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The best ladder racks for a Chevy Silverado 1500
Chevrolet sells the Silverado 1500 in three bed lengths and sold two different trucks in 2019. Six racks, ranked on what the makers publish and what actually clamps to a GM bed rail.
Our top pick: the AA-Racks X31 Extendable Steel Ladder Rack, 800 lb, Two-Bar.
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How we know:Owner-report-verifiedSpec-verifiedWhat these mean
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For most Silverado 1500s the rack to buy is the AA-Racks X31: two bars, a published 800 lb capacity, an extendable width that covers a GM bed rail comfortably, and a price lower than a bed mat and a cover together. If the truck is keeping its bed cover, the answer is different and more expensive — the ADARAC Pro Series is the only rack here published for the Silverado by bed length and designed to coexist with a roll-up cover. If you want the highest number on paper, the VEVOR rack publishes 1000 lb and includes both a drilled and a no-drill mount in the box.
The reason this page is Silverado-specific rather than generic is that GM's bed is not the bed most universal racks were dimensioned against. UWS publishes the Silverado 1500's exterior bed rail width at about 64 inches, roughly an inch narrower than an F-150's, and Chevrolet publishes three bed lengths: 69.92 in at the floor on the short bed, 79.44 in on the standard bed and 98.18 in on the long bed. A rack has to span the 64 inches, clamp to those rails, and then live with whatever is already on the truck.
Confirm two things before you order anything: the exterior rail width, measured outside to outside across the top of the rails nearest the cab, and whether your 2019 truck is a new-body Silverado 1500 or a Silverado 1500 Classic. Those two answers eliminate most of the wrong purchases in this category.
The 2019 split, which the dimensions do not show
For the 2019 model year Chevrolet sold the new-body Silverado 1500 and the previous-generation Silverado 1500 Classic at the same time. Their bed dimensions are close enough that measuring will not tell them apart, and their accessory parts are not interchangeable. The racks here divide cleanly along that line.
Universal clamp-on racks — the AA-Racks, JY PERFORMANCE, VEVOR and Thule racks below — do not care which truck you have, because they clamp to a rail rather than to a body-specific mounting point. The rail width is the only question they ask.
Bed-specific rail racks — the two ADARAC parts — are published by truck, body style and bed length, and the part for a 5'8" bed is not the part for a 6'6" bed. Order the wrong one and the rails do not land where the bed expects them.
How we ranked these for this truck
Five criteria, scored 0-10 and published on every card. The order here is not the order on the F-150 rack page, because the GM bed's narrower rail and the availability of named GM parts change what matters.
Published capacity. A real figure from the maker. Three of the six racks below publish one — 800 lb, 800 lb tested and 1000 lb. The three bed racks publish none, and their cards say so rather than carrying an estimate of ours.
Width range against 64 inches. An extendable rack has to reach the GM rail width with adjustment left over at both ends. A rack sitting at the very end of its range has nothing left to take up a bowed rail or a rail cap.
Mounting. No-drill clamps and J-bolts keep the rails intact, which matters on a truck you intend to sell or hand back. Drilled mounts are stronger and permanent, and on a leased truck they are not an option at all.
What it blocks. Rear glass, the tailgate swing, a cover, a crossover box. On a Silverado the rack is usually the last thing fitted and has to live with everything already there.
Value. Against the live Amazon price, which updates when you load this page.
The picks, ranked
Prices come from Amazon when you load this page. Where no live price is available the button says check price rather than showing you a number we cannot stand behind.
800 lb published capacity, extendable width, two bars, and it costs less than a decent tonneau cover. For a trade truck that carries ladders and conduit, this is the honest value pick in the category.
Build
9.2
Capacity
9.4
Install
9.4
Versatility
9.4
Value
9.7
Why we picked it
+800 lb published, not implied
+Extendable width fits a range of beds
+Cheap enough to buy and still afford the straps
Good to know. Steel means rust at every scratch, and extendable joints mean more fasteners to check. If the rack never comes off, a welded rack would be stiffer.
Aluminum rails with sliding crossbars that mount to the bed rails and are designed to coexist with a roll-up cover. That combination — rack plus cover — is the thing almost nothing else in this category does properly.
Build
9.5
Capacity
9.3
Install
9.2
Versatility
9.7
Value
8.9
Why we picked it
+Designed to work alongside a roll-up cover
+Sliding crossbars position to the load rather than the reverse
+Aluminum — no rust
Good to know. It is the most expensive way to get crossbars over a bed. If you do not need the cover compatibility, a clamp-on steel rack costs a fifth of this.
