So this post is a little bit delayed.  It has been sitting in my draft folder for almost three years.  It may be time to publish it…

My 2011 Nissan truck had a very cool really system for holding gear in the back of the truck: an extruded aluminum track along the side rails and two in the bottom of the bed.  They made sliding tie points for use on the rails that were great for some stuff, but I needed more to really strap a load down when hauling brush and debris to the dump.  I looked at buying more from Nissan, but they wanted >$200 for the set of 4.  No thank you!  I did what any engineer would do:  Designed my own and went into the machine shop and made a few prototypes out of aluminum scrap that was laying about.

I made one version with an offset bend for the side walls and the other with a 90 degree bend for use on the bed floor rails.  I might change the latter a little as I found that while a standard small ratchet strap or rope had no effect on it, if I used a large ratcheting load strap, I could bend it.

I also found that the rails were the exact same dimension as commercial uni-strut (standardized formed metal structural system used in electrical, plumbing and HVAC installations for structural support).  Parts are available at all the Big-Box home stores and I was able to pick up a bag of 10 threaded nut plates for ~$8.00 and 1/4″ hex-head bolts of various lengths for another $5.00.  The prototypes worked so well that I made more and with my hold down solution and the OEM tie points, I could haul anything I really wanted and make sure it was securely fastened:  Refrigerators, lumber, yard trimmings, fire wood, trash, you name it.

I added the side walls of a wooden shipping crate to my new truck bed system, bolted directly to the side rails using the uni-strut nut plates and then strapped over the whole load with 2″ straps.  I found the installation took me 15 minutes from start to finish and it made dump and material runs super simple.  It was even faster to remove and store in the garage so I didn’t drive around town like I worked for Sanford & Son.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sold the truck in December of 2013, but I kept the OEM Nissan tie points as well as the ones I made.  I will use them on my next truck, or possibly my next trailer.  I will just install uni-strut on the sides and on the deck and I will make it that much more useful.