Another Procrastination Completed.

Finally got my lazy ass out to my garage and got this painted and installed. It's an idea I'd had probably years ago, finally have the space and equipment to build my own stuff, and still don't...

This is a folding rack for my bed, which accompanies the headache rack I built and installed last year. I actually built both of these frames at the same time, but due to some issues with the paint I bought, weather and my almost super human ability to make excuses, the folding/rear rack leaned up in my garage for the better part of a year.




My idea was to have a rack like you see on most work trucks, for putting longer material over the top of your cab and not have it 10 feet above the hood. I wanted to make something which could be removed or collapsed easily and this was my first design that I built and with some tweaking it works pretty well. The pins are fairly snug after painting to put in and take out, but they will break in over time.




The cross bolts in the bottom, let the frame pivot and the upper pins... Well... Pin it in place. It can be pinned upright or laying down, so it doesn't bounce or slam on rough roads when not up. As I said, this is my first design idea for this, after I built it I found ways I would/could improve it later. I built the base brackets and used the factory Torx head bolts on the inside. The outside bolts had to be swapped for longer ones so I could still have the factory tie-down D-rings.



Whole frame is 2" HSS with standard wall thickness (measurement escapes me). The frame weighs about 40-50lbs?

I didn't take a side profile shot, (didn't think of it till after) also for some reason in the pic the rack looks crooked to the truck but I promise its square and straight, I think it's just the perspective/angle.


If you are interested in the headache rack build, I made a previous post about that, but I dont know how to link threads so just check my profile post history I guess?

Though you guys/gals might enjoy it!

I've got more ideas than I have ambition.

 

Not sure if you took inspiration from another set up, but that's a great design. Might be marketable to the right folks in the construction business FWIW

 

Good work

So, you found out that if you wait around long enough, the job still won’t get done.
It’s ok, I am good at waiting.

 

Thanks! I just thought this up. I kind of assume something out there like this already exists? But I'm not sure. I don't recall seeing it myself, but I didn't really look hard haha. Just a thing I wanted to build.

 

I've tried nothing and I'm all out of ideas!

 

Looks great and quite functional when you have to haul long material. Good job!

 

Looks awesome. Really cool idea! I think my next step would be some way to give a flat deck when it's folded down.

 

That's pretty slick, friend. I bet you could sell weld it yourself kits!

 

Very clever and well executed. Perfect for ladders, kayaks, lumber...can't believe this hasn't been done before.

 

Since posting this, I've been googling and looking around online and haven't found anything like this and to be honest, I'm surprised! I have found lots of removable and modular/easy to assemble racking, but nothing that folds or collapses. Might have to look into some product development...

 

I'm sure collapse in case of an accident is the main reason no one has done it. If you run into someone that pin will shear and everything will collapse. Angle bracing would fix this but would complicate and expensivate things.