Drilling the side rails

[mrtimo]

I’m planning on installing an RCI rack, and would prefer to bolt it to the side rails. Any tips or guidance for drilling the rails would be appreciated. Anything more complicated than ‘measure twice, cut once’? I am pretty certain this is a straightforward task, but the fear of screwing up a relatively new truck are there for me

Thanks for any guidance.

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[Michealj]

Like you said, it’s pretty straight forward. I mounted the assembled rack where I wanted it and marked the position to drill pilot holes. Removed the rack and drilled pilots then drilled holes to final size. I removed the plastic rail covers and sprayed each hole with a little primer to help prevent rust from forming and then remounted the rack and bolted everything down.

 

[mrtimo]

Like you said, it’s pretty straight forward. I mounted the assembled rack where I wanted it and marked the position to drill pilot holes. Removed the rack and drilled pilots then drilled holes to final size. I removed the plastic rail covers and sprayed each hole with a little primer to help prevent rust from forming and then remounted the rack and bolted everything down.

Thanks - I appreciate the advice - now I maybe ready to fire up the drill and commit…

 

[Devil6]

Like you said, it’s pretty straight forward. I mounted the assembled rack where I wanted it and marked the position to drill pilot holes. Removed the rack and drilled pilots then drilled holes to final size. I removed the plastic rail covers and sprayed each hole with a little primer to help prevent rust from forming and then remounted the rack and bolted everything down.

I’m being a little bit lazy as I have a tonneau cover that I don’t want to remove but still want to do some drilling. There is nothing flat or straight forward under the rail caps and, there are specific places to drill to get a secure mount point.

On the rail caps there are ridges and valleys. To get a flat mount spot under the rail cap for a secure contact point, did the hole you drilled go through a raised ridge or a valley on the rail cap?

 

[Michealj]

I completely assembled my rack and used the mounting plates as a template for where to drill. There may be some additional reinforcement brackets under the rails, but I did not notice anything. Because the rail cap is soft plastic, I just drilled wherever the holes on the plates lined up and I didn’t worry wheather it was a ridge or valley.

 

[puda]

Does anyone have pictures of the side rails after being drilled? The RCI rack looks like it drills through the side of the top rail which doesn't seem too beefy.

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