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Allen McCarriston, Danvers, Massachusetts
Truck Bed Alignment With Cubby Storage
2023 Ford F-350
2020 Arctic Fox 811
I made a truck bed camper alignment guide system with storage. I have seen this in other articles and postings, so I can’t take full credit for this idea. However, I did specifically design it to fit and fasten to our 2023 Ford F-350 standard bed.
It is assembled with two lengths of 1/2 inch plywood and four uprights made of 1-1/2 inch thick laminated plywood. Each side rail plywood is screwed to the two vertical sections. The sections are specifically cut and shaped to fit the inner side walls of the pickup bed.
They are also located directly underneath the Ford factory upper tie-downs. One of the tie-down holes provides a securing point for attachment to each of the four shaped sections of the guide system. Each of these uprights has a 5/16 inch threaded insert installed.
When the guides are placed in the bed, a knurled 5/16 inch thumb screw is inserted into the tie-down mounts and screwed into the threaded insert of the four uprights of the guide system for securing to the truck bed.
The benefit of this design is that it helps guide our camper while loading. The more important benefit is to keep the truck camper in place as we travel.
The camper no longer shifts left or right from wind or bumps.
The guidance system has been perfect for us and may help others. We used to look at the cab lights and the clearance lights on the camper after installing the camper and during travel. We always saw a misalignment. The alignment or guidance system has ended the installation misalignment and travel shifting.
I used plywood, glue, deck screws, threaded inserts, knurled thumb screws, polyurethane, and white spray paint.
This concept was originally seen in other mods and posts. I then took the concepts and designed something that would work well for our intended purpose. Our design took about two hours.
Cutting up the plywood, shaping the plywood, and gluing the four uprights took another couple of hours. Fitment and hardware installation took about another hour.
Then I coated all surfaces with polyurethane to seal the plywood. This took some time as I applied two coats. I finished the two guides with white spray paint. I used white to see the guides better when it’s dark outside. It was a weekend project and time well spent. It cost me approximately $90 to complete.
Disclaimer: The modifications above are submitted by Truck Camper Magazine readers. It is your responsibility to make sure that any do-it-yourself modification project you undertake is safe, effective, and legal for your situation.
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