The Strong-Ender Ladder Rack is installed by mounting two receivers, one at the front and one of the back of the truck bed.  The bottom of this receiver is bolted to the floor of the bed and the top of the receiver screws to the bedrail of the truck.  Each receiver holds the main part of the rack which is removable.  This includes a vertical stanchion with an adjustable horizontal cross-bar upon which the ladder(s) rest.  The receiver is designed to fit any pickup truck with conventional fleet side bedrails as long as there is room to place both receivers.  This includes the vast majority of pickup trucks; however, there are a few four-door trucks with extra-short beds where the rear wheel well abuts against the front of the cargo box, so there is no room to place the front receiver.  The other model truck that this rack will not fit without a modification is the 1997-2003 Ford Super Crew.  This reason this will not fit is that the bottom of the bed in the front corner is not flat.  A special modification is required, to fit the Ford Super Crew.

Unlike most other side-mount ladder racks, the Strong-Ender truck rack is adjustable in height to more closely conform to your height and that of your trucks cab. 

Side-mount racks will not fit any truck with a plastic bed, including the newer Toyota trucks that have a deck rail mounting system on the side of the bedrail.

Side-mount racks will not fit any truck with a plastic bed, including the newer Nissan trucks that have a Utili-track mounting system on the side of the bedrail.

The Strong-Ender truck rack is used primarily for carrying one or two ladders up to 30 inches wide and weighing up to 250 lbs. This pickup truck rack is not just for ladders, however.  It can also be used for carrying, kayaks, canoes, and other cargo not exceeding 30 inches in width.  Care must be taken to ensure that the load does not exceed the strength of the truck bedrails.

This pick-up rack is constructed of square tubular steel, with wall thicknesses ranging from .095 to .065 inches, depending upon the load requirement. The exterior surfaces of these parts have been electro-chemically passivated and then powder coated for long service outdoors. All threaded parts are stainless steel.

This truck rack attaches by bolting to the floor and by drilling into the bedrail of the truck.  Although similar in this respect to other side-mount ladder racks, this rack has been made especially secure by using a plate in front of and behind the lip of the truck bedrail to reinforce it. This greatly strengthens the truck bedrail and makes it less likely to rip the bolts through the lip of the bedrail as can happen with other side-mount ladder racks.  Moreover, the stanchion that goes into the receiver rests directly on an insert tube which carries the vertical load directly to the floor of the bed and this reduced the forces acting against the bedrails. See below. . .  

          

Fronting Plate and Backing Plate

Backing plate behind bedrail

Fronting plate in front of bedrail

            

  

Receiver installed

View from tailgate

Strong-Ender mounted on truck

Initial installation of the receivers may take an hour or more. Installation is made much easier than some other racks because the fronting plate may be used as a template to mark and drill the holes in the bedrail and the backing plate already contains the nuts into which the bolts screw.  When the rack arrives in its shipping box, please carefully read all instructions.  After the receivers are installed, mounting of the main part of the rack into the receiver can be done in a couple of minutes.

There are many different types of bed liners.  Spray-on bedliners offer no obstacle in installing the side-mount truck ladder Rack.  It can also be used in any case where the carriage bolt in the bottom of the foot is long enough to pass all the way through the bedliner and floor of the bed to connect with the nut under the floor of the bed.  Should there be a case where your bedliner is over 1 inch thick, call customer service and we will send you an extra long bolt. The newer style under-the-rail bedliners allow easy attachment of the receiver to the bed rails. The older style over-the-rail bedliners, which are a single piece, will require that a slit or a hole be made in the bedliner.  U.S. Rack offers a bedliner kit, consisting of a 2-1/2 inch hole-saw to make a hole plus 4 plastic caps to plug the holes later, when the rack is removed.  

However, in order to offer a higher security option for those who are concerned, U.S. Rack offers high security screws which include a keyed button-head cap screws and matching keyed Allen wrench.  When these screws are tightened the receivers cannot be easily removed.

Four tie-down hooks and two rope cleats are provided on the rack to make securing ladders and other cargo easy. Get the tie-downs here.

The Strong-ender Rack is offered in a mat black coating.

U.S. Rack usually ships the day you place your order or on the next business day. U. S. Rack includes the cost of shipping by ground within the continental U.S., for most items, within the price of the product. Ground shipping transit time within the continental U.S. usually takes 1 to 5 business days. Sometimes, however, production cannot keep pace with orders for certain products and there is a lag time in shipping.  If you need to have this product delivered very soon, please give us a call us. Express processing and delivery is usually available for an additional charge. Please call 888.877.2257 to request this service.

Yes.  If for any reason you find that your U.S. Rack product is not what you want, simply call us within 30 days of purchase to get a return authorization number.  We will then arrange to pick up the product from you. If there is nothing mechanically wrong with the rack a restocking fee of 15% of the total purchase price plus round trip ground shipping will be deducted from your refund.  The rack should be returned in the original box and packaged in a way to prevent damage.  Damage caused by improper packaging will require repair to return the rack to a condition where is can be re-sold, and will result in a refurbishing fee.  If there is a mechanical defect with the product within one year, U.S. Rack will first attempt to fix the problem by shipping you a replacement part. If there is a defect which we cannot fix by replacing components, you may request a return, and we will not charge you restocking or shipping fees. We will then credit your card or send you a check for the appropriate balance. 

• The Strong-ender, as the name implies, is an extra-heavy duty side-mount rack that is designed to reinforce the truck bedrails and prevent it from being pulled out of the truck sheet metal.
• This rack is adjustable in height to meet the needs of the customer and his/her truck.
• The rack has multiple tie-downs for ratchet straps, cords, and ropes on each stanchion so ladders can be positively secured.
• The rack can be fitted with security hardware
• The rack stanchions can be removed and stored in a compact space or hung on the wall.
• The Strong-Ender is a great value.  Compare prices.  We believe you’ll be convinced.