Titan Contractors Ladder Rack

I am going to be operating a painting business this summer and was in need of a way to carry multiple ladders (extension and step). After tons of thinking, researching and shopping I decided a headache rack wasn't going to cut it so I started looking at options for a full over-cab ladder rack. I thought this was appropriate as I found information on ladder racks somewhat limited on this site.

At first, a friend and I were going to build one, then I found this one on Amazon for 259 + 100 to ship.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HMT39G/ref=oh_o01_s00_i00_details

I wasn't sure if it would work but it looked pretty adjustable and decided to take the chance. After receiving and assembling, there is plenty of room to adjust both the distance between the uprights front to back, and side to side. This was the biggest concern I had since my truck is a short bed.

I can't confirm how well it fastens to the bed at the moment , I had it set on the truck to check fitment but took it off to give me time to figure out how to mount it securely to the bed. In the picture you can see how they intend for you to mount, but with our bed rails it is kind of sketchy so I am trying to find the best way. I'm sure with enough thinking and trial and error I will find something that works better and will update this post once I do. At worst case I will drill holes on the bed rail but I am determined to find a way that I don't have to do that.

The rack itself is great, rated for 800 pounds and feels very solid. It is powder-coated flat black and looks great! As I mentioned it is very adjustable and would definitely fit access cabs and double cab long beds. (assuming I can find a safe and easy way to fasten it.) The price was great and assembly took about 2 hours. The hardest part about the assembly was figuring out which bolts went where because they weren't labeled, but if you have any common sense you wouldn't have any problems.

Here are is what it looks like on the truck.


And this is their intended method to fasten it, The J-hook goes under the rail and tightens down, would work better in other applications but I am not confident with it on our bed rails. One idea I had was to bend it in more, cut the flat part off the J-hook and then dril a hole up through the bed rail for the Hook to sit in. *Forgot to mention, there is 2 j-hooks for each bracket, you can see the sleeve for the second one in the picture, I took this bracket off the rack so I could test mounting methods without putting the rack on the truck every time.


If anyone has other suggestions for mounting I'd love to hear them!

 

Drill some holes through the feet , centred on the bedrail and use some T nuts in the slots to fasten them .

This is how my headache rack is secured .

 

like this? and the t-nut goes inside the track?

if this is the case, will there be enough steel still there if i drill lower than where the holes are?

 

Yes , like that .

The T-nut goes in the track , from your pics you may need to weld a plate on the face to increase the amount of metal on the foot to accept the bolt .

 

Here is a good thread on bed rail hardware

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2186291

 

cool! that is the rack I planned on getting for my boat... looks good!

 

It looks like your truck is soon to be many different colors. Painting is a messy business.

 

I'm hoping i can contain the damage to the bed, I know it's a messy business but figure I should be able to keep it to a minimal, hopefully it doesn't get out of control.