Erickson Truck Bed Ladder Rack - Side Mount - Steel - 250 lbs

by: Garrett09/26/2023

I ordered this product hoping for something less involved than drilling through the bed like a normal latter rack. I wanted something I could eventually take off when work was done and repurpose the vehicle.

The first issue, a minor one, was that I had to find and buy hex heads large enough to install the rack bolts. They are massive. A small pain to find which delayed installation.

Once I started working and screwing the bolts, both of the bottom plates machining were off. The eyelets used to hold the bolts in place on the masts were at different widths from the bottom eyelets on the plates. Hoping for the best I screwed them as best I could because I didn't have time to order a new rack and install it.

As I tried to tighten the bolts at the adequate height with out slippage occuring. Once it was tight, I realized I had bent the bed frame.

The post I had at the rear of would require retightening the clamp periodically after taking a rubber mallet to scoot it back into place to keep it from falling over.

I've long been finished with my job that requires a ladder rack so I have no need for it. I can't possibly sale it knowing the manufacturing defects. Maybe someone will need it in a pinch.

I love the concept but poor machining did it in.1673480

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I bought this ladder rack to haul my canoe, which is hanging above my 2016 Nissan Frontier King Cab in the first picture. Since I have a tanneau cover and the Utili-Track system on the bed I had to trim 5/16" off the top of the block on the stop bolts to get them to fit between the rail and the top of the bed. If you don't have a tanneau cover these will fit the Frontiers 6 foot bed without any modifications at the very ends of the rail.

I did add a 1/8" sheet of hard rubber to the foot of each rack for better grip to the bed, spaced a half inch from the edge to clear the curve in the bed. The Nissan bed has some indentations that will require a filler block for the foot to rest on near the tailgate. I had a 3/4" chunk of hard plastic that fit perfectly.

What I like best about these ladder racks is that they are easy to install, after the initial set-up, and easy to remove. I didn't want anything that was permanently mounted or requiring holes to be drilled in the bed. These are exactly what I was looking for.

I haven't taken the canoe out yet but I will have no worries with these racks. I highly recommend them.265345

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Gene M.

1/17/2018

Actually, I havent had a chance to use them yet. I hope to use them this summer for my canoe. I think theyll work out just fine.

When I received the product and opened the box, two of the brackets on the upright piece that bolt the angle support arm to were bent pretty bad, stressed and needed to be straightened out for the it to fit together correctly. Hopefully they are strong enough and will hold up over time.1315204

Sierra K.

6/22/2022

Customer Service will contact you for a little more information so we can determine the next step.

Troy W.

6/21/2023

I was not very pleased with the product in the condition it was delivered with bent support arms and the nuts that are welded at the base were not threaded very good. I had to buy a tap for that size to re-tap them so the bolts would go in. I used it a couple times. Did not like it and thru it in the garbage

by: Gary01/09/2018

One terrible ladder rack the construction design of this piece of junk was terrible. The first problem with this thing. It rusted immediately after the first rain and dripped all kinds of rust stains on my white truck. Second of all Just a few weeks after the mounting bracket broke the top left off of the bed of the truck the latter came down on the hood of my truck and scratched it badly if you want to good ladder rack get a weather guard465986

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Seems to be a little less of a good fit than expected. The forward foot has a tough time getting solid contact with the bed and I elected to use some wood to help the foot into a more straight up position. There is also a decent amount of play in the support arms, even when tightening with an impact gun. Overall it works and seems sturdy enough to hold a load, but the feet aren't 100% compatible with a 2015 Chevy 2500 bed. Even if I put the forward one in front of my toolbox, rather than behind it for easier removal, I would have the same problem. That being said, I was able to make it secure with a slight angle backwards due to the toolbox, but could not correct the angle outward due to the bed curvature in the corners.837548

