Best Free Load Boards For Box Trucks (2024 Updated)

This is a fantastic product, but don’t set it and leave it as is, for years. The adjuster knobs need to be loosened and retightened once in awhile. How often doesn’t matter, you don’t have to change the height.

This prevents any corrosion built up on the built in T-nut on the adjustable knob. As a matter of fact I loosen every screw on this rack at least once a month and just retighten it. It’s not an inconvenience, what is inconvenient is having the adjuster knobs completely seized on you This is no fault to Thule it’s what nature does to aluminum when exposed to the elements.

I’ve seen it first hand, unfortunately Thule does not sell the adustment mechanism separately you have to buy the whole base assembly and they are very expensive. Having said all that I love this Rack and it’s features, holds my canoe on my truck rock solid.

I bought this for my Saranc 146 canoe because loading it by myself with my previous set-up was not super easy. Now I can load my canoe myself with little effort. Installation was a piece of cake and it looks great.

The adjustability makes this work in so many ways. Just turn the knobs, make your adjustments and tighten them back up. Done. It’s rock solid. Worth the price.

Strong, Sturdy, and Very Useful! This product is awesome. I use it on my 2009 Toyota Tacoma Prerunner. It installed in less than 60 seconds. When retracted it is very low profile and sits almost completely flush to the bummer, when extended, it extends perfectly past the open tailgate and becomes the perfect step extention.

It is very strong and sturdy, I tested it with my 350 pound brother standing on it. I love it and hightly recommend it.

received unit in good condition, however unit only extends 18″ at short point and 22″ at longer point. that’s 1 1/2 shorter than stated in add. so i attempt to return it (super nice and knowledgeable return people) and i have to pay return shipping.

that doesn’t seem fair when what i was told i was buying was not what i received. was going to switch to longer 30″ unit ( probably only 28″) but the price jumps from $59 to $199 – WOW. probably just give it to someone with smaller truck.

First, works as advertised. Craftmanship is pretty good. Few issues. A little tricky to fold step back up. Second, retaining pin falls out causing whole unit to fall off. The pin had a sprung ball bearing to keep it in slot but that appearently failed the 2nd day.

Thank god no one behind me when whole unit slipped out of receiver and bounced on road.

These take a lot of time. The motors take 5 min each. Putting them on the truck took hours. The plug for the wire harness was so stiff. Used adjustable pliers so the tabs would lock. Then used electrical tape to make sure it stayed.

The wiring diagram is use full and not at the same time. The self taping wire nuts are long. The lights really need a lot of force to be crimped and you need a heat gun to shrink the plastic around the connectors.

Lastly have a helper to set the rails on the steps. The aluminum billet used to secure the step to the rails is soft. As you screw in the bolt its can strip very easy. This happened to me. Use a rubber mallet to tap the step onto the aluminum billet after threading by hand.

They work great once you get them on.

Product works great and looks nice as it’s not really visible when retracted. 2020 F150 Supercrew with short bed. Took a few days to install, 8hrs total, as I soldered and double heat shrunk all connections instead of using the wire crimps and then primed/painted and silicone did all four hole drilled in the rocker panels for the light wires.

Also needed to add some wire to the rear light wiring to enable it to be wire tied tight against the truck to prevent snow accumulation from pulling the wires off as chunks of packed snow and ice drop from the truck during winter.

Lights are nice at night. More brightness isn’t needed and would likely make night vision less if they were brighter. I also sealed up the holes in the gear motor housing with silicone to prevent water and dirt from being driven into the gear housing shaft plastic bushing.

Not sure why the spinning gear shaft is exposed to the elements. Only negative comment is I’d have liked to see grease fitting on all pivoting arms. Cost less then $30 to add at factory and then it would be perfect.

Simple addition which would greatly help keep it pivoting great for decades.

10/10 recommend – Hands down the best mod I’ve bought yet. Was never a fan of the OEM running boards as they are a little too high for my shorter passengers and they are very slippery when wet/snowy (I live in the north).

With these running boards the steps come down about two inches lower and you can step with confidence because of the rough coating, durable design and illumination. Install went exactly how the video suggested, wiring was simple and straight forward.

