BACKRACK is one North America's leading manufacturers of Cab Guards for pickup trucks. Their products are manufactured exclusively in Oakville, Ontario, and have been since 1988. BACKRACK focuses on their core line of products, meaning they do one thing extremely well. They offer high quality, Canadian-made truck racks at a competitive price. On top of that, with warehouses located strategically across North America, their turnaround time on orders is fast.
In this article, I will walk through everything you need to know about BACKRACK in order to start shopping for your own rack system. This includes a detailed discussion of their features as well as the accessories. It is important to note that each BACKRACK Cab Guard requires one of the three different styles of mounting brackets for installation. They sell the brackets separately to save their customers money. Instead of getting a standardized bracket with the rack at a higher cost and having to buy a second, specialized bracket, you can buy the one you need the first time.
The Multiple Uses of BACKRACK Products
Before we delve too deeply, I would like to briefly talk about the different functions of BACKRACK Cab Guards. One of the things that makes BACKRACK such a useful product is the fact that it does, indeed, serve more than one purpose.
The first is as a Cab Guard. The heavy duty steel frame and well constructed cross pieces are designed to take a hit. This means they will protect your cab from damage that could be caused by shifting cargo as well as keeping long items like ladders and lumber from contacting the cab, which will save you a lot of money on dents and paint scratches. The steel is run through a double protection process; first an electro-static dip and then a black powder coat finish. This leaves you with an extremely durable, sharp looking black coat that is resistant to scratches, peeling, and chipping. The guard also serves to protect your rear window from shattering, cracking, or chipping caused by impact. For more details on their coating process, check out the video below.
It's second, but no less important, purpose, is as a Rack. The frame and cross pieces offer tonnes of places for you to attach bungee cords or ratchet straps. Not only does this allow you to secure extra long cargo that wouldn't normally fit in your truck bed (lumber, ladders, etc.) it also gives you a convenient place to secure overly tall or wobbly cargo (barbecues, dressers, etc.) easily to the back of your cab. The connection will be much more secure, and you won't have to worry about finding a way to keep the strap near the top of the cargo while it hooks on way down below.
Finally, BACKRACK offers a wide variety of brackets that allow you to customise your Cab Guard in a vast number of ways to suit your needs. Is your vehicle a work truck that needs to have whips for visibility? Or perhaps you only need to mount some sort of light accessory. What about a 2 way antenna or landscaping tools? Whatever kind of work your truck needs to do, BACKRACK has you covered with in-house brackets and mounting accessories so that you don't need to go elsewhere to find some "universal" bracket that may not even fit. BACKRACK even makes their racks compatible with tonneau covers and toolboxes!
Alright, now that we have the very basic elements of BACKRACK out of the way, let's dive into the details of the product.
BACKRACK Truck Racks
BACKRACK is unique in that they try to focus their production energy on one main product. Their logic is that if a company focuses on too many different things, each product receives less attention and, therefore, lacks the highest quality that it could have. Because of this, BACKRACK produces nothing but Cab Guards and accessories that can be used with them.
All BACKRACK Cab Guards allow you a clear line of sight through the rear window of your vehicle. While some have a more full frame than others, none of the racks will fully obscure your view.
Backrack Original
The BACKRACK Original Style Cab Guard is designed to be the Jack-of-all-Trades of their Cab Guards. The idea behind the Original is a sleek, attractive design that looks professional, keeps your vehicle's profile down, while offering the fullest range of functionality and durability. As such, the Original is compatible with the greatest number of Mounting Brackets and accessories to give you the widest range of capabilities for your vehicle.
The Original's low profile allows you to park your vehicle inside your garage or indoor parkades without an issue, and it is compatible with virtually all of BACKRACK'S Mounting Brackets. But we will talk more about those later.
Finally, the Original is designed for an easy installation that takes an hour or less and requires no drilling or modification to your truck on most models. Time is money, so whether we are talking about a company vehicle or your own working pickup truck, BACKRACK believes that quick, reliable installation that is simple to figure out is of the utmost importance. Check out the video below for more details on the installation process.
BACKRACK Variant Racks
Beyond the Original, BACKRACK offers a few different styles of Cab Guards. These variant styles are engineered to be more effective in specific scenarios, so you can choose the rack that best suits the work your truck will be doing. These variants are constructed from the same materials and offer the same high quality, long lasting durability that the Original has. One of the biggest differences is that they often require a little bit of extra work when attaching BACKRACK accessories.
