What is the longest thing you carried without towing?

I'm needing to carry siding. Carried some couple weeks ago. Put down tailgate, let it hang out back.

Siding box has to be 12 feet long min. My bed is six feet. Tailgate down then it's about 8 feet? Strapped couple 2x4's to the box so it wouldn't bend. Let it hang out back. Put red flags on end of box. Took slow roads.

It worked once. Need to do it again and feeling a little more risk adverse.

Should I not be doing this? Any thoughts, crtiques, warnings, suggestions?

 

Get a bed rack. Quick, easy, and cheap. Thule makes a good one

 

I have carried 16 foot steel in mine. Just open the back widow, put an old towel on the dash and bottom of window frame. Red flag on the back of the steel.

It always struck me as wired that I could carry longer steel with my Tacoma than I could with the Tundra.

 

http://www.softopper.com/accessories-parts/truck-racks/darby-hitch-rack

Not saying you need one of these. I think you should do it. If it worked out the first time.

 

I use to load my truck with 150ft x 12 foot carpet rolls all the time. It used to be my work truck. Then I got a lumber rack. Bent a couple of tailgates but still worked out.

 

20' on my cap rack

 

^^^^This. Exactly how I've carried 12' pieces of casing for home improvement projects. Works great

 

Carried some 16 foot 2x8's a couple of months ago.

You can use the slider as well which might work better where you're a double cab..mine is a single cab 6 foot bed.

I brought a couple of 25 pound bags of cat litter and some 20 pound weights. Put the lumber in touching the bottom of the bed right at the back, placed the weights and then bags on the top..strapped it down using the D-rings near the tailgate..go.

 

I recently brought home a whole stick of 3x1.5 tubing on the tailgate with a flag. 24 foot of steel in my DCSB looked pretty funny and the tailgate wasn't very happy with me..

 

weird

That method is great till you have to hammer on the brakes

 

Actual LOL

The towels are a nice touch. They not only protect the surfaces, but they also provide a nice low friction surface to better launch the steel deeper into the car in front.

 

I shouldn't, but I can't help it ...

Ya'll are making me real glad I have my flatbed trailer on hand for when this kind of job comes up.

Seriously OP, the way you did it before should work without major modifications/additional accessories added to your truck. I liked the idea of weight on the front top (against the cab end) to hold them down. You could duplicate the concept with a box or even a cooler if it brings the height up slightly above level with the bed rails, then run a cargo strap between bed cleats over the box/cooler/"space filler" (what we call shoring in the logistics trans business). And of course another cargo strap across between the D-rings at the rear of the bed. Red-flag on the tail and take it slow and easy.

Additionally, once you have the front end held down, you could duplicate a "chain-gate" or "chain-bridle" off of the rear bed D-rings with cargo straps around the rear end of the package to hold everything snug forward and down in the bed. Page 9, fig 10 of this document.

 

2 of these 12 footers...........like this in the reg cab......



.....and like this in the access cab................



Still got the bed racks but the hitch thing is so much easier for close trips not requiring use of the bed for other stuff............

 

Thank you very very much.

I looked at the diagram in the document. Yet, I'm having trouble visualizing this paragraph.

Would you mind, please, elaborating? I've read it a half dozen times but maybe can't get it. Particularly the "box/cooler/space filler" terminology.

By elevating the load, is it the elevation that allows the straps to exert a downward pressure on the load??

 

That is awesome! Thanks! The hitch thingy is perfect! ... Unfortunately I was too shortsighted and didn't get a hitch. Next truck will have a 6 cyl and the towing package. Alas ... until then.

 

Done this with lots of things, including siding, 2x4s, etc. I'll slide them as far into the cab as I can through the sliding back window, and cushion them on the dash, on the sliding window's sill, and tie them down in the back, around the bumper. Usually my boss will be with me, so I make him hold everything steady as I drive.
I also had a full size basketball hoop in the truck once. Homeowner had been asking us to keep an eye out for one, so that he could use it in staging the house to sell it. On the way to the jobsite one day, I spotted one. Since we were only like two blocks away from the jobsite, I put it in the back of the truck- it was about as long as the whole truck- and sat in the back with it, holding it up from dragging on the ground while my boss drove my truck, just to get to the job site.
I have a pic of that one somewhere, I've gotta find it.

 

yes ...
Siding goes center of bed slid all the way forward against the front.

Measure the distance from top of siding bundle to top of bed side.
Find something solid, that is slightly taller than that distance. Place that solid object, we use blocks of wood or stacks of wooden pallets, then move side rails cleats forward to a position centered on the object and tighten a strap between the cleats applying downward force on the object. This is restraining the front of bundle down to the bed.

Next simply run a strap over the bundle from side to side between the D-rings at the back off bed. The load is now vertically restrained. Note: if you want to get some lateral restraint, wrap the middle strap(between the D-rings) once all the way around the bundle before tightening it up between the rings.

Forward restraint is not a concern because the bundle is against the front of the bed. For aft restraint a simple strap around the end between the D-rings will work, simple way to duplicate the bridle effect is to use two straps, 1 from the right D-ring over the top, down across the end of the bundle, then under and back to left D-ring. Do the same thing in the opposite direction left to right; effectively making an "X" between the D-rings around the end of the bundle.

Lot of words, but hopefully you get the idea. Final clarification on the filler thing: if you had D-rings in the front floor of your bed, it wouldn't be needed. You're just looking to hold the bundle down to the floor at the front of the bed. The only way to do that with the available side rail cleats, is to fill the space between the top of the bundle and height of the cleats. Then when tighten a strap between the cleats over the filler object, downward force is transfered to the top of the bundle effectively holding it down to the bed floor.

Cool?

 

Both of my trucks are 4 cyl and had no towing package. Plenty of people sell their factory hitches in the FS section. They just bolt up to frame and bumper mounts. Mine didn't come with one but I scored one cheap someone had taken off another 4 cyl truck. It is actually 3 pieces that bolt in. The side plates also are rear bumper mounts. The ones off 6 cyl trucks are 1 piece welded and bolt into place using the original bumper mounts. IIRC, the 6 cyl hitches are rated 5 or 6000 lbs and 4cyl 3 piece ones are only up to 3500 or 4000 lbs. Either way they will handle kayaks, lol............Oh, I did have an aftermarket one once and it hung down in view and did not like it. The oem ones are tucked better where all you see is receiver and chain hanger loop.

 

I bought my hitch at U-Haul for about $80 (5 yrs almost, don't remember exactly); my son and I installed it in about an hour. It's not hard, but a second set of hands is pretty necessary. I think it would be hard to do solo, not impossible, just awkward and maybe a little dangerous. Not kill yourself dangerous, but if you drop that hitch on you, it's gonna leave a mark.

 

I haul my d . . . errrr, nevermind.