Stake Pocket Mounted Ladder Rack With Short Towers Needed For A 2021 Ford F-150

Updated 01/14/2025 | Published 01/13/2025

Question:

I have a 2021 F-150 XLT. Im looking for a truck bed cross bar that I can install in the two front stake pockets of my bed rails. Id like it to be low profile so it sits just above my tonneau cover. Does something like this exist? I have been researching for a while and havent found anything yet. Im also very handy so if something needs a little modification to work for my purposes I can do that.

asked by: Emilee B

Expert Reply:

Hi Emilee,

What is the length of your F-150's bed and what kind of tonneau cover do you have?

expert reply by: Kevin C

Emilee B.

1/14/2025

I have the 5 1/2’ bed with the backflip mx4 tonneau

Kevin C.

1/14/2025

@EmileeB With you having a hard folding cover there wouldn't be enough clearance for the crossbar to sit low like you're wanting unless it could slide out of the way when you need to fold the cover open. The closest option to that would be the Adarac M-Series Custom Truck Bed Ladder Rack # AD49FR (white) or # A54KG (black). This ladder rack has rails that mount to the stake pocket and would allow you to slide the tower front to back so that you could open the cover. The towers are bolted into the track so you would need a wrench to loosen the bolts before sliding them. The crossbars would sit 12" high from the top of the bedrails. Since this is a full ladder rack it will come with two sets of crossbars/towers but you can hang onto the second set and it just might come in handy later on or can be a replacement if anything happened to the one you have installed. There's also the Front Runner Truck Bed Rack # FR32VJ, but its rails need to be bolted to the bedrails instead of just mounting to the stake pockets. These towers would also require a wrench in order to loosen them enough to slide around on the tracks. Let me know what you think and we can keep discussing options.