so i was thinking of building a headache rack for my truck as i haul lots of lawnmowers, quads, bikes etc and have just about blown out my rear window a few times.. its gonna be more functionable than looks. it just needs to save my rear window.. now im sure most of you will say it looks ugly, but whatever.. here's the truck its going on



here's to styles i like either its this one

or its this one with the same sides as the one above..

it will be going black, i have a buttload of 1x2 but i highly doubt it will be strong enough as it will be used as a tie down point. any opinions??? haha let the flaming begin!!!

 

looks pretty cool man bit i have fallen in love with the one shane has

 

i just built this one...just to give you some ideas...and kinda ***** the truck out haha

 

here is the one i built

moar pix here

https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...he-rack-2.html

 

the ones in the pictures in my first post are not mine unfortunately. but those are the ideas im thinking about..

 

ya i was just looking at your thread not too long ago, just to get some ideas.. i figured since my truck is off the road and im not working i got plenty of time to build it.. haha

 

o..cool

 

by the way you did a really nice job on it!!! my skills arent up to that level yet!!! it will be my first big cutting and welding job for me... i dont weld too often but i'll give it a shot and see what happens, if i cant get a strong enough bead i will get my dad to lay some for me.. haha

 

hey same here....im only 16 and it was my first big project other than my t-case skid witch didnt involve much skill....it just takes practice....u can defiantly tell which welds i did first and which i did last...lol

 

haha ya.. mine will prolly end up like that too!! and im 21, i got a 30'x40' shop to play in so the space isnt a problem!!

 

I might as well throw a pic of mine up. I made it told my KC's for the most part, and I made places to put LED tail/brake/turn lights and clearance lights in the middle.

I dont have any up close shots of it though

 

haha nice truck.. very similiar to mine, blue interior, my came with bucket seats, electronic push button 4wd garbage and manual windows and locks but has power mirrors..same exterior color too!!

i was looking at my canopy yesterday and it has sliding side windows SWEET!!!! im thinking i should pull the bed off and clean the frame, smooth out the ripple on the side.. ummm.. still thinking i want to build a headache rack i just have a couple projects on the go right now and wouldnt mind finishing them up first, like a racing mower and the truck bed.

 

I bought one on craigslist for $60 and then modified it to my likings. However next summer, Id like to take it off, redo the brackets sandblast prime and paint the bar to itll never rust. I have some white tint base emron I am going to see if I cant get that tinted black or maybe dark grey and then top coat it with black... we'll see.

Like many of you, this was also my first 'real' metal type project. And im 28.

I used an old fashioned stick welder...

My biggest tip to the OP, MAKE sure you keep it square where it meets the bed. Or youll end up with something like this:





I screwed up the one side, and welded the bracket not square. that forces my other square bracket over a little bit. so now, the brackets overhang into the bed about 1/4 inch...



U gooped some texaco rust proofing grease on the bed rails, and used strips of rubber to keep the rails off the bed of my truck. the tape made it easy to keep the grease from getting all over the place.







I used black silicone caulk to fill in the gaps.









Now given I didnt make my bar, but it gives you ideas. Ill have to get pics of the finished product...

 

dude thats nice!!! thanks for the detailed pics!!! ya im sttill trying to decide how far done the bed rails i wanna go and since im pulling the bed off it'll probably be a little while before i build it but i'll keep that in mind.. right now i can only go about 3/4 the way down the bedrails because if you look in the first pic of my truck there is a little crinkle in it.. hmmm.... but that will be fixed thats why im pulling the bed. the headache will be used for a tie down also.

 

On mine, you cant see it, but underneath the bedrail, is a piece of 1 1/2in flat stock, 1/8 thick steel. I used this, plus washers, to 'tie' all the bolts together.

Next summer, I may decide to extend the support another foot or so.

My cousin, back in the early 1990's flipped his ranger, and the ONLY thing that saved his life was the roll bar. Will my bar is more for holding lights, since I have it, I want it to be beefy enough, that, god forbid I do flip the truck, that the bar will offer some added protection.

Today I also learned and EXTREMELY important lesson. One which I think I should share since I am sure this thread will be referenced in the future.

Today I drove 40 miles one way to work, via the highway. the farthest one way trip I made with my truck. about 5 minutes before my exit, i started to hear this tinging sound. ting ting ting... I realised, that the boltss holding the bar on the truck, had come loose from vibration.

What stopped me from immediately pulling over is that when I installed my bar, I put the bolts facing backwards... so the head of the bolt is facing the cab. by doing this, if the bolt did become lose there is absolutely no way, not a chance, that the bolt would fall out... When I installed my bar, I had to connect the bar to the brackets first, then slide it forward then bolt it down. the distance between the bar and the cab is about 2.5 inches. the bolt is 3 inches long. Because of that simple forsight, I was able to complete my trip to the job, barrow a couple wrenches from my boss to retighten the bolts.

the order of it all, is Bolt head> washer> bracket>bar>bracket>washer>lock washer>washer> nut

Because I am also running a tonno cover the cover rail, stopes the nut from falling off the other end, so no matter what happens, the bolt holding on the bar will not fall out... only way that bar could possibly come off, is if the bolts broke. but the nuts on the bolts are 3/4in stainless.

I have since added locktite to the bolts.