Aries 111000 Classic Heavy-Duty Black Steel Truck Headache Rack Cab Protector, Select Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge, GMC, Ram

Looks 🔥 on my 2017 GMC 3500HD Dually. Super easy installation I did it by myself in about 30min, quality is surprisingly good for the price and the hardware is good. It’s got good weight to it and doesn’t feel cheap. Very stabile and versatile.

Was hesitant to order this headache rack for my mothers f150, because several reviewers complained of the mounts landing right in the double wall of the bed making it impossible to install, or some added spacers to move the mounts outward. However the headache rack arrived complete well packed, with no damage to the rack or the packaging. Once the mounts are installed on the rack, the rack centers on the bed nicely. The cab contour is a little off, but that is to be expected with a universal headache rack. (it is not really noticeable and follows generally well, but if you are looking for an exact copy of the cab body line you will want a custom built rack for your model truck.) That being said If you are looking to just have it follow the general body line uniformly, and frame the 3rd brake light nicely this will do just fine. I don't know if the design has been changed since the reviewers were complaining about it having movement, but ours has no movement once it is fully tightened. (any force to the rack, moves the entire truck on it's suspension..) The mounts land nicely on the top of the bed rails, the holes in the mounts do go toward the inner side of the bed void, however it is easy enough to get a wrench on the nuts from the bottom of the truck. (you just have to feel for the bolts, because the back ones will not be very easy to see because of the contours of the inner bed wall, but the do go through above the inner bed well and are easily reached from the bottom of the truck. (it will take 2 people to easily tighten the mounts, one under the truck holding the wrench on the nut, while the other is up top tightening the bolts.) One thing to note, is the plastic bedrail protectors do collapse under these mounts once they are tight, so that is a possibility to why some complain that it moves, they may have only tightened it until it started to collapse the bed rail protector. (it does not bother us that the protector compresses, and if it was of a concern likely any headache rack would collapse the rail protectors... But the mounts on this rack would be fairly easy to put under the protectors if there were slots cut in the protectors for the upright of the mount to go though. or place spacers under the rail protector so the void in it could not compress. I may do one of those to her truck in the future, but she is happy the way it is.) As for the welds, the one I received had no grinding marks as others have complained of, however the welds are all full beads, some heavier than others... so if you want concealed or ground flush welds this is not the rack for you. But likely, you will not find one with concealed welds in this price point. Over all this rack would be very hard to beat for the price, and looks as if it will hold up well even for somebody that uses it heavily. (she really won't use it that heavily) We are happy with it, and she likes the way it looks on her truck.

This cab protector is ruggedly built, for the most part, and good value for the money. It has a design flaw that can be corrected at the time of installation and I provide a fix for that flaw later in the review. I got this protector for a beat up 2002 Silverado 1500 4WD that we mainly use for hauling firewood. After replacing the rear window twice due to misdirected firewood, I decided to install a window protector. Looks are unimportant on this old dented up truck but it is a nice-looking rack. Keep in mind this is a universal protector and do not expect it to simply bolt on. If you want one custom built for a specific make and model, expect to spend several times as much money on it. The problem encountered on the Silverado is that the front factory bolt hole was right over the side of the stake cavity in the bed and it was impossible to locate a bolt there (see second photo). I had to drill a new hole and locate the front bolt, which you can see in the first figure, well behind that point in order to get to the bolt on the underside. That in itself is no big deal but for some reason they put a notch in the bar alongside the front hole which creates a very weak spot in the mounting bar as can be seen in the second photo. If you mounted it only as shown in the first photo and you, for example, tied down a load with a ratchet strap hooked to the top of the rack, you would simply bend the whole rack backwards with it bending at the weak point. Even if you were able to use the front factory bolt hole, there would still be a weak point there. I drilled a new hole in front of the front factory hole at a location that allowed me to use a J-bolt to connect through the stake cavity in the bed to the tie down hole in the side of the stake cavity as shown in the third photo. In retrospect, I probably did not need the added hole for the bolt to the bed shown in the first photo. The J-bolt connection helped a little bit with weak point in the bar, but not much. I figured it was just a matter of time until someone pulled really hard backwards on the rack and bent the mounting bar badly. My fix is shown in the fourth photo. I added a brace on each side. I made it out of 1"x1"x1/8" angle iron bolting it to the mounting bar and the rack. With this addition, I believe I now have a very rugged frame that should outlast the truck. The only tools required to make the brace were a drill, a hacksaw, and a vice and the angle iron can be purchased at most any hardware store, so most anyone can do it. I strongly recommend it. By-the-way, I am a licensed mechanical engineer with many years of experience and know a thing or two about designing structures of this nature but I think the weakness would be obvious to most backyard mechanics as well, so it is a little surprising that it was not corrected in the factory design. I should also point out that the "louvers" on the protector are not very sturdy. They should be fine for light or soft items that might otherwise hit the window but they are not going to hold up to hard impacts (e.g. being hit with a piece of thrown firewood). For applications where it might take some hard impacts, I recommend cutting out a piece of 1/2" or thicker plywood to place on the rack to protect it. With that addition, it should be ready for some rugged heavy-duty use, which it will get on my truck. All-in-all, I think it is a good rack for the money as long as you understand you may have to do a bit of work and adapting to install it. Edit: For some reason the order of the photos in the published version does not match what was showing on my screen when writing the review. Thus, the references to the first, second, third, and fourth photos are out of order. May be a bit confusing but I think it should be evident which photo is being referenced if you look carefully at the photos.