The best part is they disappear under the truck when not in use as to not take away from the silhouette of the truck itself. 10/10 Recommend for anyone looking to upgrade, lift their truck or ditch the OEM running boards.

Look – Let’s make this a balanced review. The product itself is excellent. It does exactly what its supposed to do. Having said that, it will not work if you have a hard folding tonneau cover and your intent is to leave it installed in the truck.

For temp use, just fold the tonneau up and it works fine. I wanted a permanent solution I could use when the cover was close – this isn’t that solution. I did buy a cargo net and that solution in combo with the hard tonneau works great.

The gate looks great when installed. Only issue is the bottom swings in our out depending on which way the weight is pushing during acceleration or slowing down. Since any weight for me is between the gate and the actual tail gate, I had to attach a pipe to the cargo gate that spread across the bed.

That pipe rests agains the wheel wells and does not allow weight to push the gate forward. Definitely a design flaw but fixable.

I’ve already organized everything that used to take up half of my truck for camping/overlanding into it, and there’s still plenty of room to spare. I plan to mod the far back portion of the drawers to accommodate a couple of deep cycle batteries once I get my solar setup in.

It’s got plenty of room even in my short bed Ram to stretch out, so I threw a memory foam topper on top of it, and my sleeping bags. I expect it’ll be plenty comfortable when I hit the road for 6 months or so coming up soon.

Shipping was quick, and it arrived neatly packed. Instructions were delightfully condescending and absolutely crystal clear, like getting walked through it by a longtime friend who enjoys nothing more than ribbing you.

I did find that in my particular case there wasn’t much thread to grab ahold of on the drivers side cargo rings on the J hooks, even when the Decked was perfectly centered. I can’t imagine the issue is with the hardware or the Decked system itself though, but it was a bit of a pain.

I’m probably an idiot though, haha! Other than that, installation was easy, and I knocked it out by myself in a few hours. My dogs don’t know what to make of the new bed height, but they’ll have to get used to it.

Handling of the vehicle is the same. Let’s just say I drive. sportingly? Even fully loaded with my stuff, it doesn’t feel any different overall when driving. If I could come up with an actual drawback to this system, it might look something like this: I might have to start tying off my grocery bags before I set them in the bed and close my tonneau over top.

First grocery trip, I thought I had lost a thing of coffee creamer, alfredo, and a head of lettuce. Went back out and opened the tailgate, and my truck regurgitated all three in a hilarious moment. Girlfriend still hasn’t let me live it down.

Just buy it. you know you want to!.

I just installed my Decked toolbox. So far I love it. When I called customer Their customer service department to confirm the box would fit with my access tonneau cover model # 62329 I was told adamantly it would not fit with the decked toolbox.

Because the return policy is not very attractive cost wise and it took 3 full weeks to receive here in Alberta Canada i was worried. So I did my own measurements and checked it twice and it does fit.

What decked missed is they went by Acess fit numbers instead of calculating themselves. The part that was missed is they took the measurements on the width And did not calculator a part of their toolbox actually fits over the front of the truck box right behind the window.

My truck is a Chevy Silverado 2500 HD here’s a photo so any other purchasers will know in advance and not have to worry about placing the order. But so far I do love the toolbox no complaints about it, not cheap In fact it might be the most expensive toolbox available.

I’m hoping to have it for the most of the rest of my lifetime so I wanted a good one that I could count on, The latter feature is just a sweet touch my truck is so high it’s really made access nice without having to open up the entire Tanneau cover and climb into the truck box for Access.

As a footnote I was able to find a really nice 3500 pound winch that fits with room to spare underneath the toolbox very happy about that,.

I have been driving pickup trucks for the last 20 years and have always used a traditional crossbed tool box. I just bought a new 2021 Sierra 2500 AT4 and was looking for a new look (no tool box) but still required the storage for tools, hunting and camping gear.

I was a little skeptical about going with a full bed drawer system mainly because of the loss off 12” of depth in the bed. I have had the decked system now for about 3 months and don’t regret it one but.

