DIY Headache Rack

This is my first post to a forum so be nice lol I’ve always searched forums for every project I’ve tried on every car I’ve had and they’ve always helped so I’m hoping this can help someone as well. I had a hard time finding anything on making a back rack let alone making one for a 3rd gen. And then a tonneau on top of that was even more difficult. So, I’m very blessed to work in a machine shop where I machine, weld, polish and assemble medical tools. So that made this project waaaay easier, about 10 hours total or so. We had some scrap leftover from making new welding tables so I decided to give it a go.

2”x2” square tubing
1/4”x 2” flat stock
1”x1” square tubing
And 5/8” round stock for my handles



So I started with just a protractor and ruler behind my cab to get my angles and height and just made two sets of two cuts. First bar going up was at a 20 degree angle to match the cab, the second one was 40, then a straight cross bar set down 2” to allow for wood, ladder etc. I used the flat stock to sit flush on the front header bar of the bed and to make for a stable welding spot for my bars. After all the cuts I racked everything together and test fit. Got lucky and it was golden first try.


After that the longest stage was welding. Due to how much overkill the thickness of the tube was the welds needed a lot of heat so I made sure everything was super clamped down while getting the main welds done


I found some nice little weld on D-rings at menards for $4 too


Since the rack sat flush on the header bar all I had to do was find a way to mount it. I saw how the black horse roll bar mounted to the utility track and noticed the 1/4” clearance on each side of the header bar and knew that would work perfect. So I welded two mounting plates running back to the track and also made some t-nuts for the track to bolt them too.



I must admit I may have gotten very lucky how everything worked out first shot or it’s just because I measured 5 times before I ever did the next step but all in all it turned out aweeeesome. Let me know what you think and feel free to ask any questions and sorry if I didn’t explain in more detail.

 

Looks nice! At least you know the rack will survive a nuclear blast. .250 wall thickness, stout. It does look nice , I make shit like that as well and usually overkill.

 

Damn man you should fab yourself some sliders!

 

I have the tiger side steps already but I’m going to start on a front bull/push bar next week probably

 

And only add 300 pounds from what he is using

 

Curious, how did you mount it? The rack.

 

I like it

 

nice rack!

 

The three holes in the picture have three bolts into three t-nuts that I made and sit in the utility track behind it

 

very nice!

 

Looks great man!

I'm curious to what Truxedo tonneau cover you're running with that, and if the cover rails needed to be modified at all to work with your rack? I'm looking to weld up a bedrack/ladderrack hybrid in similar fashion, but my goal is to build it so that my tonneau cover (Truxedo Sentry) can roll past the back upright and stop at the front. Thanks for giving the dimensions too! that 20 degree angle seams to work perfectly with the truck.

 

It’s the truxport, and no modification needed at all, that’s what I love about it. And agreed, the 20 degrees worked out perfect with the cab angle! If your back upright is far enough back it shouldn’t be much of an issue, as u get farther forward you have a roll of cover to deal with too ya know?

 

Damn that's some heavy tube on that headache rack! Looks great. Nice work.


Now, am I seeing things, is the frame starting to sag between the box and cab from the weight?

 

lmao no, it’s only like...maybe 40 pounds

 

Looks very nice. But it doesn't seem it could be very strong without bracing on the side of the bed. At least a 1 foot 45 degree brace on each side. If it took a hard hit it would be into the cab of your truck. You do beautiful work!

 

The plate is 10 inches long and has three bolts on each side inside the utility track, maybe if I rolled it a couple times it’d bust ya but...

 

See it better, good idea!

 

this is great

 

you did a great job. I envy your skills!