It was Mother's Day and Mom was riding with me on a hard trail. The guy leading this ill-fated excursion drove the right tires up on a ledge (for no reason). Then he rolled over. Aside from the obvious, what also struck me was the amount of detritus around this guy's vehicle. Especially, tools and other items scattered about.
To prevent this very thing, a long time ago I put some cables into the back of my vehicle and used D-Rings to clip ammo boxes full of fluids and part. If I ever get in a wreck or roll, hopefully the ammo boxes don't smack me in the head or scatter along the countryside. Here's how to do this for your rig. Standard disclaimer: use at your own risk, no guarantees about effectiveness, you are responsible for your own safety.
Tools: Drill, tape measure, combo wrench, long screwdriver, utility knife, RTV.
Parts: Eye bolts (stronger the better), 2 fender washers per eye bolt, 2 regular washers per eye bolt, one nut and one lock nut per eye bolt. Climbing carabiner (I used $7 from the milsurp store), plastic coated wire rope maybe 1-2' longer than the width of the cargo bed, 2 eyelets, and at least 4 saddle clips.
I use eye hooks bolted to the cargo bed in the four corners. So you'll want to open the tailgate, peel back the carpet. Then pick a point that is far enough from the interior panel that you have room to work (you can see where I picked later in the photos), and measure back, say, 6" from the tailgate lip.
Now it's time to pick a spot not too close to the panel and then drill the hole.
The fender washers are intended to reinforce the eyebolts when side loaded (no guarantees about how well that will actually work, but I figure it can't hurt). You'll want one washer above and below. A nut above, and the lock nut below. Start by putting RTV on the fender washer, partly to hold it in place, partly to prevent corrosion, partly to keep moisture out of the hole.
Once you have the fender washer in place on top, go ahead and cut a slit in the carpet through which you'll slide the eye bolt.
You'll then crawl under the rig, clean up the area around the hole (careful it probably has some sharp metal there!! You can use a Dremel type tool to smooth the hole). Once it's clean go ahead and come up top, thread the regular nut onto the eye bolt, and slide it through the carpet slit and the fender washer and hole. You might want to put the screwdriver through the eyelet and twist the eyebolt around counter clockwise until the screwdriver prevents it from turning.
Now crawl back under and put the fender washer with RTV on the underside, too, and put on the lock nut and tighten it up (possible, thanks to the screwdriver holding the eye bolt). You can now work on aligning the eyebolt as shown in the pics at the bottom of the article. You should be able to twist it with the screw driver, then tighten the bolt up top.
All that done, it's time to make the wire rope. You'll want the wire rope length, when done, to match the span between the eye bolts. You'll be using a carabiner on the one side for 'quick release' but you want to be able to remove it, which means the rope needs to be a little longer.
The other option is to install the rope directly onto the eye bolts with the slack taken out. I find it convenient to remove the rope from one side so I can slide large heavy items into the bed without catching the rope.
Slide your saddle clamps onto the rope, and back through the saddle clamps making a loop. IMPORTANT: the 'dead' (short) end is the side that the u-bolt part of the saddle clamp will grab. The saddle part of the clamp will clamp onto the 'live' (long) end. Look carefully at the pics.
Insert an eyelet and pull out the slack of the wire rope until it wraps tightly around the eyelet, and cinch down the saddle clamps.
Clip the side you just finished onto the eye bolt.
Repeat the process for the other end, but this time, you'll have to loop the wire rope through the eye bolt and you'll have to install the eyelet so it is wrapping the eye bolt. When you adjust for length, make sure you have enough slack to remove the rop using the carabiner on the other side.
And there you have it. Now you can use more carabiners to clip your cargo (ammo boxes, in my case) to the rope. I also have a tool box and bag of recovery gear. For these I made additional lengths of wire rope that I loop through the handles, then clip the ends to the cargo rope.
I've since added eyebolts in the forward corners behind the seat and next to the wheel wells using the same technique. I use a wire rope with two carabiners so I have the flexibility of how I want to run the wire. I can use these eye bolts and a ratchet strap to strap down my cooler, camping gear box, and so on.