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It seems to be a decent rack, BUT....., I encountered several problems while installing this on my 2015 chevy 3500 pickup truck: 1. One of the bolts included with the kit was the wrong one and I had to go buy the correct one (this is a 3" M12 x1.75 metric bolt, in case anyone else has the same problem). 2. The little self-tapping screws for the bottom plates are about worthless. 3. the directions do not include a list of tools needed to install the racks (a 15/16" socket, a 3/4" socket and wrench, and a 10 mm metric hex key, along with a 5/16" nut driver). 4. When extending the extension bar of the rack, you need to have a 3/4" wrench or socket to do so. It would have been much easier to have pre-drilled holes and a pin in order to move the extension bar. 5. In order to install the racks, it was necessary to reverse the bottom plates from what the directions recommend, and put in angled, folded metal pieces under them, as the sides of the bottom of the bed of my Chevy truck are curved and I had to have the inner edge of the mounting plate ~1/2" above the bed in order to have the vertical bar actually vertical and not angled. 6. The nuts welded near the base of the vertical bar were welded at odd angles and not all of the socket bolts fit into the wells in the bottom plates. I also had to chase the threads on one nut, as it had so much crud in it from manufacturing. 7. Due to the way the Chevy truck bed rails are constructed, I had to grind down the point on the top of the stop bolt, as the Chevy truck rail sides aren't very tall 8. Finally, whoever wrote the directions needs to take a course in remedial technical writing and put better pictures in the directions (they also need to edit for typos). In spite of those problems, it appears that the racks will work, but they are not as user-friendly as I had hoped.1498615

What a piece of junk. Hardware is missing. The socket head bolts will not screwed into the frame. This is the USA, I didn't know why the hardware is metric. I will not buy anything for this place again1605590

Jenny N.

6/22/2023

Hey I am sorry that this ladder rack has been troublesome and is missing hardware. I will have our Customer Service team reach out to you.

I'm sure the rack is fine, but I never installed it due to trailer's inept ability to falsify information.

The first rack I ordered suddenly went on a month long backorder sometime between checkout and fulfillment, so I ordered this one. The website clearly says "No drill application" "fixed rack" and said "fixed height" up until today. All three of those are not correct. When questioned about the "no drill application" despite step 4 of the instructions literally saying to drill 2 self tapping screws into the bed of the truck, I was told that drilling only applies to nuts and bolts and that PUTTING A HOLE IN THE BED OF MY TRUCK IS NOT DRILLING.

As a solution, I was redirected to a video review someone did that just ignored those screws. When pressed about the warranty and coverage when that inevitably fails, etrailer told me that they would not be liable as the rack wasn't installed to spec. Next to me typing this review, it says point blank that "suggestions that may affect safety/warranty" are not appropriate for reviews, but yet I was pointed to that review by the customer service team.

I was then offered a refund and a shipping label that would require me to go out of my way and take it to a UPS location. This was 26 hours ago and I still have not received that shipping label, but instead was advised to leave a review on the rack via e-mail.

All in all, the rack felt durable in the box and was solid steel. However, the rack was never installed. This review is not about the rack, but about the complete lack of any sort of competency that is eTrailer.com1179133

Jenny N.

10/19/2021

I will have our customer service team reach out to you. We did believe originally that the rack was a fixed height rack when installed and we have updated the product description page with the ranges of both the height and width adjustments. Erickson did update the ladder rack to include self tapping screws at the base to increase stability of the rack.

Product is good quality, heavy duty and nice looking. I gave four stars because there were a few mods that needed to be made to fit a 2007 silverado(new body) 6 1/2ft bed, instructions say to face foot in but it would never work that way for this truck. The Rack would be six inches away from the bed rail, so the foot had to be faced away, no big deal, issue solved. These racks only fit to the highest adjustment for the rail lock bolt but I'm sure they can go alot higher so extra holes had to be drilled to fit my specifications, again no big deal, took care of it and I'm happy. The biggest thing I like about these Racks is that they can easily be removed with no hassle A++++++!!! I'm really happy, thx again.250049

by: Carlos 09/24/2021

The Erickson Truck Bed Ladder Rack - Side Mount - Steel - 250 lbs., came just as advertised. The item shipped sooner than expected, and the installation was a breeze.

