Sled deck bolted to rails?

[Pine Rob]

Just bought a homemade sled deck (was a sxs/atv original) it is not like a normal deck with legs and a base this one bolts right to the rails of the bed giving you full use of the bed under the deck.

Curious of peoples thoughts with it bolted to the bed rails on top vs having legs and a platform. I see people with lumber racks bolted to the rails carrying 1000lbs or more of lumber above the height of the cab with less contact points than this deck has.


This is for test to see if a deck would work for our type of riding as we have 3 place enclosed trailer also we use most the time. With the occasional 4th sled in the bed. Also I’ll go riding without family and bring a friend so might be nice to just deck our sleds and leave trailer behind.

If this works we plan to get a truckboss deck as they are relatively local to us and would be best fit with the storage options they provide as our truck is is a work truck year round and I do have a decked drawer system installed that the truckboss one could replace.

Thanks for input and info haven’t had much luck with my own research for this type of situation

 

[volcano buster]

One feature of the dedicated decks is the ability to narrow up the empty deck. A full 8'ish deck could be a real "pain" at times.

 

[Pine Rob]

One feature of the dedicated decks is the ability to narrow up the empty deck. A full 8'ish deck could be a real "pain" at times.

Couldn’t put it better. I got the set up for $300 and want to see if we would actually use it enough and if we like it then next season going to get a real deck aluminum deck slide in sides etc.

Using a 10’ truckboss ramp and like it but if I got a new deck would do the 12’ for walking up and down convenience.

 

[IDspud]

Bolting to rails can crack rails or deck in torsional situations, doesn’t allow for independent movement like slide ins.