Pickup beds are great. They have one drawback: they are long. And when you need to reach something right at the front, you are in for a climb. That is why several makers offer bed slides. To strap gear down, most slides have airline rails along the sides. Front Runner has now brought out ones that work like a roof rack instead.
The idea behind it is simple. The slide runs on nylon rollers with sealed bearings and pulls out with one hand, even with a real load on top. So you no longer have to climb in at the back to reach the box sitting right against the cab. Pulled all the way out, the slide locks mechanically, so nothing can roll back at you.
Front Runner has not skimped on the load rating. Pulled out you can pile on up to 350 kg, closed up to 500 kg, spread evenly for the best result of course. The frame is high-strength steel, with heat-treated aluminium slats and anodised guide rails. That means the slide can sit under a hardtop and stay outside. Rain and dirt do not bother it.
The slide locks in three positions: fully open, fully closed and once in between. That is handy above all when you are parked on a slope and do not want half your load coming at you.
The real trick: a roof rack you can pull out
And this part is genuinely interesting. A bed slide is normally just a flat plate, with a couple of airline rails on the outside if you are lucky. So you are fairly limited in how you can tie your load down. On this slide the whole surface is built like a roof rack. That means you spread your kit out however you like and bolt it down exactly where you need it.
The slide uses the same T-slot system as the Front Runner roof racks. So if you already run Front Runner gear and the matching mounts, they fit straight onto the slide.
Sizes and dimensions of the Front Runner bed slide
The bed slide comes in three sizes, for closed and open pickup beds and for vans too:
- small (SSBS015): usable load area 1200 × 819 mm, platform 85 mm above the bed floor, extends 832 mm (70%)
- medium (SSBS017): usable load area 1402 × 893 mm, platform 85 mm above the bed floor, extends 1070 mm (73%)
- large (SSBS019): coming over the summer, dimensions to follow
Small and medium are already available online at Dometic and from Front Runner dealers. The large version follows in the summer.