I love not having to climb into the bed to get to my gear. The drawers are easy to organize and are extremely durable. It makes it very easy to remove tools and add hunting and camping gear as needed.

The loss of the 12” of bed depth takes a little getting used to as everything in the bed needs to be strapped down. I bought a few different sized cargo nets and they work perfectly. I’d rather have the organization and ease of getting to my gear over the extra few minutes to throw a cargo net over items being transported in the bed.

The decked system was easy to install. Only took an hour (by myself) once I laid out all the parts and read through the directions. I highly recommend the decked system and the accessories that go with it.

This is barely a step up from a soft rack. I will be returning it. It looks well made, and would more secure than a soft rack, but I expected better. It’s only designed for one board/SUP (you could stack a couple if you want).

You cannot put two of them side by side on the aero blades (too wide) if you wanted to be able to carry more boards on the rack??? I happened to have kept my previous Thule surfboard rack (lockable, designed for 2 boards, adjustable width, looks similar to what they are calling a “SUP Taxi” on their website now) and I’m going to use it instead.

I had hoped to add more board carrying capacity (my kids both surf).

10 points for ease of use. Installs in a flash. I would imagine this will fit any crossbar on the market but it seems best suited to aero type bars. Only drawback I can see, which is not applicable where I live, is the fact that they can only be installed permanently on THULE crossbars which leaves them susceptible to theft when a board is not strapped to them.

At this price point though, it’s hardly a deal breaker.

Dear, (1) Allow me to suggest that you improve the level of Portuguese on your website, which is downright bad. Apparently they translated into Portuguese using an online translator. which always gives a bad result; (2) If I purchase the “Thule Board Shuttle”, do I need any additional equipment to transport the board, or does this product, by itself, already transport and fix it? Thank you!.

I am a retired senior woman who loves biking. I bought a new bike and have no indoor garage. I was struggling to push the bike up 5 steps to put in my back room. I thought there had to be an easier way.

Did some internet searching and this Thule Bike Ramp was the answer to my prayers! Lightweight, folds to take anywhere, and with one little push it goes right up the steps into my house. Thank you Back Country, (just wish I waited for the sale price!).

The long loading ramp does make a difference! I am loading heavy Ebikes and the extra length definitely makes it easier. It makes it less likely for the back wheel to slip off the ramp when loading, which sometimes happened with the shorter ramp.

I drive an Escalade so this extended ramp is definitely a help in loading my ebike. I am a lady of 79 and the bike is heavy so I still need help to “drive” it up the ramp but without the extended ramp the bike would have to be lifted onto the carrier.

This new Loadhandler replaces one I bought 15+ years ago. I unloaded about 2500 loads of grass, dirt, bark mulch and rocks over the years. The old one was only now starting to wear out. The new one has been improved in the areas where the old one was wearing.

This product is possibly the best item you should invest in if you have a pickup and actually use the box for hauling stuff! It’s quick to unload and will absolutely save your back. Best bang for the buck of any purchase I have made for my truck.

This item was purchased to assist on a landscaping project with hauling fill dirt/rocks in my Ford Ranger small pickup, approximately 25 loads. It greatly speeds unloading, replacing 5-10 minutes of shoveling with 30 seconds of cranking.

It had no problems moving the entire mix, which included some 100+ lb rocks. It was worth the money for this project, and I would recommend it to others. It was used on the painted bed of the truck with no bedliner.

After the project, the truck tailgate had indentations where the Loadhandler brackets attached. If a plastic bedliner insert had been used or the Loadhandler mat, then these dents may not have appeared.

Although the dirt loads weren’t weighed, I don’t believe the 2000 lb capacity was exceeded. The truck was loaded so it still had some spring travel on the stock springs and shocks. When using the Loadhandler, make sure the straps are secure.

On the Ranger tailgate, there was approximately 2 feet of excess strap hanging out the buckle after tightening. On one unloading, this excess strap wrapped around the tarp pole, and I broke the bracket.

I was able to tie the strap through another hole on the bracket and continue with the project. I did experience a bracket failure on the other side through normal use. Since it was at the end of the project, I was able to unload the last couple of loads by holding the bracket in place with my hands.

