I actually didn’t think of that, what’s a quality brand that you would recommend? If I could put a RTT ontop of that too, that’d solve my limitations of having a soft topper.
I don’t know all the brand names for roof racks. The one I bought for $100, seems to have been “Farm-made”, but I have owned commercially made contractor racks on trucks I’ve owned in the past. Most extend over the cab of the truck and are NOT bolted together, but welded. They are not ladder racks, but when I searched, I looked for “Lumber Racks or Contractor Racks”, as those offerings seemed to be beefier and more suited to my needs.
I would also add that most of them will not be commercially designed to fit over a topper, hard or soft, but as they are metal...they can fairly easily be modified to do that, and quite economically too, if you are resourceful (cheap-like-me). If you weld or know someone who does, you are “In like Flynn”
If you don’t DIY or know ANYONE that can weld, or you just feel the incredible urge to stimulate the economy by paying 5 to 20 times the price of what DIY price could be, use key words like “contractor rack, lumber rack, over shell rack, over topper rack, etc.”.They will put you in the know for commercially available racks. There are fewer offerings that meet the bill for heavy duty racks that will fit over a topper shell but they are out there. I came to the conclusion that in my area, those racks don’t get sold very often in a used category.
Failing a search on Marketplace or Craigslist, go to a local metal recycling/scrap yard. You may find either the steel you need to build what you want or you may even find a complete rack with or without damage that is usable or modifiable that will meet your needs. Either way, most salvage yards will charge less for used than new steel. I paid $ .35/lb because it was “on the ground”, meaning salvage yard prices are much less than buying new lengths of steel by the foot.
here are a couple of pics of what I have done. I am by NO MEANS a pro-welder, but I have dabbled. I borrowed a welder from a friend, drew up some design ideas, chatted with some guys that knew how to weld and off I went. Metal can be way more forgiving than wood to work with... Good Luck on your search.
