Added Custom Bed Rails to My Truck

[sick472]

I'm just showing off a bit as I am proud of my work (and sore from it too). It's been a long time coming and not finding what I wanted in the aftermarket world...I made some bed rails for my build. It all started when I split the bedsides many years ago to de-rust the hidden inner areas and buggar'd up the inside lips of the bed rails. They needed covering up. These started off as 1/4" x 3" x 2" 6061 aluminum angles. I spent about 4 or 5 hours making them to fit and sanding the extrusion lines and minor scratches out, but soon realized that I was not going to be happy with a dull finish...then I sanded, sanded, sanded, polished, polished, & polished (20 hours worth) to get the results that the truck deserved.

A friend suggested clear coating them to help reduce the maintenace, but I have decided not to for fear of poor adhesion on the polished surface and creating an ugly peeling mess later on. Anybody have experiece clearing polished aluminum?

[Steeveedee]

Looks great! If you want them to stay shiny, there is some sort of wipe-on product for that, but I don't remember what it is called.

[SIXTY9]

The best way is just keep them polished and waxed. I know it is a pain but I used Shark Hide on a tool box and it did not turn out good. I replaced the box.
By the way your work looks good.

[Ol Blue K20]

They look great! Never dull and wax will cut back on some of the maintenance.

[OregonNed]

They look great! Nice looking bed!

[ImNoSpaz]

Dang, those look great! If you have an awesome polish job, and by the time you took and the way they look, you do, just every now and then rub some mothers polish on them when you wash the truck.

Nice. I like to see it when people fab their own stuff.

[special-K]

Those beside caps look great. They trim out the top side nicely and go with the rest of the stainless. Traditionally, bed rails are known as the actual rails that mount to the bedside.

[sick472]

Thanks for the compliments on the bedside "caps". Special-K teaches me somthing with every post. I will look into the Never Dull. Mother's Aluminum polish is what I used to put the final step in the shine...pretty impressive stuff!

The angles started off as dull as new aluminum could be. The killer was that it had many extrusions lines down the outer faces that had to be sanded down. The inner faces don't have that which would have been much better, but they get hidden hence left alone.

I started with 50 grit...then 80, 120, 200, 400, then used wet 600, 1000, 2000, then a medium buffing compound, then the fine rouge, then the Mother's...hitting the end of every paper step with wore out pieces to help with the transition to the next. I hope I don't have to do that again. Thank goodness my trim polishing is behind me too!

[tim_mc]

Wow...that's a lot of sanding & polishing. The wood extending up the inner sides of the bed looks great too... and gives you a lot of places to screw hooks for securing cargo...j/k!

[bean]

Have to ask...where did you find the metal to make them with. They look great!

[sick472]

Originally Posted by tim_mc

Wow...that's a lot of sanding & polishing. The wood extending up the inner sides of the bed looks great too... and gives you a lot of places to screw hooks for securing cargo...j/k!

Yeah! I've got a can of drywall screws and plumbers tape ready for the first load that needs to be secured. You gotta know that something will need to be hauled home at some point, but this bed will be restricted to dog food bags and soft things like pillows and chicks (young chickens) lol.

Originally Posted by bean

Have to ask...where did you find the metal to make them with. They look great!

Funny story...the 1/4"x2"x3" 6061 aluminum angle was quoted from ALRO Steel located here in my little industry heavy town at $260...jeeeez! That included a cutting fee becuase a 25 foot stick would not fit in my other truck. I asked an industrial contractor that I frequently hire and he was able to get it for me in his home town an hour away for $160. When I got it home...it came from ALRO in my town, but had made an hour trip out and an hour trip back and was $100 cheaper. It pays to know "a guy" as the big companies are not geared to care about the small guys. ALRO had bought a local steel supplier...the days of taking care of the community are gone!

[harrisoncole4]

The bed rails are usually the first thing to get scratched on any build, so this seems like a good idea. Definitely beats the black plastic ones that come with newer trucks!