Truck Rack

Truck Rack

Here is a Truck Rack that I made for someone. He bought a 2nd hand F-150 and wanted a rack for it. He had seen the one I made for my truck which is removable so that I could tow my 5th wheel and wanted one like it. The only modification to the bed are 4 holes drilled on the inside of the bed where the bed stakes are. The metal is 1" x 2" x 14 gauge steel. The top front to back connectors and uprights are connected with 3/8" x 16 hex bolts, washers, lock washers and nylon nuts. I use a MIG welder.

	This is the rack assembled and unpainted. It is comprised of 3 elements, the 4 corner upright legs, the 2 side to side cross pieces and the 2 front to back connectors. There are also attachment hooks for straps on the lower part of the legs As you can see the legs are contoured to follow the line of the cab of the 150. A nut is welded to the bottom part of the leg that goes in the bed stake holder so that it can be securely fastened. The side to side cross pieces are welded to the legs.

	Here are the 4 legs welded up, waiting to be welded to the cross pieces, the hooks added and then painted.

	This is the end detail of the connectors. A 3/8" bolt has been welded thru a hole in a 2" section of angle iron. The angle iron is then welded to the end of the 1"x 2" connector. A hole will be drilled in the cross pieces so that the bolt can pass thru to secure the connectors to the cross piece at each end.

	Here is the setup for welding the cross pieces to the legs. It was clamped down to my work table so that the heat of the welds would not make it move out of square.

	This explains how the connectors attach to the cross pieces. The bolt is welded to the end of the connectors and it slips thru the hole drilled in the cross piece while the angle iron slips on top of the cross piece. The bolt is then secured with a washer, lock washer and a nylon nut so that it will not vibrate loose.

	The hook for tying down loads, big honking hook that will not deform. They were formed on my dedicated bar bender

	Here is how the legs are attached to the bed. I drilled a clearance hole thru were the stake goes and then used a fender washer, lock washer and 3/8" bolt to bolt into the nut that had been welded to the leg.

	The rack painted and installed.

	Ready to load up and ride off into the sunset. Yeeee Haw!

I used a little less than 3 lengths of tubing even though it was a short bed. It took me about 10 hrs to make. All the outside welds were ground smooth which added time to the job. A lot of the time was spent on the legs, cutting the angles and setting up a jig to hold the angles in place when I was welding them. It took me about 15 minutes to install. It really looks great. If you want one give me a shout. Take care


All Images, Designs, and Works of Art are copyrighted by Dougherty Designs 2005