Best hitch mounted truck bed extender?

[thedutchtouch]

Hi all, I'm back in a pickup after a few years cartopping and looking for recommendations on hitch mounted bed extenders. Not sure if I'm overthinking this since it's just a few pieces of metal and since harbor freight sells one and there's a few on Amazon in the 75 dollar range, but are these decent quality? I don't mind spending a few more dollars to ensure my kayak doesn't meet the pavement. What do you pickup bed haulers use?

[dsaavedra]

I do not use one personally, but I have heard good things about the ones from HF

[Mark]

Justin,

I've been using the Yakima Long Arm bed extender in my Tacoma since the summer of 2020.

LongArm – Yakima

I've carried my two 12 foot Ultimates and my 13 foot Revo thousands of miles with it with no problems. In truth, I could carry them without the extender but I like the extra stability the extender supplies.

Also, I like it because it's made of aluminum and therefore quite lightweight. That makes installation in the hitch and its subsequent removal very easy.

Another good featrure is that the unit locks into the hitch with a threaded bolt, not a simple hitchpin. As a result there is no shaking and no wobble in the extender. It provides a very solid platform on which to secure your kayak.

My truck bed is 6.5 feet plus the tailgait. My 13 foot Revo is on the Long Arm in this photo:

Truck4.jpg

I secure the boat in the bed with a single strap at mid-hull. That strap connects to factory installed tie-downs in the bed. The blue strap you see over the stern of the kayak secures it to Long Arm and also stops the kayak from sliding backward out of the bed. What you cannot easily see in the photo is an optional vinyl pad on the Long Arm. I find that useful when I slide the kayak into the truck. The pad spares the hull from unnecessary scratches and helps the boat slide easier into the bed.

I usually remove the Long Arm after each trip. But sometimes I leave it installed between trips. Another good feature of the device is that it easily converts to a vertical position by adjusting handscrews. That prevents people from walking into it or worse, hitting it with their cars when no boats are in my truck. That feature also comes in handy at some launch parking lots where I don't want the Long Arm to extend beyond my parking space.

Finally, You can see a Yakima Showboat 66 roller is still installed on my Sienna van in the background. For years I cartopped my kayaks on my van with the aid of the Showboat roller. I have not used it since I purchased my truck but I keep it just in case. Transporting my kayaks by truck has simply been so much easier for me. So, I don't know if the Long Arm is the "best" extender, but it has worked well for me.

[kuljc]

i had the HF extender, then got the yakima longarm.

The HF worked. so if you want something cheap, go for it. It's very heavy, but also heavy duty. so if you ever haul 2x4s or decking, you can double duty with this.

the yakima is amazingly light and a breeze to attach to the hitch. it also has a lot of different configurations/extensions and I feel holds my kayak better than the HF extender. BUT it is not as strong as the HF, so i would not use it for 2x4s, etc. I am very happy using it for my kayak and love the upgrade, but of course it's quite a bit more expensive than HF.

The only complaint was that they are both a bit lose on my hitch, so i got a hitch tightener to prevent it from bumping around so much. like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[thedutchtouch]

thank you all for the replies, awesome info and very much appreciated. i DO have plans to haul lumber etc in the future, so heavy duty/steel is the path for me. after looking at the yakima website though, 300 lb rating and being able to extend to line up with the rack on top of my truck cap is pretty awesome. is it 200$ more awesome though is the question...

[Mark]

Good luck in your decision Justin. The Long Arm is defintely not inexpensive. But functionally, I'm very pleased with it. It's easily installed and removed and it provides a solid foundation for my kayaks to travel securely.

Mine fits snuggly into my trailer hitch which is 2 inches square. It tightens well beyond that already snug fit because the threads for the connecting bolt are welded into in the Long Arm itself. I really apreciate that there is no rattling in the extender nor any side-to-side or up-and-down movement of the kayak as I drive.

I've never tested its stated weight carrying capacity of several hundred pounds. My heaviest kayak is my Revo which is 70 pounds. It bears the full burden of that during the loading process with zero flex. I would not hesitate to carry heavier items with it.

[Redfish12]

I had one similar to the Harbor Freight one from Ebay that was $40. It worked well, but was heavy and after 4 years it rusted out. I lucked out and got a boondox tbone groovy through a trade and I have been happy with the weight, but I wouldn't recommend this one. It seems like I'm always tightening something and it's not as versatile as the yakima long arm. The more basic tbone seems like it would work better. I think if you want something for heavy duty lumber hauling then go with the steel. If you're just hauling the occasional lumber load like me, then the boonedox works fine for that and I am sure the long arm would too. Also, I covered my steel one with outdoor carpet which in hindsight may have been what accelerated the rust because it soaked up the salt water and I probably never hosed it off.

[thedutchtouch]

I have been lost to deer hunting season, but since that ends at the end of the month, it's back to fishing very soon. I ended up grabbing one of the harbor freight ones, it works well, however one cavest is that the pin doesn't stay in when the halves are disassembled. Once together it works fine and everything is solid . Can happily relay that the hitch extended also pulls great double duty being a place to hang a deer from (if you put it in roof rack extender mode)

[Redfish12]

You can get a pin from Home Depot that has a wire latch to keep that from happening. That’s what I did for my old eBay one.

[Jigsup]

I brought the harbor freight bed extender. Installed it on to my truck and realized it sits lower than the tailgate? Removed it from the truck and put it in my shed. Been in there ever since. I’ve just been hauling my kayak with the tailgate down with no problems. Like others have commented. It is heavy but heavy duty. Also a little difficult to store. I added reflective tape to the extender also for better visibility at night.

[ski357]

I brought the harbor freight bed extender. Installed it on to my truck and realized it sits lower than the tailgate? Removed it from the truck and put it in my shed. Been in there ever since. I’ve just been hauling my kayak with the tailgate down with no problems. Like others have commented. It is heavy but heavy duty. Also a little difficult to store. I added reflective tape to the extender also for better visibility at night.

I had the same issue. My solution was to thread a rachet strap to the extenderand hook it to the tailgate to raise it.

[Redfish12]

are you sure it's not adjustable? Mine had a number of holes and a pin to raise the crossbar up to your tailgate level or higher.