DIY Ghetto Contractor/Ladder/Roof/Overlanding/Kayak rack for 3rd gen bed

I managed to make some modifications to mount the $300 Harbor Freight steel truck rack (Haul Master - 800 lb. Capacity Full Size Truck Rack) to my 3rd gen 6' bed, access cab.

Hadn't seen any other risk-takers trying this - so sharing....

For those that know, the 3rd gen beds are challenging to mount these types of racks to - with the lack of steel or conventional mounting points. I found one mfr that makes a kit to mount their racks to the 3rd gen bed, but it wasn't for me ($$$).

It's a hack job for sure, and probably will provide me some entertainment later on but I've put about 250 miles on it so far, including carrying a 14' kayak, hauling a ATV in the bed, camping out on the roof (1 person, stationary, no jumping jacks), and moderate off-road desert driving.

The (4) vertical bars had to be cut down and re-drilled, and the horizontal bars had to be cut shorter in 2 places. I used some lengths of angle-iron and t-nuts/bolts to mount to bed rails. I imagine you could play with this to make it exactly the height and length above your cab and sticking out in front above your cab as you desire.

Completed, assembled, and installed with 1 person only. Tools needed: angle grinder + cutoff wheel, drill bits and step drill bits (to enlarge holes), t-nuts (Amazon), angle iron (retail hardware store). Nothing in the bed is square, everything is curved, so measure cut and drill as you go

Seems like the obvious point of failure is the mounting to the bed rails. I used the highest grade bolts possible, but seems like that's where the weak point is.

Just sharing in case inspires others. Learn from my stupidity or success depending on how you look at it.

PS, height-wise - this still fits under my garage door by 6" or less, and width-wise it fits my KingQuad ATV driven into the bed (after rear upper horizontal cross-bar removed) by about 2" or less. MPG change? Decreased by 2 MPG on highway. Roof rack noise? Minimal, but you can notice the faint howl above 45 MPH.

 

Nice ingenuity

 

Seem pretty stable taking corners with load on top?

 

Nice rack, and slick mods to make it fit. On my headache rack, I had the welder weld extender plates on the outside (facing inside the bed) of the bed mount angles. I added aluminum angles to the insides to snug the fit. Three bolts go through the extenders directly into HD spring nuts in the bed rails with a slight purposeful tension, and the last bolts are eye bolts. Only the first spring nuts fit into the front bed rail detents. The last pair of spring nuts each side are not 'captured' by detents but the rack is secure.

I noticed slightly lower top mpg as well, maybe 1/2 mpg. I'm convinced it's due to the added disruption to the airflow.

 

I have yet to do much testing with heavy load on top while driving. I think you're right, probably not too stable but I will push it and let you know what breaks soon I want to be able to use it for carrying lumber, kayaks, and miscellaneous gear and rooftop cargo bags, and also maybe just a platform for sitting and eating dinner or morning coffee. I might also try to make some folding hammock supports that stick out since I hammock camp.

 

How has this held up? My brother in law put this on his Chevy and I’ve been impressed.

 

Outstanding. I have the newer aluminum Harbor Freight rack sitting in the garage in wait. I need to make some custom brackets to be able to mount it with the folding tonneau rails in place.

 

I hadn’t seen the alum one. Very cool. I’m wondering if there is a way for me to use this rack with something like the max modular set up- https://www.max-modular.com/shop-max-modular/tonneau-brackets-bakflip - making it removable and able to keep my tonneau on.

I’ll let you know if I figure something out.

 

Any issues? I've been kicking this around for awhile but want to know if those leg widths move out enough to mount it just outside a shell or tonneau. I can weld new plates to the feet and fold it into the bed easy enough, just not able to bend anything to well.

 

I've had this kind of rack (Kargo Master) on my 2000 Ford Ranger since it was new. When I got my new Tacoma, I thought about installing the same. But this wouldn't work, given how the Tacoma bed is designed, and the camper shell. So I settled for a Prinsu rack instead. Picture of both trucks side by side:

 

How did this work out??

 

Well, I never got around to trying it. I ended up going from the Lomax to a retrax pro XR and the Yakima rack that fits the side rails. I need the flexibility of the rails, rack, roll-up tonneau, etc. ...and I've worked a ton of overtime since relocating this past June so it was less of a stretch moneywise.