Louvered Rack
The BACKRACK Louvered Cab Guard offers the same durability, and rear window and cab protection as the rest of the BACKRACK line. The Louvered Rack does, however, offer increased protection from harmful UV rays. This is because the louvers are designed to reflect or absorb a lot of sunlight. That means not only will your window receive less damage over time from UV radiation, so will your interior fabrics and other surfaces, while still allowing a great view through your rear window. The Louvered Rack also protects the people in your vehicle from some of the UV radiation, and helps to keep some of the heat out, leaving you with a cooler cab.
Half-Louvered Rack
There is also a Half-Louvered Cab Guard option available. This version allows you some of the UV protection of the full Louvered Rack, but leaves the center of your rear window open. While still protecting it from damage, this gap allows you a less-obstructed view through your rear-window. The biggest weakness of the full Louvered Rack is that the louvers aren't as strong as cross pieces in other racks, leaving you with less to strap to. The Half-Louver offers a middle ground, with extra vertical supports that can be used to strap cargo to.
Safety Rack
Offering the most protection and the highest number of anchor points for strapping, the Safety Rack is perfect for a truck that really gets put through the paces. The two inch wire screen is constructed from 3/16" cold rolled wire that is welded at each and every joint. What does that mean? It means that the mesh is extremely durable. It means that each intersection piece of mesh can be used as an anchor point. It means that the entirety of your rear window and cab is protected from damage, while still offering you a great line of sight through your rear window and the maximum amount of versatility when strapping cargo to the rack.
Half-Safety Rack
Just like with the louvered series, the Safety Rack line also features a Half-Safety Rack. This rack offers your vehicle the ultimate in cab and window protection while giving your a clear space to see through for less visual distractions. The Safety series is by far the best option for cab and rear window protection.
Three Round Rack
BACKRACK's Three Round Cab Guard gives you exactly what the name suggests. Each side of the rack has three round, vertical support columns that both shield your rear window and offer a location to anchor your straps to. The Three Round is the perfect balance between the sleek, low profile look of the BACKRACK original and the cab and rear window protection of the Safety Rack.
Three Light Rack
BACKRACK's Three Light Cab Guard is designed to look professional and add style and functionality to the working truck. It offers mounting points across the lower half of the rack with light covers on each side. The lights themselves must be purchased separately, but once installed you will have a functioning set of lights that add visibility to your truck. This is a must have for anyone towing utility trailers or working on site with their vehicle.
The Mounting Brackets
The next most important step in setting up your BACKRACK Truck Rack is the mounting kit. BACKRACK doesn't include the mounting bracket because every truck and every situation is different. Some people will need to adapt their rack to a toolbox, and others to a tonneau cover, while others still won't need to adapt to anything. So, rather than selling you the rack with a standard bracket or a universal mounting kit and then requiring you to purchase a different mounting kit separately at greater cost to yourself, they have opted to lower the cost and sell them all separately. BACKRACK offers three different styles of mounting brackets to make sure their racks are compatible with a wide range of trucks.
Standard Bracket
Designed to mount your BACKRACK Truck Rack onto a standard pickup truck bed with no tonneau cover or toolbox, the Standard Bracket kit requires absolutely no drilling. It simply bolts into your Stake Pocket Holes in an hour or less. The Standard Bracket has a sleek design that offers a durable and secure mounting point that looks great.
Toolbox Bracket
The Toolbox Bracket allows you to install a BACKRACK Truck Rack on a pickup truck that has a toolbox installed. The bracket installs with no drilling in an hour or less, and then your toolbox sits on top. You drill through the bottom of the toolbox and into the bracket to ensure a secure hold without any damage or alteration to your truck.
This bracket can also be purchased in a low profile version, which keeps your toolbox flush with your bed rails. It does, however, require you to drill holes into the bed rails for mounting.
Tonneau Cover Bracket
The Tonneau Cover Adapter Bracket comes in two sizes, the 4000 Series and 5000 Series. The 4000 Series is designed for use with tonneau covers that install on tracks inside the bed rails, the adaptor raises your truck rack a small distance off your bed rails to allow clearance for the tonneau cover. The 5000 series does the same for tonneau covers that fold and rest on top of the rail, giving your rack extra height to ensure clearance so your tonneau cover can sit properly. This mounting bracket offers your truck bed maximum versatility, as it means you can use both your truck rack for long cargo and seal up your truck bed to keep smaller, more fragile cargo safe. For more details on the different bracket types and which one you need, check out the video below.
