Ski rack - F150 box link system

[Bronco]

I thought it might be useful to show a couple of photos of the rack I put together. I keep a bunch of SAR gear in my truck bed under the tonneau cover most of the time and have been just tossing our skis on top of everything and making a mess. Our F150 came with this nifty Box Link system but Ford don't offer much in the way of accessories. I've kept my eye out for something a little more elegant and discovered these "E-Track clips" on an F150 forum for $25.00 at amazon.com. Home Depot was out of fir 2x2 so I used 2x3 and actually I think the 2x3 work a little better. You can screw the e-track to the 2x3 to make it a little more secure.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[schindlerpiste]

Nice! What are those E-tracks mounted to? I'd like to utilize in my F-150. Of course, I do have only a 5.5' bed, so my 180+ skis need to be angled.
I'm looking to improve upon this mess

[Bronco]

The truck came with the box link plates installed from the factory. You can order the aftermarket ones here: https://roninfactory.com/products/fo...s-2015-present

Here's a link to a YouTube video that shows a little more detail:

[schindlerpiste]

My truck is 2014. The bed walls are lined with plastic. I might be able to attach the plates if I cut out a portion of that plastic. Any way, nice set-up.

[El Chupacabra]

Thanks for the writeup - I have the box link brackets in the F350, and just stuck the Ford tie downs in them. The crossbar brackets seem like they could be more useful.

My bed cover just showed up today, so after I install that, I'll see how much space there is above the box link brackets. From those pics it looks pretty good.

Did you screw the 2x3s into the Amazon brackets? If so, can you still remove the bracket from the box link attachment in the bed, with the 2x3 attached?

[Micol]

thanks for this , i like. im laszy what the length to cut the 2x3?

measure twice, cut once....or just ask once , cut once

[Bronco]

thanks for this , i like. im laszy what the length to cut the 2x3?

measure twice, cut once....or just ask once , cut once

5'6 1/4" is pretty snug on my bed.

[Bronco]

Did you screw the 2x3s into the Amazon brackets? If so, can you still remove the bracket from the box link attachment in the bed, with the 2x3 attached?

.

No and I doubt it. The E-track bracket needs to tilt down to release. I didn't screw it to the 2x3 so it can come out a little quicker if I need to remove it. Plenty of clearance for rocketed skis and bindings.

[El Chupacabra]

Thanks - looks worthwhile. I'll fiddle with the boxlink tiedowns that came with the truck, and take some measurements.

[TexasGortex]

Any reason this wouldn’t work with the stock horizontal cutouts for 2x6s in the bed?

This seems like a really good idea and I can’t believe I never thought of it before. I’ve been doing the clusterfuck method of loading for years now.

[Bronco]

Any reason this wouldn’t work with the stock horizontal cutouts for 2x6s in the bed?

1. For some unknown reason, my truck only has one set of the 2x6 pockets, located on each wheel well. Not really an option on this truck.

2. I wanted max clearance under the skis for gear and the pockets generally are set up to just clear the wheel wells. The box link brackets are a few inches higher. I've had other trucks with a canopy and used the 2x6 pockets to build a sleeping platform with a storage drawer underneath which works pretty well but not as useful under a tonneau cover.

[VTskibum]

Great idea and was just thinking about this today in my F150 as I tend to leave kids skis <150 and my 170-180ish skis in the truck much of the winter. Often rolling around a bit, thought about notching out the 2x3s to hold them on their side a bit better. Also took this approach for a while w a bike fork mount on the 2x3.

[TexasGortex]

1. For some unknown reason, my truck only has one set of the 2x6 pockets, located on each wheel well. Not really an option on this truck.

2. I wanted max clearance under the skis for gear and the pockets generally are set up to just clear the wheel wells. The box link brackets are a few inches higher. I've had other trucks with a canopy and used the 2x6 pockets to build a sleeping platform with a storage drawer underneath which works pretty well but not as useful under a tonneau cover.

That seems incredibly unhelpful to only have one slot! I’ll give it a go this weekend and see if I can live with the reduced clearance before spending the big bucks on your mod.

[SoVT Joey]

That’s a sweet idea, did you put anything on the top of the 2x3s so that your skis stay on one side, or at they just sliding back and forth? I don’t know if you have the lighted bed, but I put a tail through the light housing in my f250, when a ski came sliding across my decked out box. I got a rubber stable mat that I cut to size and put on the deck after that debacle.

you could almost take Voile straps and fasten them in the center of the strap to the 2x3 in a line and create a ski rack.

[VTskibum]

Started to go play around with mine, after having run the e-link front fork mount and realize both the 2x4 slot in the bed and the e-link are blocked by my tailgate extender. Probably worth pulling extender out in favor of this. Also pretty sure 5.5' beds only have 1 2x4 slot in bed, at least mine with the factory drop-in plastic bed-liner. Did order second set of elinks to mimic the full setup before an upcoming trip in a few weeks.

[Bronco]

you could almost take Voile straps and fasten them in the center of the strap to the 2x3 in a line and create a ski rack.

That’s a good idea, I didn’t want to put anything sticky on the 2x that would prevent sliding the skis in. Might add a couple of 1” blocks on top to keep the skis from sliding around.