Flight Deck Shipped!

[Mac_2_nite]

Just got my notification that the Flight Deck has shipped! I ordered the full setup with panels and nuggets. I’m pretty excited for the FD, since I’ve done away with my carpet-covered plywood thing I had going.

My truck is my daily driver, and being able to put my surfboard, dog, or a load of house remodel trash in the back on any given day is important. I’m planning on making at least one drawer on the passenger side underneath the FD that will be easily removable and stowed on a dolly in the garage when necessary. The other side will be for oversized ‘stuff’ like my float tubes, chairs, firewood, etc.

How many other have ordered the FD and what are your plans with it?

[JKD]

I ordered one and am looking forward to having some tie down points across the bed and also storage underneath. I’d be interested to see what you have in mind for a drawer as I am interested in doing the same.

[Trudog]

I did as well when the sale was taken place, plan is to figure it out when it arrives? I have so many items in boxes still to install going to plan and do it all at once! For the most part will need to have the truck ready for SAR work, but be ready for work or play at a moments notice!

More to come!

[Mac_2_nite]

Finally received my FD last week. The UPS guy did not look happy dropping it off!

All the components were very well packed, took me quite a long time to unwrap everything and lay it all out to ensure I had all the pieces. All the hardware was separated and labeled, which was very nice. The emailed install instructions coordinated with the labels perfectly as well, which made organizing everything much easier.

That being said, the install took me quite a long time. If you don’t have a ratcheting end wrench, you’ll want to get one. I didn’t and was still able to get it installed, but it would have been much easier with a ratcheting wrench as opposed to my open/closed end wrench.

The instructions are easy to follow and the figures attached to each section of the directions are well put together. There are just a lot of hardware pieces that take a lot of time to get in there.Overall, the level of handiness is pretty low.

There was only one area that I had questions about, regarding the ‘hold-downs’ (part #200-483). The hold-downs are flat, and attach to the bed rail at the top with a t-nut and the ‘side rail’ (part #200-480) with two flat head bolts and nylock nuts at the bottom. The issue I see is that there is a couple inches between the bed track and the side rail placement. The hold-down isn’t angled to span the gap, and if the top is tightened along with the bottom, it puts stress on the side rail to the point where the side rail bows out between the beef bars.

I tried tightening the bottom bolts first, and then the top and vice versa. Both ways put, in my opinion, unnecessary stress on the side rail. If the hold-down was bent at an angle to span the gap, I think it would mitigate any stress points on the side rail.

I’ve left it relatively loose for now until I get some sort of response back. Otherwise, the initial install took me about an hour. I’d also recommend having a 3/32" allen bit in a socket wrench instead of using a tiny allen wrench to install those bolts, it would’ve been a PITA to use that to install the fake hinges.

I saw somewhere that GFC estimated it would take about 30 minutes to uninstall and reinstall once the FD is put in. I’m interested to see how they think that’s possible and if they could put out a video on their recommended removal and storage of the FD. I think it would still take me quite a bit more time to break it down, especially if it has to be taken all the way down, and I’m still not even sure how it would be stored when not in use.

Otherwise, it looks great in the truck and feels very sturdy when standing on it. I have a 2017 DCLB, and plan on some storage options below with partitions integrated into the beef bars with probably HDPE and some rivnuts. I’ll post some photos up when I get the chance to help anyone else waiting on making a decision, and I’m happy to answer any questions anyone has about it.

[GFC_Taylor]

Yo! Taylor here at Go Fast. I’m happy to help you out with that, but before I do I just wanted to say thanks for the feedback. Seriously, we’re super stoked to be fulfilling these Flight Deck orders and a lot of thought has gone into shipping, packaging, instructions, and all that.

Ok, I just went out and took a look at some installed Flight Deck here at the shop and spoke with our design team about what you’ve described. They’ve assured me this is exactly how they designed the hold-downs to be installed. There’s enough strength in those components to allow them to flex, and keeping some flex in them when installed helps maintain rigidity in the entire system. The one I looked at in the yard here at the factory looked like it was flexed the way you’ve described yours. I say tighten that thing down and let it ride!

If you have any other questions holler at me via support@gfcengineering.com.

[Kwood]

How about some pics of the new set-up?

[Mac_2_nite]

So after about a week with the FD in, it’s still in there. I tried adjusting it, but there is still a sizable gap in the front between the front bed wall and the FD.

I really wish the hold-downs were more adjustable front to back on the side tracks. Because they can only go centered in between the Beefs, I can’t get them to the extreme corners because of where my GFC is mounted. The mounts for the GFC are about a half inch off from where the FD lines up, or otherwise I’d put that hold-down behind the GFC bracket.

Conversely, on the rear the hold-downs do not line up either. And since they don’t, they’re in the way of my switches.

So, I have the gap in the front of the FD, the front two hold downs as far up as they can go, and the rear two hold-downs in the second to last position. It’s not gonna kill me, but I know the gap is there and the potential for a cleaner install was possible.

The FD is still staying in for now.

[Trudog]

Thanks for posting this. Mine is still in the box only because my truck has been in the shop for the past 3 weeks. Looking forward to installing the FD and making it work with everything else that is installed or will be?

[GFC_Taylor]

Hey bud, I’m going to look into this and get back to you. Thanks again for posting feedback!

[Mac_2_nite]

If the side rails had slots inside of just two holes for the hold-down to mount to, it would make adjustments easier. Not sure if it would compromise strength or cost too much to add all the extra cutting

[GFC-Stephan]

Thanks for the feedback and good questions guys, we appreciate it.

To get the front of the deck pushed up against the bulkhead, you will need to move the front most hold-downs one bay back, however you may want to consider the offset discussed below.

Positioning of the Flight Deck

The Tacoma flight deck is length driven based on 12" on center beef bar spacings, which allows us to develop accessories that function universally across all supported truck models. This design decision results in flight deck lengths that have less than full bed coverage. This does come with some user advantages, ability to reach around and grab something if top plates are covered with cargo, places to store boots and wet gear (at the rear), and facilitate stepping into the camper (if equipped). There have been some questions regarding positioning of the flight deck relating to the best practice offset from the cab-side face of the bed’s bulkhead. While the deck can physically be positioned to bear against the front bulkhead it is beneficial to maintain a 1”-1.5” offset. This is because the top of the bed overhangs the inside face of the bulkhead, preventing tying down cargo or a fridge vertically, or capturing the front crossbar below your load.

If you have a GFC platform currently installed, you have flexibility to contact the bulkhead or the recommended 1.5” clearance off the front bulkhead with the hold-downs installed in bay 2 and bay 4 . We are referring to a bay as the area between two cross bars. Long bed Tacoma models have 5 bays, short beds have 4 bays. If you would like to achieve a more custom fit, the hold down can be installed between the camper bracket and the Toyota T-track, or the rails can be drilled out. Hold-down’s are only designed to prevent shifting of the deck laterally and upward, and not meant to support the weight of the deck. The flight deck side rails must be firmly seated against the molded ledge in the bedside during installation.

Angled/Bent Hold-Down Bracket

The reason GFC Engineering designed the hold-down bracket to bend away from the deck is simply to hold the flight deck more securely – by having the brackets inclined, driving forces are split into two directions with a horizontal and vertical component. Considering there is a bracket with an equal yet opposite angle on the other side, the forces balance out and the deck stays put. If the hold-down’s were perfectly vertical they would have to be much thicker and therefore stiffer to resist bending like a parallelogram and allowing the deck to shift. Also, by forcing the hold-down’s to bend rather than manufacturing the parts with two integrated bends accommodating the angle, the connection becomes pretensioned preventing and nearly minimizing deflection and resultant shifting of the deck.

Cheers,

Stephan

[Mac_2_nite]

Wow, thanks @GFC-Stephan, that’s really neat.

Ok so that all makes sense to me now. I may or may not try to close the gap in front to make a track nugget flush with the overhang after your expert instruction.

As far as the hold-downs, I was just hoping they’d line up nicely with the GFC brackets because that would look cleanest. I could possibly drill the side rails out in the future, if I really get quarantine-bored. But they’re doing their job where they are now, and with the spare on top the chatter is gone from the side rails in the back.

As far as the angled hold downs, I totally get it now after tightening the lower portion to the side rail before fighting with the top to get it attached to the bed rail. After I sat on the FD and tightened both sides to the rails, I could feel the deck “center” itself between the rails.

All in all, I’m glad I pulled the trigger on the FD. It’s much nicer than my plywood/carpet gig I had before, and I can’t wait to get my drawer box in and integrate it with the FD.

[JKD]

Where are the flight deck pics?!? I know some of you already have them, how are you using them? PICS!!!

[Trudog]

[Album] Kittrell

This may help, still playing with it, waiting on some hardware to mount other items.

[CanadianZR2.0]

I’m just waiting for GFC to release the FD for the Colorado. I’m also curious how they choose to mount the FD in the Colorado as we don’t have bed tracks in our beds.

[Trudog]

I love the versatility of it in 20 min I could have the whole bed back for hauling whatever if needed. Its strong, compliant so far is you will need to keep the tracks clean of debris for the T-nuts to work and the hole for them is small so be selective on the tie downs used.

[Peakbone]

Team Flight Deck - how about noise? When flying down the gravel do you get any rattle with those panels?

I just picked colors and added a partial deck…

#1238

[bpj13]

GFC_Taylor

Any news on the pending Tundra Flight Deck? The Decked in the bed doesn’t cut it anymore. Those of us with Tundra’s are looking forward to Flight Deck.

[Cory]

I’m interested in seeing if and how folks are integrating a drawer box setup with their FD. Here’s a pic of my initial setup of the FD

[owennoll]

Also curious about whether or not this is something that would ever be produced for the f150. Feels like they have been out for a while, but still just for Tacoma’s