TMS 800 LB Adjustable Fit 2 Bars Utility Ladder Truck Pick up Rack Kayak Contractor Lumber Utility (US Patent NO.D722,007)

This is an update to my initial review of this pickup rack that I did in April 2015. I initially installed the rack on a Ford F250. The racks are fully adjustable and can be installed on most any compact, midsize, or full size pickup. I installed the racks by drilling holes in my pickup bed rails, but they could be installed with pickup camper clamps. Personally, I felt more comfortable making a permanent installation using nuts and bolts.Installation is fairly straightforward and can be accomplished by most anyone with a drill and basic hand tools Actual installation time was about 2.5 hours. The paint that comes on the racks is, in my opinion, of poor quality and I suggest that you paint the racks with a good grade of paint prior to installation on your vehicle. I did paint mine prior to installation, but several months after I put them on, rust stains started appearing at points where parts joined on the individual bars. I am attaching pictures,I recently decided to trade my F250 on a new vehicle and as a result I removed the racks. Upon removal, I discovered what caused the rust stains on the joints. When I installed the racks, they appeared to have enough points for water to drain from inside the uprights. However, none of the base plates actually had drain holes and as a result, the upright sections of the racks filled with rain water which would leak at the joints and would cause the rust stains. The solution to this problem is to drill a 1/8 inch hole through the bottom of each base plate into the upright bars. This will allow rain, snow, and other condensation to drain and will prevent the rust stained joints. If you drill the holes prior to repainting the racks, you will prevent rust from forming around the drain holes.I have re-installed the racks on a Ford F150 and they fit both the F150 and F250 equally well. Since the racks were rust stained around the joints, I repainted them prior to re-installation and subsequent to drilling base plate drain holes. These racks were rated for loads of up to six hundred pounds. I used the racks to carry Kayaks each winter on trips of about 1200 miles each way. They are excellent for carrying Kayaks, though loading Kayaks is difficult for one average person. I have carried 12 foot dimension lumber on the racks and pushed the 600 pound weight rating on several occasions with no problem.I believe that these racks are one of the better choices in pickup racks because they are well made and will enable you to carry Kayaks or other long items with your truck, even if the bed on your truck is short. The price is reasonable and the seller promptly shipped my order. The only issues I have found with the racks is the poor grade of paint that they are coated with from the manufacturer and the lack of drain holes in the base plates. However, given the overall quality of the racks and the reasonable price, I would still rate the bars 5 stars because to get a better set of racks, a person would have to spend substantially more money.A word about installation: The base plates on the racks are heavy steel. I used 4 different 3/8 inch bits to drill a total of eight holes to mount the racks. I would suggest that you have several 1/8 inch bits available when you drill the drain holes in the base plates. On my vehicles, I had to carefully locate the base plates on the bed rails to insure that I had adequate room for base plate fasteners on the underside of the bed rails.

Too tall out of the box for this truck size so had to shorten all verticals by 4 1/2 inches. The top horizontals should be pinned with a screw or hitch pin (as pictured) else they will vibrate up and off under a no load condition. The whole setup needs to be bolted down to be really workable. I made the rear removable for non working times, leaving the headache rack in place always.So, with a few tweaks, I have exactly what I want. Great quality of manufacture, good looking , functional and reasonable pricing. Especially like the tie off cleats.

The instructions are virtually non-existent but the rack is so simple to comprehend that it's just a matter of slipping it together. My only problem came when installing the assembled rack on my Ford Ranger. At it's narrowest, the rack is too wide for my standard bed Ranger! About 3/4" too narrow. Grrr. You'd think with all the millions of Ford Rangers out there the manufacturer, or at least the importer, would've thought about making it fit the largest segment of small trucks in North America. So out came the reciprocating saw and as I had to cut anyway, I cut off 1" from the end of each cross member so I could install padding (i.e. door insulation strips with adhesive) on the inside of the base where the rack fits on the truck to protect my truck's paint. Otherwise it's metal against metal. Since I'll be using this rack seasonally for carrying kayaks I opted not to drill holes in my truck bed but just use 8 truck cap clamps to secure it. They work fine. In the end, I like this rack. The steel used is decent quality and once I finished cutting and assembling, a few sprays with Rustoleum black paint covered up the cut marks and nicks on the paint. For $60 cost and $42 freight this is a good kayak carrier and is still way cheaper than the competition (or even making my own). Oh, and be warned, as the uprights angle inwards about 7" on each side, at it's narrowest assembled configuration you can only fit one "average width" kayak flat on this rack. For 2 or more kayaks on a small truck get J racks to hold them up sideways, so be sure to measure your kayaks' widths and compare against your truck bed width accordingly, before ordering this rack.

I got these to carry kayaks. I'll go through a brief set of pros and cons:Pros1) Sturdy and durable when it comes to material, weight holding ability and the strength of the tie off handles that are welded on. It feels good and it holds well.2) Amazing price. I couldn't find anything like this for anywhere near this price.3) Does what it should and looks decent enough.Cons1) Installation. I took one look at the instructions, thought about drilling holes in my truck and took truck and rack to my local body shop. I have a good relationship with them and they charged $125 to install it. Ok, so it's less of a bargain now, but with a bed liner interfering with the mounting of the screws and my uncertainties, I didn't want to risk destroying my truck.2) The way the posts angle in from the edge of your truck means you lose space on the rack. I come about 12 inches short of being able to ride two kayaks on top side by side because one has to be angled to fit. This was done to fit the contour of your truck and it looks decent and it works. But I wish they stayed wider all the way up without that inward angle.3) Bought kayak brackets to go on the rack that will turn the kayaks at an upward angle, saving space, but the absolutely circular shape of the crossbars mean the kayak mounts want to turn and roll. If you strap the boats down, they stay put, but it's a pain to work with. I ultimately removed them and rode with one boat flat and the other at an angle leaning on the flat one for support.I'd probably buy again. For a little more than $200, I got this installed. Not much else is available at that price and certainly nothing that would include installation.