Ladder racks for trucks are great accessories to have for your work truck, but they also have various other uses for carrying cargo beyond just work.
Ladder racks make it easier and more convenient to carry heavy equipment in your truck before you head to the job site or the campground for the weekend.
You can carry ladders on them, of course, but you can also use them for things like canoes and camping gear.
Who Needs a Ladder Rack?
Ladder racks mainly function as work truck accessories, but as mentioned above, they can also function for various other things. However, if you’ve ever had to transport a ladder, you know how difficult it can be to stow them safely in your truck bed.
Ladders are awkward pieces of equipment, and ladder racks for pickup trucks can help you avoid accidents, protect your ladder, and avoid legal problems through unsafe transport.
When you place large items on the ladder rack, you leave more room in your truck bed for smaller items, which allows for better organization and protection of these items.
Types of Ladder Racks
There are some different types of ladder racks, including over-cab, over-bed, and side-mount styles. The over-bed type is a rack system that is installed right over your truck bed. The main benefit of this type is that it makes it more convenient to carry larger items on the rack while keeping your truck bed free for smaller items.
The over-cab style sits on the cab roof so that you can carry equipment and cargo that measures the length of your truck.
Most of these types need to be permanently fixed to your truck, so that makes them more difficult to adjust and they are also somewhat limited in their use. Some over-cab styles come with adjustable or removable extensions that make things easier.
Side mount racks install onto the side of your truck and are ideal for carrying long, thin items like rolls of carpet or ladders. These can only carry up to 500 pounds depending on the rack and your vehicle.
H&H Truck Accessories carries a wide variety of top brands of ladder racks for sale. Let’s take a look at a few.
TrailFX
TrailFX builds the widest range of racks we stock, from a plain pair of bed-rail uprights up to a full contractor rack. The TrailFX Contractor Rack is the one most work trucks end up with — powder-coated black steel, fully adjustable, and rated to carry 1,500 pounds.
There are versions built for an open bed, versions that clear a camper shell, and versions that bolt to the top of a service body. If you only need to carry a ladder now and then, the universal bed-rail uprights adjust from 24 to 35 inches wide and handle 250 pounds.
WEATHER GUARD
WEATHER GUARD is the name you see on job sites, and the racks are built to match. The WEEKENDER horizontal ladder racks mount in the bed and carry up to 250 pounds of ladders, lumber, pipe or conduit. There is a crew-cab length and a shorter rear-of-bed version.
If you run a work van instead of a pickup, WEATHER GUARD also makes the EZGLIDE2 drop-down racks, which rotate the ladder down alongside the van so you are never lifting it overhead, and a sliding roof rack that takes step, extension or multi-position ladders up to 8 feet.
Westin
Westin designs a variety of aftermarket automotive accessories, and it is also the parent company of popular brands like Brute, Superwinch, and FEY.
The Westin HDX Ladder Rack is a commercial-grade bed upright, sold either as a single or as a matched pair, in black or white, with a 30-inch support strap and a three-year warranty. Westin also makes the Truck-Pal tailgate ladder, which drops out of the tailgate to get you into the bed safely and folds away flat when you are done.
BackRack
If you already run a BackRack headache rack, you are most of the way to a ladder rack. Adding a BackRack rear bar gives you a second anchor point at the back of the bed, so a ladder or a bundle of pipe rides level over the full length of the truck instead of hanging off the cab end.
The rear bar mounts into the factory stake pockets and lifts out in a minute when you want the bed back. It carries the same powder-coat finish and limited lifetime warranty as the rest of the system.
For a wide variety of ladder racks from these top brands and more, visit our online shopping portal or go to your local H&H Truck Accessories store for plenty of options and installation services.
