Dodge Ram bed rack

[ttengineer]

i think i'm just gonna have to have one custom made the way I want, for my rambox truck. Want a higher load capacity for a RTT, and 4 people, and i'm not exactly a lightweight. The whole family together is about 650lbs, plus the weight of the RTT, kinda need to have a bare minimum load rating of 1000lbs. It will likely have to bolt to the bed floor, and I think if I have a 'foot' of sorts put on the mounting points on the bed, I shouldn't be a problem to put 1000+lbs on top spread out between 4 'feet'.

This is the moment that I wish that I had continued down the path of being a mech. engineer instead of leaving to paint guns. I could design my own rack and just take it to someone to make, or better yet, make it myself.

Branden

You would only need a static load rating of 1000 lbs. It's important to distinguish that metric from an active or Live load. Your live load would only need to be a quarter of that which would cover the RTT and any accessories mounted to the rack during transport off-road.

Also remember that depending on the RTT you may be able save some static load rating if your tent unfolds and has a ladder on the ground giving a little extra support.

 

[The_B.O.W.]

My advice is to find a local fabricator to build you one. It's easy to do if you have a tube bender and some time.

I designed and built this one on my old tacoma (back before Allpro came out with theirs..):

And designed this one for my old dodge truck (but ended up going with a utility bed):

Also took that bed rack design, modified it and updated it for our Sema build last year:

Maybe that will give you some ideas. Can go from mild to wild on a bed rack!

Also, not sure where you're at in Oklahoma, but we're just over in northwest Arkansas if you can't find a local shop to build you one.

Hi Adventr, sorry to thread jack the post about bed racks, but I was curious how you were able to get such good CAD models of the vehicles you were designing products for. Is this something you 3D scanned or had given to you by the manufacturer? Did you model it all the old fashioned way with a tape measure and calipers?

Thanks

 

[Desmo_Pilot]

I found a rack over at US Rack that works with the Ram Boxes. Unfortunately it only holds 150lbs.

I wonder what the static load rating is though.


usrack.com/rambox_rack.php

I had a terrible experience with this rack. Fitment wasn't good, you practically have to disassemble it to adjust the height and you do have to disassemble to remove it. The concept is great, but execution didn't come close to my needs. I returned it.
I am now going to have a rack built.

 

[Benjai]

I cant say enough good things about Bernhard and his Leitner Active Cargo System! I've had it for 5 months now and it is truly a Swiss army knife. I normally shy away from "modular" because the word gives me nightmares (thanks a lot Ikea) but this thing is built like a rock. I was initially concerned about the "off road weight" of 250lbs, even though the "static weight" is 1,000lbs, so I emailed him some questions since I have a RTT that weighs about the max for off road. What he sent back were several CAD images of ways to sure up the off road weight without altering the rack in any way. The system is built to give access to the bed height by moving the adjustable rear cross beam forward with no tools, which creates a natural weak point. To counter this, they have the rear braces that bolt to the truck bed. Now, the rear braces by themselves aren't enough to increase the off road weight, so his solution is to buttress the cross beams with 1 1/2" square tube bars when needed. And after adding the square tube bars and a few bolts? Bam! Doubled the off road weight capacity! Looks like I'm too new to the forums and can't upload images yet, however, this will make more sense once I can add the CAD pics, and pictures of my truck, to my post. I have used the system extensively off road, and it's exceeded my expectations. I will try to get some pics up after I make a few more posts...

 

[Goffco]

My advice is to find a local fabricator to build you one. It's easy to do if you have a tube bender and some time.

Could I possibly get the CAD file for the Dodge rack?

 

[TeamDoty]

I just posted up pics of my homemade roof rack for my Dodge Ram 3500. It's kit-bashed from a ladder rack and some ATV ramps from Harbor Freight. I bet if you could find 2 ladder racks you could make a full length rack with the load capacity you're looking for.

http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/37607-Homemade-Roofracks?p=2271316#post2271316

Hope this helps with some ideas!

 

[cantbeataktm]

When in doubt, built it out! Inspired by some other racks out there. My dad and I fab'd our own.

 

[ttengineer]

So I've been in contact with Nuthouse Industries as they designed and built a rack for the ram boxes. It appears to be a well designed rack with all the features I want and need like no drilling and removable cross bars.

Unfortunately they are asking $2600 for the rack. I am currently not willing to swallow that big of a pill yet.

Has anyone found anything else out there or know of people who are working on something like this?

Nuthouse photos:

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[JJEH]

Thank y'all for participating , I haven't been online for awhile and I do appreciate y'all posting so much

I really like the Leitner rack but it's $1,500+ w/ accessories.

I might just have to buy a welder and create my own version. I don't know...

Unfortunately they are asking $2600 for the rack.

Nice looking rack but the price is insane.

 

[ttengineer]

Has anyone seen anything else for the rambox? Or at least know of people who can fab a rack?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[madrollaz]

My set up

 

[ttengineer]

This is what a friend came up with for my Rambox. All aluminum too. Its not quite what I want so Im going to sell it. If you're interested PM me. Im also going to post it up in the for sale forum. It also has 2 removable crossbars for full bed access.

 

[Konkow]

I really want that Leitner but of course it doesn't work with the ram boxes.

I should never have bought the truck with the damn ram boxes. They never close right, no one makes accessories for the rail or the boxes, and they tend to leak. I wonder how much it would cost to get a normal bed installed.

Check out Nuthouse Industries Dodge Truck Racks, these are made for the Ram Boxes

 

[josemarcos]

Nice build. I got a headache rack from 4wheelonline and currently looking for references on how should I assemble it.

 

[73Carlow]

I just had my bed rack fabricated by a local guy http://tacomapocalypse.com for my 3rd ten Ram 2500. The bed was really challenging to work with because the bed narrows in the rear. However the three rail set up turned out nice.