With the ones I posted, you can remove them and store away although a bracket will be left in place but you can also get the stuff above the cab, lessening what you have hanging over the back. I have a headache rack ond one of these gizmo's. I love it and will always have this setup.

 

Sounds like a little barter is in order with a welder in need of a holster or two

 

Exactly how I got one of my welders Come to think of it, I do need a new chop saw...

 

Tailgate extender and firewood racks....

 

You can do it like this guy!

 

This is how I secure a load in the bed of the truck.
I also use ratchet straps, not the lightweight tiedown straps.

 

We don't need no stinking trailer

 

That's good stuff.

Thanks for the pic shovelhead.

 

In California it's 3 feet.
In Missouri it's 5 feet.
It's best to know your State's requirement, or err on the side of caution.

I have hauled lots of long lumber with my truck. It has an 8 foot bed, but I've got an Aux. tank and a tool box in the front of the bed too. So those two together eat up 31 inches of space. If I put the tailgate down I have 7.5 feet of space. Last summer I hauled 16 footers with that truck with the Aux. tank, but I took out the toolbox! Hauling lumber that long is an art form. I can only do it if I am also buying some 8 or 10 footers, and 12 footers, in addition to the 16's. I load the 8's first, then put the 10's on top and then the 12's on top of the 10's. Then I put in the 16 footers, and I weighed down the front of that load with a long piece of railroad track. This particular load I had to haul about 12 miles down a State highway, then another 10 miles down country roads. It bounced a bit, and that's always dangerous, but I kept the speed down, especially going over bumps and had no problems. But I did breathe a sigh of relief once it was unloaded.

 

Ummm, you don't mention tieing it down. Did you merely have it weighed down with The R. R. track?

 

There's no Ummm about it. In addition to 150 pounds of rr track, I had some concrete blocks on there too, but no tie-downs. With the aux tank in place I can't get to the tie-down points. The load was strapped together very tightly, and that helps. Usually I use a 16 foot trailer to haul long lumber, but on this jobsite I needed to cross a narrow private bridge which zig-zagged at the far end, and immediately climb a steep creek-gravel driveway at the end of the bridge. There was just no way my truck was going to keep up the speed needed to get up that creek-gravel driveway while dragging my trailer behind me after zig-zagging off the end of the bridge. Even with a normal load in my (2-WD) truck I have a hard time getting up that driveway without digging trenches and scattering creek gravel 20 feet behind me. The hillbillies who live there all have 4-WD vehicles... and that's not a pejorative... I'm a proud hillwilliam myself.