The Loadhandler company promptly replaced both sides of the bracket when I called their customer service folks. Based on this experience, consider purchasing the 3000 lb rated Loadhandler if you plan on unloading a more dense material like rocks and dirt.

I’ve installed a spray-on Full Metal Jacket bedliner, and it is stickier than just paint. I have used the Loadhandler since with grass and bark, and it still works like a champ. I would likely buy the Loadhandler mat if I decide to move dirt and rocks again.

I was skeptical when i first purchased this product but it really works. I put it on both of my pickup trucks and use it for soil and mulch and it turned my truck into a dump truck. I lay a tarp in the truck first and then roll out the loadhandler on top of it and I’m ready to go.

This product paid for itself in two jobs. I saved myself an half hour or more per job by having this device. I highly recommend anyone with a truck should have this as a standard accessory.

This product enhances our dock delivery capabilities. We believe the price was fair and our only negative is that we bought something much heavier than we needed. But all in all we are very satisfied with price, service and delivery time.

This ramp is terrific. If showed up when it was supposed to. It is built very strong, and it should last for many years. A very excellent product. The price is very good as well. Thanks for the service.

A very satisfied customer.

Trucks have gotten higher, and it can be a challenge to climb into the back when the tailgate is down. Bought this item a couple of years ago. Since then, two of my friends have gotten them for their rigs.

It takes longer than the youtube video states: It took about two hours to install, while laying on my back in the driveway. It was a pretty straight forward install. The driver-side end cap came off somewhere earlier this year.

I contacted Bestop and they sent me a new cap. Used epoxy and screws to secure it. Bottom line is that it is used by me all the time. Great purchase. My wife thinks I should get one for the passenger side.

Not sure if bumpers are getting higher or if I’m just less limber, or both! Anyways, I bought a pair of these steps and have been very happy with them, both for getting in and out of the bed. Install was easy, although I had to remove a wishbone-shaped bumper support bracket and I did have some clearance issues which I solved with the addition of the included spacer, with a few whacks of a deadblow.

Install was about 20 minutes per side, very very easy. I did reach out to Bestop customer support directly, it’s been a month and no reply. Take that for what you will, they make a good product but I think you’re on your own for support.

This step allows me to access my truck bed with out having to climb over the tailgate and believe me when you are 80+ that is a real plus. Easy to raise and lower. The only reason I didn’t give the step 5 stars was the difficulty in installing it.

I only had a pair of 8″ ramps to raise the rear and was installing this by myself. Probably would have been a lot easier with 2 people.

Works ok only IF you secure it with cargo straps to your truck bed. Otherwise it is poorly designed. Example is they could have easily extended the hitch receiver and ‘T’ support ends to add strength and rigidity but nope.

Once you have that sorted out then it works fine for hauling long items. I use it for hauling kayaks up to 14’ and it has been useful and less complicated than using a trailer.

This worked well in the back of my truck. I was able to move a canoe easily, without putting the canoe on the cab. Also worked well for moving some 16′ 2x10s and other wood. I did try using it with my ATV and it was a little too heavy to be helpful.

This may be an issue with my ATV versus the product.

I found this item to be absolutely perfect for my truck. The finish matched the bedliner exactly. Installation was exactly as the video install said, except there was no overspray on the mounting screws underneath, so no extra time wasted there.

Once the brackets were on attaching the running boards was easy. I saw on some other posts that getting the running boards equa-distant from the truck body was difficult to get even, however I was able to get mine exactly the same on both sides without much trouble.

I could have knocked it out in around an hour had I not busted my eyebrow open on the bottom of the truck. Going with a wider board like these is a real bonus when getting “out” of the truck. It’s easy to find with your footing without being overly cautious.

Although a bit pricey I feel like it is well worth it.

Got these as a “temporary flash deal” for <$320, amazing! Assembly was very easy and took less than an hour and minimal tools. They look awesome and totally take my new 2021 Ram 1500 Bighorn to the next level.

They are pretty wide (and I like it). They flare a little wider towards the front 2 doors and are slightly slimmer towards the back row of the cab. They stick out from the normal truck width by a little bit, so added protection from someone opening their door too much in the parking lot too.

