How do you secure long boards in back of pickup?

[Ken Platt]

Folks - I will be making a bit of a long drive to buy some wood, and I've never really had a great way of securing long boards that hang out past the end of the tailgate on my pickup. I can ratchet them all together, and, if the pile is sufficiently high, pull them down towards the bed somewhat using the lower attachment points in the sides of the bed. But, what I'd really like to do is have some way to actually hold the ends of the boards in towards the cab, if that makes sense.

So I'm wondering how others do this. Tarp, wrapped around the board ends then secured through the grommets? One of those cargo nets, perhaps? But the ones I see online look to have very large openings, so wouldn't contain the boards. Any tips or tricks? I'm going to be coming home with some 10' stuff, so it'll be 2 feet beyond the end of my lowered tailgate.

Thanks,

Ken

[Cody Colston]

Unless hauling a large load I normally don't let the tailgate down but put one end of the boards against the front of the bed and let the rear end lay on top of the tailgate. A ratchet strap will then secure them. I'm not picky about putting scratches either in the bed or on top of the tailgate. It's a truck, after all, and meant for work.

If the load is too heavy or large to lay on top of the tail gate, I don't see why ratchet-strapping the bundle together first (both ends) and then going from an attachment point on one side of the bed, around the end of the bundle to the attachment point on the other side of the bed with another ratchet strap wouldn't work.

[Von Bickley]

Unless hauling a large load I normally don't let the tailgate down but put one end of the boards against the front of the bed and let the rear end lay on top of the tailgate. A ratchet strap will then secure them. I'm not picky about putting scratches either in the bed or on top of the tailgate. It's a truck, after all, and meant for work.

If the load is too heavy or large to lay on top of the tail gate, I don't see why ratchet-strapping the bundle together first (both ends) and then going from an attachment point on one side of the bed, around the end of the bundle to the attachment point on the other side of the bed with another ratchet strap wouldn't work.

I agree.....

[Randy Red Bemont]

Two feet past the open tailgate is nothing to worry about. I would put a red flag on the end and a couple of ratchets and just go. I haul 16' lumber in my 8' truck bed. That's 6' past the open tailgate with no problems, even with the state troopers.

Red

[Sam Murdoch]

Unless hauling a large load I normally don't let the tailgate down but put one end of the boards against the front of the bed and let the rear end lay on top of the tailgate. A ratchet strap will then secure them. I'm not picky about putting scratches either in the bed or on top of the tailgate. It's a truck, after all, and meant for work.

If the load is too heavy or large to lay on top of the tail gate, I don't see why ratchet-strapping the bundle together first (both ends) and then going from an attachment point on one side of the bed, around the end of the bundle to the attachment point on the other side of the bed with another ratchet strap wouldn't work.

EXACTLY on all points! Though in my case, I am lucky to have a tail gate extender - PRICELESS !

[roger wiegand]

A couple of ratchet straps or rope tightened with a trucker's hitch across the pile, usually with the one near the tailgate going around the pile to keep it together. If they are only 10 footers the center of gravity is well onto the truck. For a lot of wood I will bundle it in carryable units using stretchable film then treat as above. For a small quantity of 10 footers I might well leave the tailgate up, but I don't like to have more than ~500 lbs on the tailgate. I recently had to drive a couple hours with 18 foot boards in the back and didn't have a lot of heavy shorter stuff to put on top of them. I used many straps and they still bounced more than I liked. Just took it slow. Probably should have rented a longer truck.

I've neer seen boards try to slide out the back under high acceleration, but then I don't drive my truck that way. You can put a strap around the pile and then straps attached to that strap and points inside the bed to pull the wood onboard, but I really don't think that's an issue.

[glenn bradley]

I added four additional rings where the bed bolts to the frame. I use ratchet straps between front and rear pairs with the addition of the middle pair on occasion. All straps are looped around the bundle and between rings. The rear strap is also looped a bit toward stern to pull forward against the cab wall. be sure you are aware of your areas flag rules (I always flag if the tailgate is down; people just aren't taught to drive anymore) and "just plain too long" rules. It only has to be an inch over to turn into a ticket.