And that's it. Hope you find this useful!
To prevent this very thing, a long time ago I put some cables into the back of my vehicle and used D-Rings to clip ammo boxes full of fluids and part. If I ever get in a wreck or roll, hopefully the ammo boxes don't smack me in the head or scatter along the countryside. Here's how to do this for your rig. Standard disclaimer: use at your own risk, no guarantees about effectiveness, you are responsible for your own safety.
Tools: Drill, tape measure, combo wrench, long screwdriver, utility knife, RTV.
Parts: Eye bolts (stronger the better), 2 fender washers per eye bolt, 2 regular washers per eye bolt, one nut and one lock nut per eye bolt. Climbing carabiner (I used $7 from the milsurp store), plastic coated wire rope maybe 1-2' longer than the width of the cargo bed, 2 eyelets, and at least 4 saddle clips.
I use eye hooks bolted to the cargo bed in the four corners. So you'll want to open the tailgate, peel back the carpet. Then pick a point that is far enough from the interior panel that you have room to work (you can see where I picked later in the photos), and measure back, say, 6" from the tailgate lip.
Now it's time to pick a spot not too close to the panel and then drill the hole.
The fender washers are intended to reinforce the eyebolts when side loaded (no guarantees about how well that will actually work, but I figure it can't hurt). You'll want one washer above and below. A nut above, and the lock nut below. Start by putting RTV on the fender washer, partly to hold it in place, partly to prevent corrosion, partly to keep moisture out of the hole.
Once you have the fender washer in place on top, go ahead and cut a slit in the carpet through which you'll slide the eye bolt.
You'll then crawl under the rig, clean up the area around the hole (careful it probably has some sharp metal there!! You can use a Dremel type tool to smooth the hole). Once it's clean go ahead and come up top, thread the regular nut onto the eye bolt, and slide it through the carpet slit and the fender washer and hole. You might want to put the screwdriver through the eyelet and twist the eyebolt around counter clockwise until the screwdriver prevents it from turning.
Now crawl back under and put the fender washer with RTV on the underside, too, and put on the lock nut and tighten it up (possible, thanks to the screwdriver holding the eye bolt). You can now work on aligning the eyebolt as shown in the pics at the bottom of the article. You should be able to twist it with the screw driver, then tighten the bolt up top.
All that done, it's time to make the wire rope. You'll want the wire rope length, when done, to match the span between the eye bolts. You'll be using a carabiner on the one side for 'quick release' but you want to be able to remove it, which means the rope needs to be a little longer.
The other option is to install the rope directly onto the eye bolts with the slack taken out. I find it convenient to remove the rope from one side so I can slide large heavy items into the bed without catching the rope.
Slide your saddle clamps onto the rope, and back through the saddle clamps making a loop. IMPORTANT: the 'dead' (short) end is the side that the u-bolt part of the saddle clamp will grab. The saddle part of the clamp will clamp onto the 'live' (long) end. Look carefully at the pics.
Insert an eyelet and pull out the slack of the wire rope until it wraps tightly around the eyelet, and cinch down the saddle clamps.
Clip the side you just finished onto the eye bolt.
Repeat the process for the other end, but this time, you'll have to loop the wire rope through the eye bolt and you'll have to install the eyelet so it is wrapping the eye bolt. When you adjust for length, make sure you have enough slack to remove the rop using the carabiner on the other side.
And there you have it. Now you can use more carabiners to clip your cargo (ammo boxes, in my case) to the rope. I also have a tool box and bag of recovery gear. For these I made additional lengths of wire rope that I loop through the handles, then clip the ends to the cargo rope.
I've since added eyebolts in the forward corners behind the seat and next to the wheel wells using the same technique. I use a wire rope with two carabiners so I have the flexibility of how I want to run the wire. I can use these eye bolts and a ratchet strap to strap down my cooler, camping gear box, and so on.
And that's it. Hope you find this useful!
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