BAYOU
New member
Well having been inspired by all the great info on this Forum I have started down the rabbit hole of modding my TE. I have done a few new things that I hope ya'll will like:
First up was the rack mod to accomodate the packasport box, I used 1.5" square aluminum tubing and all stainless hardware. I mounted the rails using industrial uni-strut nuts with spring backs in the rack channel. this worked out great. I then direct mounted the thule bars so as to keep the as low profile as possible.
This allowed for the box to be positioned far enough forward so as to not interfere with the tailgate.
The Box was perfect except that now it was a severe wind drag, and killing MPG's, so I fabricated three brackets using corner braces 6" by 6" and bent them in a blacksmith shop to fit the contour of the roof. I then bent the front leg back to roughly a 45 degree angle. I used 3M heavy duty adhesive tape to mount the brackets. Believe me that stuff is extremely strong.
I then bought a piece of Lexan 1/4 inch thick 8" tall and 48" wide and shaped it so it wouldn't look to homemade. I painted the back side of the clear Lexan black to match the truck but not the front so that road stones would not chip the paint. I pretty proud of the result. it all bolted up perfectly with stainless hardware. it did not even shake at 105 mph...... (testing purposes) :reddance:
Next cam the spidertrax 1.25 and thanks to the dealer mistake they paid to have the rims powdercoated.
And here is the truck so far, next step is getting rid of these horrible stock tires, and building the storage box where the sliding tray once was.
First up was the rack mod to accomodate the packasport box, I used 1.5" square aluminum tubing and all stainless hardware. I mounted the rails using industrial uni-strut nuts with spring backs in the rack channel. this worked out great. I then direct mounted the thule bars so as to keep the as low profile as possible.
This allowed for the box to be positioned far enough forward so as to not interfere with the tailgate.
The Box was perfect except that now it was a severe wind drag, and killing MPG's, so I fabricated three brackets using corner braces 6" by 6" and bent them in a blacksmith shop to fit the contour of the roof. I then bent the front leg back to roughly a 45 degree angle. I used 3M heavy duty adhesive tape to mount the brackets. Believe me that stuff is extremely strong.
I then bought a piece of Lexan 1/4 inch thick 8" tall and 48" wide and shaped it so it wouldn't look to homemade. I painted the back side of the clear Lexan black to match the truck but not the front so that road stones would not chip the paint. I pretty proud of the result. it all bolted up perfectly with stainless hardware. it did not even shake at 105 mph...... (testing purposes) :reddance:
Next cam the spidertrax 1.25 and thanks to the dealer mistake they paid to have the rims powdercoated.
And here is the truck so far, next step is getting rid of these horrible stock tires, and building the storage box where the sliding tray once was.
