Anyone tried hauling 12' lumber?

I use a bed extender from Harbor Freight similar to the one above from Home Depot.
https://www.harborfreight.com/truck-bed-extender-69650.html?_br_psugg_q=bed+extender

Where in Texas are you? I have a trailer you could borrow. No charge. I’m north of Dallas

Just keep the tailgate up, throw them in the bed, and use some ratchet straps that you crank down. They’re not coming loose....

IDontDoUrban said:

How much weight can the plastic/polymer tailgate caps take before they crack under the load of multiple boards. Think I'll give it a try.

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Great question! I worried about that myself. I had a load of 42 boards! Placed folded up towels and moving pads across the cap so boards wouldn't be resting directly on plastic. Everything went fine. No issues. The truck was squatting quite a bit and prob nearing max load. But wasn't going far. About 15 miles on smooth roads.

The Car Stereo Company said:

open thw rear window and slide it onto the center console....... can save you 5ft. so only a couple ft are sticking out from the tailgate. redneck status all the way

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I've done this a few times. How many 2x4's are we talking about?
Or get a set of Thule bed racks. I have a set and they go on and off pretty easy.

If you have an extension ladder, put the boards on the ladder and tie. Boom

does my buddies fat girlfriend count

IDontDoUrban said:

Need to pick up some 12' 4x4's and 2x4's. Guessing someone here has successfully gotten home without losing the load. Looking for tailgate-down solutions.

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enough of the load is supported by the bed itself along with the tailgate down. nothing else to do but strap it down. At least good enough for shorter distances

GatorBait said:

Where in Texas are you? I have a trailer you could borrow. No charge. I’m north of Dallas

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You are awesome. Thanks for the offer. I'm in Montgomery but already got half the lumber. Per some recommendations, the reason I didn't do delivery is because I wanted to hand pick the material, rather than leave it up to Home Depot or Lowe's guys just throwing crap boards on a cart. Good lumber is tough to find in these covid times. I ended up hand picking and then having Home Depot deliver. Last time I'll do that. They failed to deliver half my load...they think another customer lifted stuff from my cart while it was waiting for delivery. Have to give them credit for honesty and making things right. I'm going to take some advice from this thread and bring a bunch of 1x4x12's home with me today. The tips for how to do it are appreciated.

12 FTERS TAILGATE DOWN,TAIL GATE EXTENSION OUT.WORKED GREAT