[RCE1]

Howdy. I have an 02 Ford F-250 short bed extra cab with cab high Lear camper shell. I need to build a platform that will support about 400 lbs, but only when the vehicle isn't moving. I am a professional photographer and would like to be able to take pictures off the roof of the truck. I already have a 2 bar Yakima setup but am not sure it will take the weight, so I was thinking about using an "over the camper shell" ladder rack that mounts on the rails, then build some sort of platform on top of that. Anybody do this to their truck? I'd love to see some pictures if they were available. Any recommendations about brand names? I live on the coast, so aluminum might be preferable from a corrosion standpoint. Thanks a bunch. I love that truck.

 

[NCHornet]

Most of those units don't have any vertical supports over the cab, with 400lbs I would want some added.

 

[Layson]

I have seen a guy with a 4wheeler on top....and two in the bed. He had some type of rack. Don't know what it was though...

sorry man...

 

[RCE1]

[ QUOTE ]
Most of those units don't have any vertical supports over the cab, with 400lbs I would want some added.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for answering. I was planning to keep the platform over the vertical supports and not extend over the cantilever.

I had a platform on my old Mitsubishi Montero. I employed 3 Yakima bars and had a welder make me a galvanized steel frame filled with expanded mesh, which I attached with u-bolts to the bars. It worked well enough, but that vehicle had very sturdy rain gutters to take the Yakima mounts. I'm not so sure of the tracks mounted on the top of the LEAR shell. I am sure that LEAR wouldn't approve.