My favorite neighbor in my cul de sac has given me firewood, fresh trout, smoked salmon, garden fresh tomatoes, grapes, and toys for my son. Fortunately, that same neighbor owns three different Ford trucks which makes reciprocating on his kind gestures pretty easy. Last year I licked an Edelbrock carburetor problem he was having on his 1977 F250 4x4 wood truck. I felt it was time to do something else for him since he's been such a great neighbor. Recently when helping him add stakes and plywood to his truck bed, I noticed he had some pretty sad looking tie downs welded above the rear wheel wells. As a quick favor I ordered 2 pairs of
AnchorTrax from Mr. Gasket and walked across the street for a quick surprise installation.
Here's a shot of one pair of AnchorTrax. They mount to the top of the bed rail using a backing plate. The tie downs can be positioned in various locations along the track. I installed two pairs.
This is my neighbor's truck, the subject vehicle. You can tell this is the real deal. A Northern Nevada 4x4 that really gets its share of duty.
Two pairs of AnchorTrax offer good versatility and four tie down points.
Here's a before shot of the truck bed.
This was one of the do-it-yourself tie downs that the previous owner installed. Not exactly a pro job.
Each tie down is spring loaded.
I measured 9" from the front and the rear of the bed to locate all four AnchorTrax units.
After marking holes using the track itself as a template, I drilled two 9/32" holes for each AnchorTrax. A total of eight holes.
Once the holes were drilled, a hex head bolt and nylock nut were used to secure the track to the backing plate.
The tie downs lock into position.
Here's a shot of one installed unit.
And another up front on the passenger side.
I completed installing all four in about 20 minutes, providing my neighbor with flexible tie down points in all four corners of his truck bed.
For more information on AnchorTrax see the Mr. Gasket website