I am extremely happy with the item and the customer service.1161748

The product came without the correct brackets I got 1 of 2 brackets ( I have pics I can send you, just give me the exact email address) that connects to the truck bed lip to the large bolt!) and 5 of the smaller ones.

I was told that there would be no drilling. The firs thing I see is the base has to be bolted to the bed with self tapping screws. I very disappointed as the box came ripped up, . I have to remove the bed liner as the self tapping bolts will not be long enough to get a hold of the steel bed. I'm not sure that this is the correct rack for my truck with a 61/2 ' bet. I have to place the brackets at least 10" from the ends as the side configuration of the bed bumps out at the ends and the brackets cant get to close to the rail. The brackets and posts will than be about 4'10" apart.

How do I return this product for a refund.

disgusted,
Mike Golowski852694

The ladder rack arrived undamaged and with all parts enclosed. I did cheat and went to the website to watch the installation video which was great. Installed it by myself with little complications. I have not carried anything on it yet as I just installed it last night. So far very satisfied.1314253

by: Lalo11/12/2018

2007 Dodge Ram Pickup

The rack itself is easy to install/assemble and durable. However the base plate does not correctly fit my dodge ram 07 bed as the product states it can be. The round edges of the the truck sides of the front part of the bed make it hard for the flat panel base of the rack to sit flush.582225

The concept works but there were some issues. A upper washer set for one of the side mounts were missing. The long Allen screws were extremely tight going into the threaded bushings so it appears that there was too much plating buildup. Two of the hex bushings on the posts were welded crooked so I had to grind them off and re-weld them on. The useful part of the instruction manual was the exploded view. The verbiage just didn't make sense. Once assembled it seemed OK and worked for the lumber I hauled. I don't think I'd test it with the 250lb limit though.1096516

Sierra K.

7/20/2021

Thank you for your review. Customer Service will reach out to you about your missing hardware. The other things sound like manufacturer defects but since you already welded them on, they will not be covered under warranty.

I have a bed liner. Plastic. There are no instruction for how to deal with that. Also the website says no drilling but self tapping screws must be used. I would not have bought this if I'd known. And my f250 has a tailgate fence that folds right where the rear support should go. Not sure how I will deal with these issues. The box was toast when it arrived. Soaked with rain and mushy. Had to dry all the contents. 481015

only had on truck one day but seems pretty sturdy. had to get longer screws for the base because of the truck bed but it fit just fine. I put a L bracket on each one maybe didn't need it but I just feel better by doing it. good so far
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by: Aaron C.03/06/2018

I had got these ladder racks for my ladders and to bring lumber home. It's been doing that great. It is very east to put up and take down. plus they stay in place.481611

When I received it, only one of the two arms would assemble. The other arm had a defect on the interior that would only allow it to seat about 50% of the way onto the base. Additionally, although it says no drill - that isn't a lie, it comes with self tapping screws so even though you don't have to drill, you still have to create holes via the self tapping screws863285

Good solid rack that I was able to adapt to my Rambox tracks with a few hardware items from [other on-line retailer].413912

It is good ladder rack easy to install only bad it did not have plastic caps over square upright tubes to prevent water / rain filling up tubes
821192

Product works as advertised. Easy to assemble and install, will use no other ladder rack besides Erickson from now on. 420914

This is a heavy duty ladder rack and fit my 1997 Nissan Pickup perfect.
Well worth the price . I would recommend this to anyone needing one.678169

havent opened box yet 1367744

Just finished the installation on my 2002 Dodge Ram 1500. The install went well for this type of product. The only issue I had was the threads on the lower welded on nuts were so dirty from weld splatter and paint I had to use a tap to clean then up. After that it went right together.1162753

Solid construction...requires you to use 4 self tapping screws ( provided ) in to the bed. 337776