PUTCO Venture TEC Bed Rack: Tonneau Compatible Offroad Rack?

[franciscoapg]

Hey guys,

I've been doing some research on the PUTCO "Venture TEC" rack, and was wondering if anyone has any experience with it? It seems pretty capable of holding a RTT as well as RotoPax, and other accessories. The main reason I'm looking into it is because I'm trying to find the best solution for a good rack that also allows the use of a tonneau cover. Having put a LEER trifold on since I bought the truck, I get too much utility out of the closed bed to sacrifice the tonneau when I get a rack. The PUTCO rack is shown with a tonneau cover on PUTCO's website and on Stage3's, and I've seen videos of other (non-Ranger) trucks running the same. I know MAX modular / KBvoodoo offers a rack with tonneau adapters, but I would prefer to avoid them since they seem like a potential failure point (and also don't catch my eye appearance-wise). My plan would be to run the rack and switch over to a retractable tonneau cover (embark, or similar so I can open it with the rack on).

Is anyone running a similar set up, or does anyone have the PUTCO rack at the moment?

Link to the rack below:
https://www.stage3motorsports.com/184800-2019-Ford-Ranger-5ft-Bed-Putco-Venture-Tec-Rack.html

Chris at Stage3 was also kind enough to share the rack's installation instructions with me (below). It seems the only issue might be if the rack base clears the tonneau rails?
https://www.putco.com/mb_cpa/index/download/id/4128/file/184800I.pdf/

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[BHunted]

I'm wondering how it can use the stake holes, with ton. cover and the ranger's plastic top bed rails... Seems something has to be sacrificed if you don't want to drill holes.

 

[franciscoapg]

Yea, agreed--It uses the stake pockets and doesn't require drilling on other trucks, but that's not the case for the Ranger (drilling into the bed rails is required). The description for the rack on some websites that list it still say no drilling required, but the instructions show it does. I'm happy drilling into the bed rails if it works well with the tonneau, just wonder if anyone else has had success with it or has the rack at all (or a similar setup)?

 

[BHunted]

Yea, agreed--It uses the stake pockets and doesn't require drilling on other trucks, but that's not the case for the Ranger (drilling into the bed rails is required). The description for the rack on some websites that list it still say no drilling required, but the instructions show it does. I'm happy drilling into the bed rails if it works well with the tonneau, just wonder if anyone else has had success with it or has the rack at all (or a similar setup)?

Thought someone else had them here. Don’t recall who.
You planning on leaving on the plastic guards and drilling through them or?

 

[franciscoapg]

Yea if I go that route I would leave them on. Feel like the truck would look a bit odd with naked rails, even with the rack covering most of it.

I called PUTCO customer service and got through to someone who explained many soft tonneau and rollup tonneau covers work. He said his boss ran the Venture TEC rack and BAK revolver on his Ranger, but that unfortunately doesn't help confirm if something like the RetraxPRO MX (not the one with T slot rails) would also work. Just wonder if the rails on the retractable cover would interfere with the mounting of the rack.

 

[BHunted]

Yea if I go that route I would leave them on. Feel like the truck would look a bit odd with naked rails, even with the rack covering most of it.

I called PUTCO customer service and got through to someone who explained many soft tonneau and rollup tonneau covers work. He said his boss ran the Venture TEC rack and BAK revolver on his Ranger, but that unfortunately doesn't help confirm if something like the RetraxPRO MX (not the one with T slot rails) would also work. Just wonder if the rails on the retractable cover would interfere with the mounting of the rack.

That’s what I’m thinking. Wish I knew about that ReTrax model too. Like the one with the slots. I have a Gator Retractible. Can’t do much.

 

[franciscoapg]

That’s what I’m thinking. Wish I knew about that ReTrax model too. Like the one with the slots. I have a Gator Retractible. Can’t do much.

Yea I hope someone who has run it or seen it in person can chime in and share their experience. If not, maybe I’ll go back to PUTCO and try to pry more detailed measurements out of them. Would be good to get an idea of what I’m getting myself into before buying haha.

Out of curiosity, do you know roughly how much space of the bed rail the tonneau rails of your gator retractable cover take up? My current leer tri-fold takes up about half an inch of the bed rails on each side, and I feel like that’s about what the Vortrak that the guys at PUTCO mentioned works would take up. Just wonder if switching to a retractable cover means going with wider rails that take up more bed rail space and could cause trouble with the PUTCO rack.

 

[BHunted]

Yea I hope someone who has run it or seen it in person can chime in and share their experience. If not, maybe I’ll go back to PUTCO and try to pry more detailed measurements out of them. Would be good to get an idea of what I’m getting myself into before buying haha.

Out of curiosity, do you know roughly how much space of the bed rail the tonneau rails of your gator retractable cover take up? My current leer tri-fold takes up about half an inch of the bed rails on each side, and I feel like that’s about what the Vortrak that the guys at PUTCO mentioned works would take up. Just wonder if switching to a retractable cover means going with wider rails that take up more bed rail space and could cause trouble with the PUTCO rack.

Have to go measure it. I'll get back to you.

 

[franciscoapg]

Have to go measure it. I'll get back to you.

Sounds good, thanks!

 

[BHunted]

Sounds good, thanks!

Looks like it may overhang the stake hole.

 

[franciscoapg]

Looks like it may overhang the stake hole.

Thanks man! That definitely looks like a tight fit with the rack. I’m going to reach out to PUTCO and get more info on the width of the rack base. It seems like finding a retractable cover with rails that play nice with the rack will take some work. I’ll let you know what I find. Hopefully good news haha

 

[BHunted]

Thanks man! That definitely looks like a tight fit with the rack. I’m going to reach out to PUTCO and get more info on the width of the rack base. It seems like finding a retractable cover with rails that play nice with the rack will take some work. I’ll let you know what I find. Hopefully good news haha

Ever get more info on this Francisco?

 

[franciscoapg]

Ever get more info on this Francisco?

I've been pretty tied up and my wrenching time has been focused on other Ranger projects, so not much to report on this front yet. What I've landed on so far, though, is that going with the PUTCO rack (or any other rack that I've come across so far) likely requires modification to the rail brackets on whatever retractable cover I could get. I got up close with the truckcoversUSA and Retrax retractable covers and both of their tonneau rails extend out quite a bit, taking up a lot of bed rail real estate. There's a chance I could get a rack with mounts that would slide underneath the tonneau rails and could be sandwiched between them and the actual bed rails, but that method would still likely require modification to the tonneau rails where things would bolt up. I have to do more research on that front, so will let you know as soon as I make some progress.

I've heard whispers that Leitner will be putting out a rack that works with a tonneau cover (not sure if retractable or just soft-folding/ whether it would even be offered for the Ranger), but unfortunately there's still a lot of time before it could hit the market.

 

[Justin87]

Uptopoverland.com Check their rack out. I was also looking for a rack that would easily attach to the embark retrax cover i have. I really like their rack too, possibly going to purchase it as long as it works out with my rtt.

 

[franciscoapg]

Uptopoverland.com Check their rack out. I was also looking for a rack that would easily attach to the embark retrax cover i have. I really like their rack too, possibly going to purchase it as long as it works out with my rtt.

Wow this actually looks like a really cool option, @Justin87, thanks for sharing. I'm definitely considering this--do you know of anybody on the forums with the full height version? I think the mid-height is just a bit too short for what I want and I'm curious as to what the full height version looks like. I couldn't seem to find a load rating on the website, so I also wonder what type of load it would withstand, given the rack + Retrax combo might be a bit weaker than bolting directly to the bed rails. Overall, though, this rack is pretty exciting.

@BHunted this doesn't have T -slots through the full length of the rack hoops, but the fact that it would work seamlessly with your cover might make it a pretty good option. What do you think?

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