Truck accessories for building and homesteading

What are your favorite truck accessories for building projects and all around homesteading?
Which ones do you think are essential?
Any particular brand?
Links are appreciated.

I plan to build many things. Most significantly, a timber framed cordwood house. I’ll need a truck rack to carry the dimensional lumber for the roof. I have a 2010 Tacoma. The truck bed has a liner and I have a tonneau cover as well. I have a mechanic’s tool set, jack, and basic auto prep stuff too.

Other projects will include building a temporary shelter, for which I may mix cob in a mixer. Or if it’s too late in the year to be using mortar, I’ll build the temporary shelter with dimensional lumber.  I may mix cement to meet code on the house. I’ll build a dry outhouse or willow feeder(I want to knock out a ton PEP BB’s during this whole project). Eventually, I’d like to have livestock, but that feels so far away right now.

Any recommendations for rachets and come alongs? I don’t even have those yet. I have nothing really. I’ve been a nomadic world traveler for years and then a basement dweller since the pandemic hit. So I’m kinda starting over. I used to have some of this stuff like 15-20 years ago.

The one truck accessory that has long tempted me is a lift gate.  I don’t have one because I find it difficult to justify the cost.

Do you have a flatbed trailer for the truck?  Our 16 ft trailer that we tow with a Tundra doubles as a vehicle/construction items hauler and a flat surface for fabricating, sawing, and assembling.  In a pinch, build a tiny or similar home on it for short term dwelling.

I've always wanted to add one of these belt-drive generators to my engine compartment:  https://www.fabcopower.com/generat/bgen.htm

If I'm not mistaken, most truck inverters using the standard battery/alternator output of a truck will not deliver very high watts of power.  An added generator might give that option for table saws, etc.

I have a Tacoma too and get a lot of use from my tailgate extender.  I'm not sure where I got it but here's a similar one: EZ Load Extender

Using a rack to hold dimensional lumber will let you carry more home per load due to a better weight distribution.  But it's nice to have it down low for loading and unloading.

I just use whatever ratchet straps I find on sale.  They tend to last long enough for me so I'm not picky about brands.

If “Trailer” is an acceptable answer that’s what I’m going with 😁

I really don't have much use for a pick up on my farm which may be surprising because I have a few hundred acres.

Instead I have a Honda CR-V. It sounds kind of odd, but with the back seat folded down I can get a surprising amount of stuff inside it, and that is out of the weather and the wind from driving. With its four wheel drive, it sticks to the road like glue even in icy conditions and gets a lot better gas mileage. It also goes to 300,000 miles so replacing it is not a big deal, with parts being smaller and cheaper than a truck. And... it holds all of my family of five.

As for hauling lumber? Why? I just call up and order my building materials from a local store (not Lowes or Home Depot) since they have free delivery service. Usually I get my lumber the same day, but sometimes have to wait until my next business day, but that is kind of on me. I can preplan. If that does not work, in a pinch I can hook my trailer up to my Honda CR-V and get most things that would not fit in the back like when I bought my Zero-Turn Mower.

For lift gate stuff, or like when my parents bought a used pool with items over 16 feet long: I just rent a Uhaul truck for the day. It happens so infrequently that renting for that one day is probably cheaper than keeping a seldom used truck on the road for the year with insurances, registration, inspection, tires, etc. Moving? Rent a Uhaul truck. A bigger trailer. A specialized trailer...

I do have a tractor so that helps a lot around the farm, but even without it, I think I would buy an ATV before I would buy a pick up. Because an ATV has the same amount of tire square inches on the ground as a truck, but has a 4 foot wide snow plow instead of an 8 footer', they actually push snow better, get into tighter places, and cost less and use less fuel. With four wheel drive they can do an insane amount of work.

For a person that has a business, I can see having a pick up truck, but for a homesteader or even farmer like me: I really don't see them as an asset. Most of the trucks I see are going down the road with nothing in the back, and only one occupant, and there is this huge truck slogging down the road. Maybe someday the auto industry will get smart and make modular vehicles so that they can be configured to the individual use, but for now, I kind of see pick ups as gas guzzlers and used in ways that are better suited for other machines.

If there is any validity to what I am saying here, it is this: I have access to the company work truck, I have never used it. If I go somewhere, I use my Honda CR-V and expense the mileage, or use the company tractor to move stuff around the dam. I literally have never used the big truck they provide me with.

A hi-lift/handyman jack. You have to be careful with one but it can do so many things.

Something that I have always wondered is why a device like the Australian "Bush Winch" isn't more popular in the US
https://www.bushwinch.com/

John Weiland wrote:An added generator might give that option for table saws, etc.

I have 2,000 watt solar generator that should power the cement mixer and will charge my power tool batteries. I’m hoping that’ll be enough.

