I wish I had more tie down points than the ones in the four corners, and I think this truck is pre-boxlink so doesn't have those holes from the factory.

I'm looking into mounting L-track. Does anyone have experience with doing this? Good or bad idea?

TIA

Did you look at Z trak?

I have now. I guess I'm wondering why they're so expensive. Seems like standard E-track would work just as well, and be much cheaper?

BQAg09 said:

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I wish I had more tie down points than the ones in the four corners, and I think this truck is pre-boxlink so doesn't have those holes from the factory.

I'm looking into mounting L-track. Does anyone have experience with doing this? Good or bad idea?

TIA

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EDIT - I see now you don't have the Boxlink holes in your 2009...

I bought four of these for my 2025 F150.
Fit perfectly in the predrilled holes in the side of the bed. Used them to mount the Unistrut below.
I waited - they went on sale - think I paid $100 for all 4?..

Upgraded Boxlink Plate - Ford F150

For the "track" used the thin uni-strut from Home Depot. Cut to length.

Home Depot - UniStrut

I'll try and get some pics on Monday - It's worked pretty good for me...

Yeah this is all I have from the factory. I think it it's for whatever CMS they had before box-link. I've googled a little bit, but can't really find the OEM stuff. The holes aren't threaded, which apparently is by design.

I'm not hauling bikes or ATV's or anything. Mainly my wife uses it to haul her party backdrop setups around. She uses a cargo net to hold her balloons down, and it's a PITA with just 4 corner tie downs.

I was hoping to put some L-track just below the tops of the bed rails, across the tailgate (or maybe on the floor), and across my toolbox. However, now I'm torn between different track types.

I'm also curious if matters at all between track material types. The L-track I've seen is aluminum vs galvanized steel for X/E track. My understanding is aluminum + steel corrodes over time. This truck is from before Ford switched to aluminum, so maybe the X/E will be a better long term solution?

I'd go with whichever track provides the suitable attachments you're after. I think the most critical thing is the surface you're securing it to. Personally, I would only mount any tracks to which you have access to from the backside. I presume this would mean only having track on the floor of your bed

Here's what I did w the box link brackets and some thin unistrut. Really solid setup and allows me to tie off along the unistrut. A lot cheaper than the packaged channel setups.

That looks awesome.