right into the leg mount holes.

Mounting the cot tent on crossbars gives you 20.25" of usable height from the bed floor to the underside of the crossbars. This was important to me, because I have a Camp-Chef Pro Outdoor Oven Stove that will now fit in the bed.

Typical kayaks and some small boats will also slide under that height, so you can add a trailer hitch extender to transport long items like those.

Other ideas are brewing now that I've got all the measurements and test fit done...

This is the first thing that came to mind once I got the measurements.

The ROLA 59504 V-Tex Rooftop Cargo Basket is symmetrical, so mounting it sideways on the crossbars won't look funny. The front and back ends that slant will be on the sides, giving it a real nice look.

Here are the detailed measurements of this rack.

The mounting bracket that comes with it should mount right to the crossbars with the correct bolts and nuts. There is 3.13" spacing between the cross rails. This gets me thinking that you can simply set a MTB front tire between the rails and let the tire sit on the Dee Zee crossbars and it won't fall over, while you secure it in place (if needed). I set my XL super long MTB front tire on the crossbars and the rear wheel was right on the end of the dropped tailgate. Some method of super easy MTB transport method will need to be found if I leave the crossbars installed all the time to replace my tailgate pad (simplest method ever invented). Simplicity in this regard is very important to me.

Not sure If I will go this route, but I like the idea of having the storage basket to load up on trips and still have all the truck bed space underneath. The cot tent can be transported in its' bag and quick release pins used to set it up quickly on custom mounts.

I think the SC will look really cool with this roof rack mounted sideways over the bed during every day driving too.

PS: It's worth mentioning that this entire setup will work on Activity Package SC's as well.

PK 62 said:

Its one of the baskets I have in my 'shall I shan't I list', mounting it transverse, might (only might) present challenges as it clips to the bed cross rails via brackets between the basket bottom cross rails ie designed to clamp to the perpendicular bed cross rails, you turning it 90 may need some clamp fudging

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The mounts are similar to these MaxHaul 70115 mounts.

Should be easy to mount the metal bracket in the same direction as the Dee Zee "slotted" crossbar using a simple bolt and slot-nut at each end. You won't need the large "U" clamp that normally goes under the crossbar. The cross rails of the basket go through where the rubber/plastic piece has the circular cutouts.

ADDED: I can see how mounting this rack crosswise on the cab roof rails of an Activity Package SC that doesn't have "slots" in the factory rails would be challenging.

ADDED:
Here is the actual ROLA mount.

It's the same design as the MaxHaul. This should allow the rack to be a direct bolt-on. Just remove the squared off "U" threaded piece and replace it with two 13mm head bolts of the same thread slid in from the ends of the Dee Zee rail.

I did some more experimenting with setting my MTB front tire between the crossbars.

My Camp-Chef just barely fits under the crossbar. 😅

The XL Banshee Paradox V3 is a very long wheelbase MTB, yet it fits inside the bed of the SC sitting straight using a tailgate pad. Sitting as pictured the tailgate pad frame strap is prefect for a rear tire strap. It might be best to use one of those bike racks that have a "J" hook that goes over the front tire and mount it as far forward as possible, rather than mess with handlebar straps (just tied in with thin rope to test fit). This method may work with or without the ROLA roof top rack.

I have a trailer hitch 1UP bike rack for trips, but if I leave that on the SC daily it won't fit into my garage with walking space in front of it; thus various other ways of carrying bikes day-to-day have to be considered if I am going to leave the crossbars on permanently...

Next up are mounts for the cot tent. I removed all four legs and took measurements.

The four white circles will be the main mounting points and the single red circle is the only outer mounting point in this photo; there are four of those as well. The outer mounts on the foldout sections are 28in apart, so that is why I mounted the crossbars 28in center-to-center. I plan to make a sliding mount for each of these, that slides outbound when you set the cot tent up. The four white circled center mounts are 29.25in apart, so the fixed mounts for those will be slightly wider than the crossbar separation. Going lengthwise the distance between the mounts are 18in + 31.25in + 18in = 67.25in total. I didn't want the crossbars to be that wide, thus the idea to make sliding mounts on the crossbar for the outer mounts on each end.

Spiff said:

Looking good. I think Hyundai made a good move putting stake pockets in, but screwed up by not getting any accessories in place for the bed before production.

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I think you're right. A stake pocket crossbar rack with legs inside the bed wall that can be set to a variety of heights would be perfect for Activity Package and Non-Activity Package models. Designed so that the crossbar and legs can simply slide up and out when you want full truck bed use would be ideal. My biggest worry about bed crossbars is that one day I will need the full bed and have to remove the permanent crossbars. Simplicity in that regard would be great.

Ordered the ROLA roof rack to try it out. I'm now thinking the tent cot can simply be setup on top of the crossbars and the crossbars on the ROLA roof rack mounted sideways can act as stops for the leg spread. I'm very curious how the ROLA can assist in finding a solution to quick local MTB trips without having to breakout my trailer hitch bike rack as well.

The ROLA rack came packaged better than I thought it would after watching a few unboxings and installations on the internet. Most of those are older videos and the company appears to have listened to customers. There was bubble wrap and carboard all held together by zip-ties to prevent metal on metal contact.

In order to install this rack on the Dee Zee side rails mounted as crossbars, all you need are eight M8-1.25 bolts. I bought Stainless Steel bolts, washers and 4 small plastic hole covers at my local Ture Value Hardware.

The bolt heads slide right into the rail slots and the supplied twist-on knobs simple screw right on to the upright bolts. The washers aren't needed, but I bought them because I plan to use cap nuts for the final installation and keep all 8 twist knobs for other accessories that move around and/or are temporary use.

This mounting method is much cleaner than the traditional large "U" bolt that goes under crossbars going in the other direction. The 4 plastic hole plugs were used to plug the windscreen holes and look much better than the silver screws and plastic washer the kit provided. In fact, if I was mounting this in traditional fashion front to back on the roof of a SUV I'd used these little plastic inserts to install the windscreen as well.

Once test fitted, it became very clear that the silver rails must go! I will also be cutting the rails down even more to about 1/2"-1" past the stake pocket mount brackets for a clean line from the body bed edge up to the rack basket and painting them black.

HANDY HINT: Just buy the Dee Zee rails already powder coated in Black or Textured Black.

What a great day! This is how it started.

RockyMounts BrassKnuckles arrived.

They look great and the boxes I received didn't have any damage at all, plus BoulderRacks threw in a 4-lock kit that I wasn't even expecting.

Finished up the custom outer tent cot leg supports that slide on the HEX rails. Here they are in the extended position.

And here they are in the slid in position. The rails will be cut to this length (57" total) and both will get coated with black Rust-oleum bed liner.

The outer cot tent legs have been reversed to slant inward instead of their original outward slanting position. They sit right in the C-channel feet on the sliding bracket. The inner legs are slightly wider and rest right on the HEX rails up against the last basket bar perfectly with the HEX spaced at 28-1/8" apart.

What's great about this setup is the cot tent is 100% portable, can be used in this position or on the ground, plus it fits folded up in the Rola basket (eventually in a weatherproof roof top storage bag).

I positioned the RockyMounts where they will go to not interfere with the cot tent. Only the RockyMounts J-hook bar and front tire tray will be mounted. The rear wheel will sit on the tailgate for easy local bike rides. On longer overnight trips a trailer hitch rack can be used.