Hauling plywood and lumber in the bed

[estrader]

im about to take delivery of my 14 screw any day now and i was having some concerns last minute about the 5.5 bed. i love every aspect of this truck and its versatility but my concern is about hauling 4x8 sheets of plywood.

maybe once or twice a month ill have to carry 2-6 sheets of plywood from the lumber yard. and/or a few 2x4s 8' length. so the weight isn't a big issue. just the fact that its going to stick out 3 feet out of the bed.

would it be alright to just toss it in with the tailgate up and the material at a slant?



if i left the tailgate down, how much would stick out past the end of the tailgate?

8' bed trucks are just way too long and i dont see myself hauling on a daily basis.

for those of you who haul lumber from time to time have you had issues?

 

[sandtrooper29]

Not a problem or issue either way has worked fine. I have even had 10 foot 2 X 6 back there with gate up.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

 

[SuperRaptor]

8' products are not a bid deal with a 5.5' bed. Its the 10'+ stuff that starts to become a bear.

 

[kkitowski]

I have had a 5.5' bed for 13 years and haul stuff like that all the time. Use the bed extender to even haul more length with comfort. Also the bed extenders allow you to lightly strap down long lumber, etc. if you have 10' boards you can angle from one corner to the other to even give longer length in the bed.

 

[HAYNES OFFROAD]

Put the tailgate down and lay it flat in the bed, the tailgate adds nearly 2 feet of bed so with 4x8 ply you only have 6"ish or so hanging off. I've had 25 sheets of 7/16" osb and no problem.

Now say if you need to get say 4x10' or 12' drywall, grab three 2x4 of whatever length of drywall your getting and lay those flat evenly spaced (so there's on on each side and one in middle) and that will support the end of the drywall so it doesn't break.

But anything that hangs off my tailgate, (besides 8' stuff) I put a clip on orange flag on the end.

 

[estrader]

Put the tailgate down and lay it flat in the bed, the tailgate adds nearly 2 feet of bed so with 4x8 ply you only have 6"ish or so hanging off. I've had 25 sheets of 7/16" osb and no problem.

Now say if you need to get say 4x10' or 12' drywall, grab three 2x4 of whatever length of drywall your getting and lay those flat evenly spaced (so there's on on each side and one in middle) and that will support the end of the drywall so it doesn't break.

But anything that hangs off my tailgate, (besides 8' stuff) I put a clip on orange flag on the end.

thanks for the input everyone.

When you stack plywood in the bed like that, do you run straps under the first sheet and then secure the entire stack from sliding out during acceleration?

Are there sufficient tie down points in the raptor bed for this? i didnt take a close look when i tested the car.♦

 

[Ditchplains1]

5.5 foot bed + 21" tailgate= 87" or 7' 3" which means the 8 foot plywood will have 9" unsupported...

 

[HAYNES OFFROAD]

thanks for the input everyone.

When you stack plywood in the bed like that, do you run straps under the first sheet and then secure the entire stack from sliding out during acceleration?

Are there sufficient tie down points in the raptor bed for this? i didnt take a close look when i tested the car.♦

Yes there are 2 sets of tie downs on the sidewalls of the bed. One set toward the back and one toward the front and are something like roughly 8" up from the bottom.

I only strap the whole bunk with front and back tiedowns, so two straps. Never had a problem with the bunk shifting around. Just make sure you have decent ratchet straps and you'll be good to go.

The only thing is if your only carrying just a small amount of lumber, then the factory tiedown points may be too high to supply adequate downward pressure to hold the lumber to the bed. If that's the case you can easily add tie down points to the bottom of the bed for prolly less than $50 for 4.

---------- Post added at 03:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:04 PM ----------

5.5 foot bed + 21" tailgate= 87" or 7' 3" which means the 8 foot plywood will have 9" unsupported...

Woopdeedoo! A whole 9"!? If you are carrying plywood that can't support itself over 9" then take that garbage back.

 

[Ruger]

Yes there are 2 sets of tie downs on the sidewalls of the bed. One set toward the back and one toward the front and are something like roughly 8" up from the bottom.

I only strap the whole bunk with front and back tiedowns, so two straps. Never had a problem with the bunk shifting around. Just make sure you have decent ratchet straps and you'll be good to go.

The only thing is if your only carrying just a small amount of lumber, then the factory tiedown points may be too high to supply adequate downward pressure to hold the lumber to the bed. If that's the case you can easily add tie down points to the bottom of the bed for prolly less than $50 for 4.

Or you could learn how to tie knots in rope.

 

[HAYNES OFFROAD]

Or you could learn how to tie knots in rope.

Wut?