Shims for truck ladder rack

I'm trying to put a ladder/lumber rack on my B4000 (ranger copy).  All is going well except that my bed rails aren't flat.  They tilt down toward the outside which makes the rack uprights point out about 5 degrees from plumb.  My original thought was to install them and just grab the uprights and bend the bedrails flat, but the way the stake pockets  are placed under the rail makes that impossible.

My google-fu is failing me.  How would you fix this problem?  Anyone make shims that might work?

How much gap do you have to work with in the pocket? Could you just screw a small piece of flat stock to the rack where it meets the top outside and bottom inside of the pocket? 

1/4" is my guess.  I cut a few wedges of wood and found that 7 degrees seems to be the ticket.  A google search for "tapered shim degree" turns up a ton of 4 and 5 degree leaf spring/axle wedges, but the cheapest I can find them is $6 each.  8 of those plus shipping is over $50.  Plus that only gets me 5 degrees.

Here is a photo with some extruded aluminum as a straightedge

Why not just weld a piece of 1/4” flat stock to the outside edge of the bottom of the base plate of the rack?

That had crossed my mind.  Kinda ruins the powdercoat and the edge of the steel will likely eat the sheet metal but worth a look-see.  Maybe I can find something like a beveled strip of steel, or grind it so that it has a flat edge matching the bed rail.

I also thought about some of that edge trim - the rubber u-shaped stuff with a steel core, but A- I don't think it will be thick enough and B- I think the rubber would degrade quickly letting the steel core chew things up.

In reply to Curtis :

Then forget the welding and just epoxy them in place.  Put some rubber pads between the base plates and the truck rails 

I don’t think you need to worry about shimming it at all. Most of the strength is in the inner lip of the bed rail. And the ladder rack should have a foam or similar film to take up the gap. Shins will do more damage than good. 

You could pie cut the down tubes, bolt the plates down and then weld the back up. 

In reply to Nate90LX :

That’s probably the best answer. On my brother’s Ranger he wanted a ladder rack and  cap.  My cousin built the rack and just had flat plate feet on top of the bed rails sticking out beyond the side of the cap and welded the rack to it.  He never had any trouble with anything bending or damaging the bed and we loaded the rack up pretty heavy with lumber several times.

Nate90LX said:

I don’t think you need to worry about shimming it at all. Most of the strength is in the inner lip of the bed rail. And the ladder rack should have a foam or similar film to take up the gap. Shins will do more damage than good. 

For the front rail, maybe.  The back rail is removable for taller loads, so every time I take that rail off I'll have floppy uprights.

My local home improvement shoppe what has a big orange sign sells plastic shims for doors and whatnot. Might that work for your purposes? 

In reply to Curtis :

But you don’t need the uprights to be stiff when the back rail is removed. You won’t be carrying anything on the rack at that point. 

( And you probably want to re-Install the back rail behind your tall load to help keep it in place anyway)

SVreX said:

In reply to Curtis :

But you don’t need the uprights to be stiff when the back rail is removed. You won’t be carrying anything on the rack at that point. 

I'm not going to drive around with floppy uprights.  Not every load can have the rail put back in place after loading.

akamcfly said:

My local home improvement shoppe what has a big orange sign sells plastic shims for doors and whatnot. Might that work for your purposes? 

I actually had thought of that.  I found some plastic shims in my garage from an old project.  I will try to make it work, but I'm afraid I'll have to stack 5 or 6 to get enough angle.  Worth a try.

I like the plastic shim idea.  If you can't find any that ready made to the right size and angle, it should be easy enough to find some random plastic object and cut shims out of it.

Consider the following:

 

Realistically is there any reason to not build a flatbed with the side setups you want and then gut and hang the bedsides on it so it at least looks normal?

In reply to Grizz :

How is that bed the slightest bit useful as a ladder or lumber rack?

In reply to SVreX :

Not that one in particular, that was just the first flatbed photo I grabbed, that's why I said a flat bed with the sides you want. Build it to do exactly what you need it to do to your satisfaction.

In reply to Grizz :

Right. 

But no flatbed will serve well as a ladder rack. 

How do you figure?

In reply to Grizz :

Because the entire point of a ladder rack is to get long loads above the cab. 

Curtis is talking about a Ranger. A Ranger bed maximum length is 72”. How is a flat bed going to solve the problem of needing to carry a 16’ board or a 28’ extension ladder?

(Guy comes to forum asking for a source for tapered shims, and is told he should custom build an entire bed for his truck... Welcome to GRM Haha!!)

SVreX said:

In reply to Grizz :

. How is a flat bed going to solve the problem of needing to carry a 16’ board or a 28’ extension ladder?

 

By putting a ladder rack on the flatbed. The entire point of the thread is he doesn't like the curved bed rails leaving a gap with his ladder rack. My entire suggestion is why not just replace the bedrails with something that wont leave a gap instead of jerry rigging something with shims.

In reply to Grizz :

Sounds like a $2500 solution to a $2 problem.