Full-sized pickup trucks make up a sizable chunk of new vehicle sales. Bestsellers like the Ford F-150, Ram 1500 and the Silverado and Sierra siblings are prized for their unrivalled space, everyday practicality and go-anywhere capability. Equipped with huge rear beds, pickup trucks provide the space for a variety of items, ranging from tools and building materials to dirt bikes, construction equipment and camping gear.
Using every square inch of the bed, regardless of whether your truck has a short or long box bed, comes with its own challenges and choices. How do you organise all your gear? Are items easily accessible? And what are durable and weatherproof storage options to keep everything protected? Three options, including durable truck bed drawer systems, cross-bed toolboxes and bed racks, top shopping lists when it comes to optimising truck bed storage.
The Case for Drawer Systems
Drawer systems solve two common problems with truck storage – access and organisation. These tough bed storage solutions ensure tools, gear and equipment are neatly stored in bins, drawers and compartments, and accessed by sliding the drawer along the bed and tailgate. This simplifies finding the gear you need, ensures tools and fragile equipment are free from damage and protected, maximises the space deep inside the bed, and provides a professional appearance.
With configurable designs and sizes for a wide variety of items, and available as custom-fit options for mid and full-size trucks, choose a truck drawer system to also benefit from:
- Heavy-duty builds: Lightweight options are built from engineered polymers like high-density polyethylene (HDPE) moulded onto galvanised steel subframes and using sealed urethane wheel bearings (or reinforced extension rails), ensuring truck bed drawer systems provide the durability to withstand demanding conditions and extreme loads. Heavy-duty systems feature reinforced, non-slip top plates capable of 2000-pound payloads, while keeping the drawers below fully functional. For increased strength and even higher weight loadings, spend more on full aluminium or stainless steel drawers.
- Weather-resistance: Keep tools, electronics and fragile items dry and protected from moisture, dust, snow and rain. Drawers have sealed, weatherproof designs, enhanced by water-resistant coatings, rubber seals and closeout panels.
- Security: With tailgates locked, drawer systems remain inaccessible. This eliminates the risk of theft and tampering. Moreover, drawer systems can be configured with keyed locks and compression latches to provide additional peace of mind.
- Simplified installation: Full-length drawer systems are relatively easy to install, often with basic hand tools. With no drilling or bed base/rail modifications, they also ensure the cargo area remains fully intact if you decide to remove them. Consider the help of a friend to handle the weight (some systems weigh over 200 pounds) and allow for a couple of hours for a secure, well-installed assembly.
- Customisation: Truck bed drawers are designed to fit 5’6″ to 8′ beds in midsize and full-size pickups. Drawers are customizable in length, height and size, providing truck owners the storage capacity to meet their needs. Moreover, systems can be configured with one or more drawers, either in side-by-side or stackable units. There’s also more attention to internal organisation, with bins, dividers and foam inserts ensuring all contents are protected and neatly arranged.
Truckbed Toolboxes: Traditional Storage Alternative
Toolboxes are the traditional truck storage solution, often offered as a more affordable alternative to bed drawer systems. They come in different designs (cross-bed, side-mount, underbody, wheel-well), offering versatility with internal capacity, fitment and location. And they’re available in several materials, ranging from lightweight plastics and corrosion-resistant aluminium, to heavy-duty stainless steel.
Compared to the convenience, customization and enhanced security of truck bed drawers, toolboxes excel in portability, versatility with various sizes and designs, and lower purchase prices. Cross-bed types allow for storage underneath, while side-mount and wheel-well types only use a portion of the truck bed, again optimizing space for other items. This, however, is where the advantages end.
Larger and deeper toolboxes often require fumbling through tools or climbing onto the bed to access what you need. This wastes time and can potentially damage stored items. Drawer systems, by comparison, ensure that gear is accessible at ground level, reducing physical strain and the risk of possible injuries. Protection is another area where toolboxes falter. Visible to prying eyes, they’re easier targets for theft, despite the sturdy materials that go into their construction, or the advanced locking systems and tamper-proof hardware. And they come nowhere near dedicated drawer systems for overall weatherproofing. If price is the key concern, toolboxes are a reasonable choice, but are outpaced by custom-fit truck drawer systems for space, gear organization and security.
Carry Oversized Items With Bed Racks
The main role of truck bed racks is to maximise vertical space. These storage solutions consist of raised metal legs and crossbars, secured to the truck bed via bolts and clamps or directly welded on. They excel at carrying long and bulky items (think sporting goods like kayaks and bikes, and building essentials such as lumber and ladders) while keeping the truck bed free for other gear. Newer modular designs also provide the versatility for camping and work necessities, such as mounting points for work lights and canisters, or structural support for rooftop tents. All items are secured to sturdy tie-down points to ensure maximum safety.
Available in several heights (low, mid and full-height), high carrying capacities (some up to 2000 pounds), compatibility with tonneau covers, and customisation for a range of gear, bed racks are the way to go when using all the available space above the bed.
What to Choose?
Go with drawer systems for versatility, easy gear access, superior protection and unrivalled weatherproofing for gear you want hidden from prying eyes. Choose toolboxes for portability, varied designs and capacities for bulkier items. And bed racks when carrying extra-long items, while leaving the bed untouched. The good news is that full-sized pickup trucks can accommodate all three within a single bed, meaning more options to organise gear just the way you want.