The Accessories
Now that we've talked about the various different kinds of racks, I'm going to go through and discuss the accessories. It is important to note that the accessories available are almost exclusively Mounting Brackets. This means that they can be added to your truck rack to provide a platform for things like lights, whips, antennae, and tools. They do not, however, come with those pieces, they are just the mounting brackets.
Each mounting bracket is designed to bolt into existing holes in the BACKRACK Original Style Cab Guard. If you want to install them on the other Cab Guard Styles, you will have to do some minor drilling and cutting on the vertical frame posts to allow the brackets the space to bolt on to. Center mount brackets are excluded from this, as they mount using a clamp system, which may not be compatible with all truck racks. Make sure to check the details of each bracket before purchasing to avoid any compatibility issues.
Light Mount Brackets, like the 10 1/2" Base Light Mount are designed to install on on the top of the vertical support bars. Once installed they provide a base (also available in 6 1/2" and 16" x 7" sizes) on top of which your light mounts. Each base has a hole in the center so that the wiring for your light can pass through without crimping or being damaged.
The brackets are available in center mount, passenger mount, and drivers side mount orientations. You can even get a Folding Bracket or a Large Light Bar Bracket Pair so that you can mount a light bar that runs the width of your truck!
If lights aren't what you're looking for, you can also get an Antenna Bracket so that you can mount the antenna for a two way radio to help keep in touch with your crew. If you are working on site in a construction zone or a mine and need your truck to be visible, BACKRACK offers a Whip Mount Bracket so that you can mount mining or buggy whips to your truck.
The best part is they are fully customisable. If you really like symmetry, you can get two identical brackets that will support two identical lights. You can also mix and match between sizes and styles as you see fit. Lights and a mine whip, two lights, or a mine whip and antenna. The options are endless, and you can customise them to perfectly match your needs. Keep in mind, however, that each post can only support one bracket of a single type.
The 5 Tool and 11 Tool Landscaping Tool Racks are other available add ons. These racks are perfect for hauling around a variety of large and small handled tools so that you can get them to the job site securely without taking up extra cargo space in your truck bed. You can still secure larger or longer cargo to your truck rack with this accessory on it, however it may limit some cargo capacity.
Truck Bed Add Ons
BACKRACK offers two accessories that do not attach to the Cab Guard. They do, however, work in concert with the truck racks to provide a more effective method of hauling large cargo.
Side Rail
BACKRACK's Side Rail add ons are a great pairing with a Truck Rack or on their own. They offer your truck an extra space to strap cargo to, as well as a support to keep gear off of your bed rails to prevent damage. But these side rails aren't just a pretty looking accessory. The heavy gauge HRPO tubing is fully welded on to an angular base that runs the length of the truck for extra durability. They are available for 6.5 and 8 foot truck beds, and they're even available in a model compatible with toolboxes so that you can get the most use out of your truck. They install easily with no drilling by bolting into the Stake Pocket Holes. They are even styled after the BACKRACK Truck Racks so that the angles match to keep your truck looking flawless.
Rear Bar
To complement their side rails, BACKRACK also offers a Rear Bar that can be used to strap long cargo like ladders securely and fully outside of your truck bed, leaving you with as much storage space as possible. Just like the rest of their products, the Rear Bar is designed to protect your tailgate from damage. The bar includes two mounting hooks that are lined up perfectly with the vertical supports of BACKRACK Truck Racks to make mounting ladders or lumber easier. It also allows you to have a tonneau cover closed and in use on your truck bed, so that you don't have to choose between one or the other.
Hopefully I have been able to provide you with a clear, and thorough discussion of BACKRACK products. The most important takeaway is that these products are organized in a "build-your-own" style that allows you to maximize your customization to suit the situation of your truck and lifestyle. Thanks for reading, and we'll catch you in the next article.
Auto Truck Depot
107, 42 Ave SW, Calgary, Alberta
Toll Free: 1-855-253-4330
Local: 1-403-253-4330
info@autotruckdepot.ca