BillieBars Removal with Small Molle Panel left in Place

The original BillieBars were made for a 3rd Gen Tacoma that had the OEM hard trifold (5" brackets and small molle panels featured here). This type of set up provides a ton of security, turning your truck bed into a lockable trunk.

The reality is that if you have this setup, you're going to eventually need to remove the crossbars, to get full bed access.

We designed the geometry of the brackets so that when then crossbars are removed, you can fold the tonneau cover back, without interference. They're just wide enough, but not so wide that you're clipping mailboxes. 

In essence, you can convert your truck back into the truck you bought, in a matter of minutes. A lot of bed racks on the market don't provide this level of flexibility. 

We utilize T40 security bolts to secure the crossbars to the patent pending BillieBars "cradle", where the crossbars sit (it's not a common bit, providing an added level of security). We include a T40 hand tool with every order, but if you plan to remove the crossbars on the regular, we'd recommend buying one of our T40 bits for either an impact driver, or a socket. 

You can see watching the video that it's inventor, Bill, easily and efficiently removes the rear crossbar with the impact driver bit. You can also see that he leaves the crossbar nearest the cab on. If you're going to run the molle panels, our recommendation is to always leave at least one crossbar on, which provides rigidity to the system. 

The 5" BillieBars are also compatible with roll up tonneau covers (we'd recommend our 8" BillieBars for this, which provides more clearance to roll the tonneau cover under the crossbars), many other trifolds, and some retractable tonneau covers. You also don't need to run a tonneau cover with this system. 

If you're in the market for a bed rack, and are looking for a tonneau cover as well, we always recommend first finding a tonneau cover that fits your needs and budget, and then matching it with the corresponding BillieBars Bed Rack. We've got a growing library of tonneau covers we're compatible with, which you can find in our tonneau cover fitment guide. 

We're also available for insight and advice if you're confused on fitment with the tonneau cover you currently have, or are considering - just drop us a line at [email protected] or give us a call at 1-800-963-6849.