I have a Tacoma too and get a lot of use from my tailgate extender.  I'm not sure where I got it but here's a similar one: EZ Load Extender

Using a rack to hold dimensional lumber will let you carry more home per load due to a better weight distribution.  But it's nice to have it down low for loading and unloading.

This seems to be cheaper than a decent(meaning useful, to me) rack too. Considering what Steve had to say about getting large amounts of lumber delivered (which I’ll have to look into), maybe this extender would be a good option.

Other suggestions for a lift gate, hi lift, and bushwinch noted. Never heard of a bushwinch before, so I watched a video of one in use. Interesting idea.

I don’t think we use them here because we just have so many roads.

I have a winch on about everything else though like my tractor and Atv, even my snowmobile had a winch.

I can see the value of a Bush Winch, just a pain to take on and off all the time. They would be illegal inroad here.

My brother just put a winch on his four-wheeler.  They can be very useful.  And in Michigan, I would think a snowplow might be a good thing to have.  I think you should also have either a locking tool box fastened into the bed, or a lockable truck cap, to keep things from being stolen out of the bed (my ex lost a good chainsaw that way once).  

I have a pickup (my only vehicle).  Theoretically, I could do just about everything I use it for with an SUV, but it's that 'just about' that gets me.  I've had the truck for almost sixteen years, and the first few years I had it, I hauled quite a few tons of hay with it.  I've hauled truckloads of trash to the dump, and filled it up with firewood.  I've hauled livestock in it (goats, a calf, lots of poultry, some rabbits, big outdoor dogs).  I have hauled livestock in a car or SUV before, but really prefer keeping some separation (and not having poop/pee all over the interior carpet of my vehicle).  

In my case, my truck is paid for -- it was ten years old when I got it.  I intend to drive it until it breaks irreparably.  Yes, it uses more gas than a smaller car would, but the lack of a car payment (and lower insurance and registration fees) more than makes up for that, since I'm not using it for a daily commute.  In fact, since I'm retired, it sometimes sits in the driveway for three or four weeks between trips to town.  So I don't see any value in trading it in for a car payment, even if a newer, smaller vehicle might use half the gas this thing does.

JUst for grins how about a table saw attachment. Looks like a big flap belt pulley out the front too.

#1 a utility trailer. hands down. You can pull more weight than you can load into the truck, and it can be long enough for really long things... a 32' extension ladder is 18' long collapsed. You can load/unload it at your convenience, unlike needing your truck for another job. A dumping trailer if you need to move bulk materials is a game changer!
#2 a good set of ramps and a two-wheeled hand truck.  The metal ramp hooks that you bolt onto a plank work great. Spend some time choosing the planks, get clear, straight grain... or use LVLs, they are much stiffer. You'll be able to roll things up/down/in/out of your truck (or #1, trailer) by yourself, that you would need two others to lift by hand.
#3 tie-down kit. A set of ropes, twine, straps, bungee cords, tarps, a flag for long stuff, some tape... You'll find a use for it all, twine is especially good for "give-away" tie downs for your friend's trunk lid, so you don't lose your good straps!!
#4 basic tool kit. Fix your truck? take stuff apart to make it fit? put stuff back together?

EDIT to add to #3: a chain/cable and a lock. I keep one to lock my chainsaws or hand truck to the tie-down loops in the bed of the truck.

Robert Ray wrote:JUst for grins how about a table saw attachment.

LOL!  How about a PTO?  Can run a lot of stuff with one of those!

Kenneth Elwell wrote:#1 a utility trailer. hands down. You can pull more weight than you can load into the truck, and it can be long enough for really long things... a 32' extension ladder is 18' long collapsed. You can load/unload it at your convenience, unlike needing your truck for another job. A dumping trailer if you need to move bulk materials is a game changer!
#2 a good set of ramps and a two-wheeled hand truck.  The metal ramp hooks that you bolt onto a plank work great. Spend some time choosing the planks, get clear, straight grain... or use LVLs, they are much stiffer. You'll be able to roll things up/down/in/out of your truck (or #1, trailer) by yourself, that you would need two others to lift by hand.
#3 tie-down kit. A set of ropes, twine, straps, bungee cords, tarps, a flag for long stuff, some tape... You'll find a use for it all, twine is especially good for "give-away" tie downs for your friend's trunk lid, so you don't lose your good straps!!
#4 basic tool kit. Fix your truck? take stuff apart to make it fit? put stuff back together?

EDIT to add to #3: a chain/cable and a lock. I keep one to lock my chainsaws or hand truck to the tie-down loops in the bed of the truck.

Nice list, thanks.  I like the idea of making an entire kit in #3. I have some items, but not all. This is something I can do now.

Kathleen, I’ll almost certainly need a snowplow. I also love having a truck and plan on keeping my truck as long as reasonable. I hope to learn a lot more about auto repair in next few years.

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions(and humor).