[Mark Blatter]

I can tell you what doesn't work. Many years ago, I put two 16' 2x4s in the bed with the tail gate closed. I had a topper on it and had the hatch closed, or resting on the 2x4s I put a bag of something, don't recall what, on the inside ends of the wood, thinking it would hold them down. Driving down the Interstate at 75 they both go flying out the back. Fortunately for me, it was the middle of the day and there were only about two of us on the road. Of course, I pulled over, got them out of the middle of the road, and just then one of those State Police came by and asked me how things were going. He was nice, didn't cite me, just told me to leave them along side the road until I had a way to strap them down.

I guess it was just one of the benefits of living in Montana where heavy traffic is one car, a couple of pickups and a few deer in the burro pit.

[Mike Cutler]

Ken

I have a frame that I cobbled together from 2x4's, that sits on 2x4 legs, in the bed of my truck. It gives me a 4'x8' platform to secure the boards on above the rails of the truck. The frame is tied to the bed tie downs and the material placed on top, and ratchet straps hold it to the 2x4 frame, and the bed tie downs. The front has a 1/4" piece of scrap ply screwed to it so that the boards can't rub against the back of the cab. I also have some packing blankets to protect the cab. I bet it didn't cost me $20.00 to make this ugly frame, but it has hauled a lot of material over the years.
I've hauled a bit of wood from Enfield to Griswold, through Hartford, and never had any issues.

[Scott T Smith]

We have customers transport long boards in pickups all the time. What I have them do is to first lay their ratchet strap down on the TAILGATE about a foot behind the back of the bed, and another strap down on the floor of the bed about a foot behind the front cargo hooks. The lumber is usually double stacked in the middle of the bed over the ratchet straps. Once all of the boards are loaded the straps are folded over the lumber and hooked into the cargo hooks on the opposite side of the bed (the straps have made a complete circle around the lumber). When the straps are tensioned they force all of the boards together, and by having the wrap located a foot or so behind the hooks they will tension the boards forward towards the front of the bed.

Smaller loads (fewer boards) may be tensioned similarly, except with the tailgate up as recommended by Cody.

[Dan Hahr]

Depends on how much lumber, but a few 10 footers ride fine unsecured sticking out the back corner, diagonally in the bed resting on the tailgate top. But if it was a heavy load, I'd stack them up and put a couple ratchet straps over them. I've got a 6.5 foot bed and I've toted 16' 4x6 PT pine beams with 2x6 and 2x4 16 footers on top. The key is to stack the shorter boards on top and weigh down the bed side load. That's with the tailgate down, of course. I put all the lumber for my 12x16 shed in one load, except for the siding. Probably could have popped a wheelie....

Dan

[Larry Edgerton]

I highly recommend the rubber mats and tailgate protector if you haul much. Stuff stays put. allows me to drive like a maniac without all my stuff sliding all over the place. I have spray in bed liner, but use the mat over the top.

I do one strap around the load and one off of that one pulling it back to the front of the box. Or use the trailer.

[Keith Outten]

I built a bed extender that fits in my receiver hitch. Its just under 10 feet from the front of the bed to the end of the extender. It will catch the end of ten foot boards and will easily handle up to sixteen foot lumber or boxes of siding. Its pretty easy to strap a pile of lumber to the end of the extender so it stays secure.

In Virginia there is no limit to length that can sick out behind a pickup truck, as long as it doesn't hit the road surface and you have a flag on anything that is 48" or more beyond your rear bumper.

[Jamie Buxton]

I put a lumber rack on the pickup. Long boards extend over the cab. Sixteen-footers are easy.
In my area, used lumber racks are pretty common on Craigslist, and quite affordable. There's zero risk in buying one -- no moving parts, so nothing to break.

[John Gornall]

I use duct tape or electrical tape to bundle boards. Then I use c-clamps on the wood as tie points for ropes. Sometimes I clamp the wood to the tailgate. I keep a few clamps in the truck.