Mitch Weiss looks at pickup-truck beds in a way most people don't.
He sees the potential for projectiles from unsecured cargo, loose trash cans and recycling barrels that could soon add to the trash along the roadside, and fuel cans lashed precariously and prone to leakage.
There has to be a better way, and he's working on it one rack, bracket and bolt at a time.
Weiss is the owner, chief engineer and designer for PU-Products LLC. His small company in El Cajon manufactures a variety of pickup-bed storage devices for contractors, Baja travelers, desert racers, cyclists, campers and others as the ideas evolve.
The tag line for his company is “Made here. Not there,” to emphasize that all the work, such as welding and painting, is done in America and much of it locally.
Weiss, once a contractor for concrete curb work, said the idea for pickup racks came to him like a ton of bricks. While transporting a steel concrete-mixing tub secured to a pallet in the bed of pickup, he had to make a sudden stop. The load crashed into the pickup's header, or bed head, and pushed in the cab.
After $1,600 in repairs, he was determined to prevent such a recurrence. He devised and built a heavy-duty, diamond-plate barrier that bolts to the bed head. The barrier acts as a second layer of steel between bed and cab.
A couple of years later, Weiss got into off-roading and had another invention revelation.
“I didn't feel safe bungeeing fuel tanks and gear in the truck bed, so I welded some boxes and designed them to attach to the diamond-plate bed head. The tanks could be accessed from the side for convenience in filling at the gas station. And anybody, even women, could lift the fuel can,” he says.
And from that came his “Bedder Hedder” rack, which is the foundation for many adaptations and innovations to come.
“There is nothing else like this on the market,” Weiss says.
The Bedder Hedder will fit General Motors pickups from 1988 on and Ford Super Duty pickups from 1999 on. The various racks are made of 1/8-inch stainless steel diamond plate and slot into the header. They are secured with an Allen screw and are designed to attach and detach quickly.
He has racks for propane tanks, racing fuel cans, 5-gallon plastic buckets and even a locking device for a pesticide sprayer. There are boxes that attach to the sides of the bed and at the corners of the tailgate. There are brackets to secure the front wheel of a motorcycle or bicycle. He has a rack that fits a standard-size cooler. And he also sells a cooler insert for a 5-gallon bucket. The bucket with lid is dust-resistant, unlike the common cooler, Weiss says. He's also working on a scuba-tank holder and a garbage-can bracket.
Prices start at $229 for the main Bedder Hedder, but more for powder coating. A propane-tank rack is $95. The Baja Rax kit, $249, holds two 11-gallon jugs, with nylon straps for leverage in lifting. Cables and locks are additional. Any item can be ordered in powder-coated black or silver or coated in your choice of color.
He also has a line of fuel-jug holders for the Yamaha Rhino side-by-side, all-terrain vehicles.
Details at www.pu-products.com. The address is 204 Greenfield Drive, Suite G, El Cajon, 92020; phone, (619) 334-1913.
