Thanks again. Yours must have been made right, too, for them to stand the test of time. I have a thing for work truck done right with a custom touch wherever practical. Form & function baby! heh heh I was taught well by Dave my old boss (R.I.P.). What a character. I try to build them tough yet unbulky. I see racks done where they left a member out to save a buck, yet diagonals all over the place that are unnecessary. They are crooked and bent. I hate when anything doesn't lay flat and straight up there. One thing I do that most people criticize is all cross bars are welded rigid. Most racks are made with at least the rear bar removable for hauling tall things. I built mine for what I do and I'm not in the refrigerator hauling business. I can't haul front entry door or huge windows that are too wide and tall. If I hauled those regularly it would be different, but I just use a trailer.
I had the racks on for hauling scaffold for a job a year ago. I usually only put them on when needed, but the job ended just before snow started flying and when I first used it in the spring I discovered it was time for front brakes. I tore into the whole front end, then lift, and haven't driven since May. But I'm really liking the back in the day work truck look it's sporting, maybe more than without the racks. It bugs guys to see me "using it". On that job last year the paving contractor asked if I'd sell it. I said never, I had to sell my other two so this one's the keeper. He said, "If I had it I'd restore it and it would never see another day of work in it's life". I said, "Been there, done that. I'd rather enjoy it. As long as I'm still working any truck I own works, too, even if I restore it".
Here are the next set I made for the '92 (see the step?):
Then I had to modify them for the service body on the '95 I built:
Then I ruined them. But good thing they were strong:
