How much can you mount to your BillieBars?
What can you mount to your BillieBars Bed Rack? More specifically, how much can you mount?
In this article, we're going to layout how much mounting space you'll have with our low profile bed racks, by truck model, so you can plan ahead on your build.
Our 5" and 8" bed racks don't require a tonneau cover, but they are compatible with a wide array of trifold, rollup, and retractable tonneau covers.
All crossbars are cut to a specific length, creating one of the safest bed racks on the market. If you're interested in learning more about the technical safety of our low profile bed racks, check out this video here.
But what does this really mean for you? How much mountable space will you have on your truck with our low profile bed rack? Below are the #'s.
Mountable Space (rounded to nearest 1/2") for our 5" and 8" Low Profile Bed Racks
****Please note, these are not exact crossbar dimensions
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Small Trucks
- Toyota Tacoma - 65"
- Nissan Frontier - 67"
- Jeep Gladiator - 64.5"
- Honda Ridgeline - 67.5”
- Ford Ranger - 64"
- Ford Maverick - 57" (6.5" bracket*)
- Rivian - 59.5"
- GMC Canyon/Chevy Colorado - 63.5"
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Large Trucks
- Ram 1500/2500/3500 - 70" (tapered bed)
- Toyota Tundra - 71"
- Ford F150 - 71"
- Nissan Titan - 70"
- Ford F250/F350- 72"
- GMC Sierra/Chevy Silverado - 70.5" (tapered bed)
Now that we know how much mountable space we'll have per truck, below is a list of the popular accessories we offer, and width dimension of each accessory.
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Accessory Dimensions (Width dimension is how much space the accessory will take up across the bars)
- Rooftop Tent
- Varies by Roof Top Tent Manufacture. Widths for more standard RTT's fall in the 48" W range
- Awning Mount
- Standard awning mount - 8.5" W
- Cargo
- Yakima Skinny Load Warrior - 23" W
- Roam 95L Cargo case - 18.9" W
- Bike
- BillieBars Bike Bundle - roughly 7" W (front wheel has to come off)
- Brass Knuckles Full Bike Carrier - roughly 12" W
- 1 UP Full Bike Carrier - roughly 12" W
- Kuat Piston SR - roughly 12" W
- Kayak
- LowPro Kayak Riser - 16.75" W
- Rooftop Tent
Roof Top Tents
Our low profile bed rack is ideal for mounting RTT's. The dimensions vary by each company, but for this example, we'll use the Rooftnest Condor Overland 2.
Closed Dimensions: 48" W x 60" L x 12" H
The key number when looking at RTT's and how they'll mount on your BillieBars Bed Rack is the width. This number will double when you open the RTT, with the ladder of the RTT either being on the passenger or driver side.
So in the case of mounting this RTT on the Toyota Tundra, you'll have roughly 22" of space left after the RTT is mounted (70" minus 48").
Notice in this photo, we have a bike mounted on the right side of the crossbars. We're mounting this via our bike bundle, and flush mounted Woopy Rear Tire Tray.
What's neat about this set up is that all the mounting mechanisms (front axel mounting piece and rear tire tray), are all completely flush to the crossbar - so once the bike is removed, you can open the RTT to the passenger side.
You can shop our full RTT accessory line here.
Awnings
Our awning mount for our low profile bed racks is one of our more popular accessories. It allows you to keep a low profile bed rack, and have an adjustable awning mount that clears the cab.
The max height above the bed rack is 19.75", so with the 5" BillieBars Low Profile Bed Rack, you'd have a max height of 25.75".
As far as how much crossbar space it will eat, the key dimension is:
8.5" W
So in the case of the Tundra, you'll have roughly 62.5" (71" minus 8.5") of mountable space left.
It's important to order the correct after market awning for the side you want - they have passenger and driver side specific awnings. You can shop our full awning collection here.
Cargo
Carrying cargo is quickly becoming one of the more popular reasons to buy a set of BillieBars, especially if you're going on a cross country trip with the family.
We don't sell any cargo baskets, but we do recommend one that clamps to our crossbars out of the box - the Yakima Load Warrior or Skinny Warrior.
In the below photo, we have the Skinny Warrior which has the dimensions of:
23" W x 58" L x 6.5"
So in the case of the Tundra, you would have 48" of mountable crossbar space left (71" minus 23").
Another popular option for mounting cargo, is the ROAM cases. The 95L from ROAM is the most frequently bought item. It's dimensions are:
18.9" W x 47.24" L x 11.42" H
So in the case of the Tundra, you'd have roughly 52.1" of mountable crossbar space left (71" minus 18.9").
All of our cargo options can be found here.
Bikes
Carrying bikes, especially if you're hitch is occupied because you're hauling a trailer, can greatly free up bed space with a set of BillieBars.
We have several ways to haul bikes, and the dimensions of each our laid out below.
- BillieBars Bike Bundle - roughly 7" W (front wheel has to come off)
- Brass Knuckles Full Bike Carrier - roughly 12" W
- 1 UP Full Bike Carrier - roughly 12" W
- Kuat Piston SR - roughly 12" W
The important thing to note when you're mounting your bikes is that the limiting factor will likely be the handle bars hitting each other. You can maximize more space by facing the bikes in opposite directions.
For the Toyota Tundra, you'll be able to comfortably fit 4-5 bikes. You can find our full bike accessory page here.
Kayaks
Hauling kayaks on our low profile bed rack became possible when we introduced our LowPro Kayak mount. It allows you to put the kayak on an angle and clear the cab.
The dimensions of the LowPro are:
16.75" W x 3.15" L x 7" H
So in the case of the Tundra, you'd be able to mount 4 kayaks, with 4" to spare (16.75" x 4 = 67").
You can find our full watersport list here.
Summary
If you plan on mounting anything else to your BillieBars that you're unsure will fit, we'd love to help you mock up your build. Give us a call or shoot us email - our contact information is listed here.
If you don't have a bed rack selected yet, please use this page for reference.
Thanks for reading! :)