Powder coat looks sufficient and they have a 5 year warranty on the powder coat also. I am extremely happy with them! Shipping was very fast. Ordered Monday afternoon and they arrived very early Wednesday morning.

The only MINOR negative: I left a little gap between the running boards and the truck body (just to eliminate them potentially scuffing/chipping the paint with driving vibration). The negative is that the gap isn’t the same throughout.

The middle of the running boards have the tightest gap, whereas the front and rear portions show a little bigger gap. I think this is just due to the slightly curved body shape of the truck and not a fault of the running boards.

The boards look straight. But just an OCD thing. You won’t even notice it 99% of the time. Overall, for <$320, these are the best looking and functioning running boards. DON’T HESITATE ON THESE!.

Very pleased with the apparent quality, style and functionality of the Go Rhino RB20 Running Boards; Textured Black, on my silver ’22 Silverado. Install was very reasonable(the YouTube video provided was very easy to follow), only about 45minutes and not too challenging at all.

I had to request a couple bolts that were missing, but that was not too big of a deal. The boards look to provide reasonable protection, are sized well but not too big or gaudy amd function as I need it to.

They are great trucks. They have great clearance and they fit the perfectly on my 36 inch cruiser running 70 mm wheels with no wheel Vite whatsoever. Great piece. However they came with a few scratches that looked like they came from factory.

Very nice trucks! Well made and delivery was fast and efficient. One minor gripe – the packaging was however very oversized and loose, so everything was rattling around inside! This could have lead to damage in transit but luckily not the case on this occasion.

I have used this truck for freestyle/dance for four seasons. The turnability, durability and predictability of this truck is amazing. I love the colors and the design too. Thank you Caliber!

I picked this up at Harbor Freight for around $40. My store usually would only get a couple in every once in a while, but I was able to snag one. I attached it to a utility trailer to haul and dump gravel.

It works really well and saves time and my back. So far I’ve moved about 12 tons of gravel with this installed. If it was worn out now, it’d still be worth it. There are a few weak points in this item.

First, the handle just slots through a couple of holes in the thin walled pipe. When you’re cranking hard enough to move 1500-2000 pounds of material, that slot starts to deform. Eventually, I suspect the slot will twist beyond being usable.

If it does, I’ll figure out another solution like a solid piece with a milled slot that bolts into the pipe. Second, the “tarp” material is not super durable. If you get a small rock or something under this, it will punch a hole through.

I sweep out the trailer after every load, but still have a couple of little holes in there. The good news is that they have not spread or torn, so that’s good. Lastly, the “grip” on the handle is garbage.

It’s literally just a little piece of plastic over a bolt. I made a new handle by 3d printing a more ergonomic one. This made it much more comfortable and allowed me to add more torque because of a better grip.

Overall, for the price, this item is excellent for the weekend warrior home owner. If you’re a contractor using this every day, I don’t think it’d last long. That being said, I can buy five of these for the price of one of the name brand name units, so it’s great value for me.

I purchased the power step running boards for my wife and I. We are both getting older now and find it more difficult to enter and exit my 2016 Ram 1500 4X4 Laramie. I removed the old running boards and with the assistance from a friend was able to install the Amp Research Power Step Running Boards in an afternoon.

My wife is able to enter and exit the truck without assistance for the first time ever. Thanks guys!! You have a great product. Will submit pictures and video if I can figure out how to do that.

The hardest part about installing these is removing the heavy running boards that come with the truck. I have a 2014 F150 4×4 Lariat Edition ecoboost supercrew with 2″ leveling kit. It came with some ok looking chrome and black running boards that are mounted too high to be very useful as a step helper.

These things are heavy which makes them difficult to remove. I purchased the Amp Research PowerStep Running Boards with Plug-n-Play. I think I would order w/o plug n play if knew better about what I was getting, but boy, the plug n play kit did make installing supper easy.

The PnP kit is a simple harness that plugs into your OBD II port in the cab, which blocks the OBD II port for usage for anything else. So if you have a tuner and need to periodically change the tune or OBD II diag BT dongle to watch boost and other performance parameters or need to periodically have your SMOG checkup, the boards will be unplugged.

The running boards are considerably lighter aluminum with a heavy duty black rough coating. The mounting hardware is mostly aluminum. You route some wires, mount the motors to the brackets, mount the brackets to the truck, mount boards to the brackets, then plug it all in, lather rinse and repeat for the other side and your all done.

The boards come with some LED puck lights that use 2 sided tape to mount under the door jam for lighting up the step after it goes down when you open the door. When up, you have to look closely to see the running boards at all and the running board protects the lights and motors.

When down, the running boards split the distance between the ground and height of the door sill, giving a nice easy step. Now my wife likes to go places in the truck without a hurumph. Happy Life and its so cool! Expensive?, Yes, but really are very nice.

My 2002 sierra had a slot for a two by 4 to divide the bed for holding stuff towards the back of the bed. My 2017 Silverado has the slot but the bed curves in at the bottom making the two by 4 idea not work.

This small-sized load lock works great for holding items (groceries) in place and takes 5 seconds to remove and or install, when loading larger stuff in the bed Highly recommended.

Heavy duty, easy to install, will not slip when large lateral weight applied. Repositions easily. Good value product, buy two, why use inferior bungee cords?

If your like me and have longer beach fishing rods you know the Gladiator bed is to short. I bought this and attached 2″pvc pipe with pipe clamps. It tips if you don’t use the front of the bed as a stop but it works none the less.

The price of this item was very reasonable. It was also easy to install. Took only about 15-20 minutes to hook it up to my truck. And it works great. It stabilizes extra long loads just as advertised.

These things are awesome! They’re super strong, mostly because they’re really skinny, but they do a heck of a job. I’ve loaded muck trucks full of wet concrete into the back of a 5, 000lb dump truck and never doubted that they would hold a they solid.

You just have to make sure that you put the assemblies together tightly and I would recommend purchasing a couple of lock washers to make sure that they stay on. The only fail point on them are the two pieces of quarter inch metal that you utilize in order to securely fasten it up to so again just to get some anti-skid tape for it or some rubber type adhesive to the back end of it and it helps reinforce it and also keeps it from slipping but I loaded well over a thousand pounds.

A muck truck that easily weighs that alone plus full of material and never doubted that it wouldn’t hold and it would have been a very big issue had it or not and it never failed and that’s all day long every about 5 minutes running that muck truck up the ramps and having no issues.

Very highly recommend only if used properly.

I just bought 3 sets of these, to add to the pair I already have, to build a ramp for my partially paralyzed wife. Imagine my surprise when they were not an exact match to what I have! I checked the SKU number and they were the same, but the new ones don’t have a smooth flat area for the end pieces to attach to.

Now the traction feature goes all the way to the top. Not sure if it’s a good thing, since you now have to use the holes punched in the traction feature, to mount the end plates. Since I’m using these as a ramp for my wife’s wheelchair, I added fender washers to the bolt tops, because I am concerned about them pulling through under load.

Still a good value.

Purchased 6 of these to create a wide ramp into my garden shed. They don’t rot like wood ramps. They don’t get muddy like a dirt ramp. A cement ramp takes too long to build. Critters have a difficult time walking into my shed.

The ramp stays pretty dry in the rain & snow. No slipping of my boots on a slick surface. My little tractor, power tools, and yard wagon have no problems going up the ramp. One doesn’t need to modify the shed doors in any way to accommodate closing/opening them.

We live in a high rise and use this cart almost every day. It is so well made we can put a lot of weight on it and it moves. It is very sturdy and the handle easily folds up and snaps in place for easy storing.

This saves us having to go down to the lobby to borrow a cart now that we have one of our own. This is an additional one we bought. The first one is 26 years old and works like new. We just keep this one in another place.

I loved these carts, and I replaced the one I had just like it, and the wheels are smaller this time. It makes it very loud and squirrelly. I am hoping to find bigger wheels like the ones I had, and replace them.

It holds 250 pounds and for a few more dollars I could have bought the one that holds 500 pounds. It’s higher off the ground and it’s used in our condo building. Next time, I will go with the bigger size.