EDIT; Well, this rack has been on my truck since 2012, 11 years now! I am a full time builder and it has hauled hundreds of massive loads. I used oversized washer on the underside of the mounting bolts to spread the load but this has held up well and is still in use. If that isn't worth 5 stars, I don't know what it. I'm fairly pleased with the rack. It fits my 99 F-150 perfectly and I've hauled lots of lumber since I installed it 6 months ago. This is a decent headache rack and it would rate a 5-star value if it had come with the full hardware package. I had to provide 4 of my own bolts and nuts/washers for the installation. Otherwise, good value rack. I'd say it can handle 20, 2x6 16's at full load.

I have had this headache rack for 3 years and 6 months and installed on 2 different trucks. (98 Sierra 2500 & 08 Silverado 2500) It is still in great shape, with the only rust near the bottom, as pictured. It is well built and has taken a beating but is holding up well. Let's put it this way, I have seen other more popular and expensive brands rust after not even one year. My only gripe is the width between the bed rails. If it would be an inch wider, my oversize WeatherGuard toolbox would fit perfectly, but I still give the rack 5 starts all around because it has proven over and over how well its built, as well as the quality of the finish. If I needed a second rack, I would purchase the Aries again.

Product does fit a C1500 Chevy, but there were some problems encountered. The installation packet of bolts etc had a problem. The bolts that hold the rack to the bed rails are too short to allow tightening of the bolt, due to the limited aperture opening in the truck bed. Also the bit size given in the instructions was not even close to what is needed. Instructions list a 13/32 drill bit but in reality with has to be a 1/2 inch bit. Using the 1/2 bit bolt will fit. You just cannot tighten the wash, nut and lockwasher. I obtained 2" longer bolts, which allow me to work in the limited bed aperture to tighten the nut. The new bolts had to be threaded to all the way to the head of bolt to make it work. I also used Bondit to glue the bottom washer, lock washer and nut together to make it much easier to start the bolt from the top. And hold the bondit set of washer, lockwasher and nut with needle nose. Worked aok. Rack itself seemed good quality.

very simple, and straightforward instructions! took me no time. it’s strong and built tough! definitely recommend the purchase!

For somebody that isn't a mechanic for a living, this product was perfect. I bought it for my son's Christmas present and we installed it ourselves in about 15-20 minutes. It's solid, made wonderfully, and as per design, it was exactly what he was looking for. I'll also not that the seller was incredibly service oriented. The package was damaged during shipment. We contacted the seller through Amazon, they responded immediately by sending a completely new unit and asked we simply send the first one back. The new one arrived substantially more protected, in perfect shape, and as you can see by the photo, looks great on my sons truck. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Fits perfect and looks great!! Bought for a 2019 Dodge ram and it fits perfect and was very easy to install!!

A headache rack tall enough for the lower box on my 06 Ram. Fast delivery, easy install and works well. I like how it looks too!

So, I like this rack and think it's decent value. However, the bracket design needs a rethink. I had to modify the brackets so that they don't flex and cause the rack to vibrate and jiggle in the wind. I also noticed after less than a year light rust spots popping up. So, I used Dom16 by Dominion Sure Seal. It took care of that, too.

I bought this for my 2014 F-150 and it fit perfectly. I had to drill a couple holes for each side through the side walls, but was easy enough, and then just slipped the bolts through, tightened them up and good to go! The wide top rack is quite nice, I chose this one over a Back Rack brand for that reason, makes it ideal for carrying materials and ladders at the same time without having to stack it all up too high. Would highly recommend!

Easy to install and looks even better than the description. Husband is super happy with it.