Malone TradeSport Truck Bed Ladder Rack w/ Load Stops - Aluminum - 800 lbs

Video Transcript for Malone TradeSport Truck Bed Ladder Rack Installation - 2023 Ford F-150

How's it going neighbors This is Ed here with etrailer.com and we're taking a look at the Malone TradeSport Ladder Rack on our 2023 Ford F-150. The reason that you would want to have a ladder rack is gonna allow you, especially with the short box truck, to have more length for longer loads. So lumber, ladders, PVC pipe, and even on the sports and rec side, if you had a kayak, or a cargo box, these types of accessories come in handy to give you more usable space to move your bigger bulkier items. The TradeSport is gonna be a great carrier if you're needing something that's more heavy duty, while being lightweight at the same time. Your capacity is right at 800 pounds and as you see, you have a set, a load stop there on top, that has the maximum spread of 62 inches. Also, you have a T-slot along the top channel, where you can add on additional items like tie down points or any other type of rooftop accessories.

Based on the dimensions here, 72 inches long, you're a little bit over three inches wide, and an inch and a half thick. And that's gonna work with most cargo baskets, kayak carriers, or anything that you would put on your rooftop. Moving on to the upright, so you can see you have a T-track channel that allows you to add additional accessories, so you're really flexible on how you can outfit your ladder rack. Another really cool feature with the aluminum construction and stainless steel hardware, you have pretty decent corrosion resistance against the elements. Also, it is a universal, so it's gonna cover a lot a wide range of trucks.

Possibly if you have multiple trucks you can share it between and it will work and it is compatible with trucks with a bedliner. Even though this guy does not have one, it still would work with it. The overall height is 29 inches with your uprights, and as far as the clearance that you're gonna have from the top of your cab to whatever you have extending over is about seven inches. So just be aware of it. In general, if you have additional people to help you.

Another set of hands to get the installation going, makes it a lot easier, but just the same. I'm gonna show you how to get it installed on the back of your truck. We're gonna begin our installation by laying our hardware out so we'll know if we have everything that we need, if we're missing parts, or what have you. So you're gonna start with assembling your T-slot nuts on your support brackets. So I'm just gonna make sure that the nut goes on the outside of the bracket and we're gonna use one flat washer, and just hand tighten, onto our support bracket.

(bracket clinks) And duplicate it for the second bracket. I'm gonna use my included Allen key to loosen the bolt for our clamps, for our uprights, 'cause this is what's actually gonna make the contact between the bed and the base of the platform system. Just to make it easier to fit over that lip of the box. You are gonna take your upright, and make sure that you have the angle part of the base pointing towards the front of the cab and that indicates that it's in the proper orientation. Use your tape measure to get a measurement as far as your spread. The points that I use to find that measurement is the edge of the box here from here, making sure I copy it on the other side. And then from the end of the bracket, to the beginning of the next one. As long as it's matching on both sides, you shouldn't have any trouble with your install. So now we're gonna grab our clamps, and there are no fixed points, so you're just gonna find the best location, and just have it bite around the outside. Of the box and then just faster her down, hand tight. I'm gonna grab my second bracket, and now that I have the driver's side tightened down, I'm gonna do the same over on the passenger side. All right, now we're gonna take our fasteners. Along with our washer, and put our track nuts onto the top of our uprights. So I'm just gonna hand tighten them just loose enough to where I can still move it up and down through the hole, so I can easily get my crossbar onto the track. With our track nuts installed on our uprights, we have one more step before we can install our bars. We're gonna take our support beam, insert it in the track slot on the inside, on both the passenger and driver's side. And now we're gonna align our bar. So you're gonna want to put some area over the edge of your bed, and bring up your support beam. And ideally you wanna align all three track nuts, where it'll just slide over. So it's gonna require a little bit of push and pull to find that sweet spot. And we're gonna slide right on. And I have the help of Matt holding up the other side, to gimme additional support. And it's gonna slide over and do the same thing. After you get your crossbar even, you're gonna want to fasten all your hardware using your included Allen key. From there, you're gonna get your load stops set up, and these guys are gonna go in, so I'm gonna just go straight across and they're hand tightened using the lock knob, that's included, and we're gonna use our other side here. All right. So that's gonna give you good solid load stops on the top. You're gonna use the included screw and nut. The nut's gonna be inserted inside of your cap, you're gonna install, and then use your screwdriver to fasten. This has been a look at the Malone TradeSport on our Ford F-150. Have a great day.