Published specifications
Fitment
Chevy Silverado / GMC Sierra 1500, 2014 and up, 5'8" bed
A two-bar steel rack that holds the bed rails with four J-bolt clamps and nothing else: no holes to drill, no holes to seal, and it comes back off when the truck is sold. It is also one of the few racks at this price that publishes the steel gauge rather than just a rating — 10-gauge, tested to 800 lb.
Build
9.2
Capacity
9.4
Install
9.6
Versatility
9.2
Value
9.7
Why we picked it
+Publishes the steel gauge, not just a rating
+Four J-bolts and the hardware in the box — no holes in the truck
+49-73 in width range, so it moves to the next truck
Good to know. The listing rules out trucks running a tool box, a utility track or a tonneau cover — that is the maker's own exclusion, not our caution. Four J-bolts is also fewer load paths than a clamp-heavy rack, so the rail lip itself has to be sound.
1000 lb published capacity with both drilling and non-drilling install options in the box. If what you actually need is a number on paper for heavier loads, this is the cheapest way to get it.
Build
9.0
Capacity
9.5
Install
9.4
Versatility
9.2
Value
9.7
Why we picked it
+1000 lb published
+Both mounting methods included
+Very low price for the rating
Good to know. A high rating on a budget rack is a rating for the tube, not the whole installation. Check your clamp or bolt points against the load before trusting it.
The standard ADARAC rather than the Pro Series, for the 6'6" GM bed, at roughly half the money. Same mounting concept, lighter construction, and for most people the right version to buy.
Build
9.3
Capacity
9.1
Install
9.2
Versatility
9.5
Value
9.4
Why we picked it
+Roughly half the Pro Series price
+Same rail-mount concept
+Sliding crossbars
Good to know. If the rack will carry heavy repeated loads rather than occasional long material, buy the Pro Series.
TracRac's entry rack, built on the clamp system the trade standardized on. The reason to pay for it is that the crossbars stay square to each other after a year of loading — budget racks walk out of alignment and then you are fighting the straps.
Build
9.6
Capacity
9.4
Install
9.5
Versatility
9.4
Value
8.9
Why we picked it
+Crossbars stay square under repeated loading
+No-drill clamp system comes off cleanly when the truck is sold
+Thule accessory ecosystem fits it
Good to know. It is a lot of money for a two-bar rack. If the rack carries a ladder twice a month, a clamp-on steel rack does the job for a quarter of the price.
Published figures only. A rack whose maker states no capacity is listed as not published, never estimated.
Published capacity
Mounting
Fitment as published
AA-Racks X31
800 lb
Clamp-on, extendable width
Full-size and most mid-size beds
ADARAC Pro Series
Not published
Bed-rail mount, sliding crossbars
Silverado / Sierra 1500, 2014 and up, 5'8" bed
JY PERFORMANCE DAC875
800 lb tested
4 no-drill J-bolt clamps
49-73 in rail span
VEVOR 1000 lb
1000 lb / 454 kg
Drilling or non-drilling
Full-size beds, generic fitment
Access 70530 ADARAC
Not published
Bed-rail mount, sliding crossbars
Chevrolet / GMC new body, 6'6" bed
Thule TracRac TracONE
Not published
Clamp-on, no drilling
Full-size beds with sound rails
Two of those capacity figures deserve a caveat the listings do not give them. A published rating describes the rack, tested on its own. What carries the load on your truck is the rack plus its clamps plus the bed rail underneath, and the weakest of those three sets the real limit. What a ladder rack will actually hold works through where the number comes from and where it stops applying.
Measuring a GM rail, in four minutes
Exterior bed rail width. Outside edge to outside edge, across the top of the rails, at the point nearest the cab. Keep the tape taut over five and a half feet or you will read an inch wide. Expect about 64 in.
Rail lip condition. A J-bolt or a clamp grips the underside of the rail lip. Look along it for a previous box's bite marks, a bonded rail cap or a utility track, all of which change what the clamp lands on.
Rear glass clearance. Hold a tape at the rack's front bar position and look at where the glass is. This is the measurement people skip and then regret, and it is worst on a lowered truck.
Load height above the cab. An over-cab rack solves the lumber problem and creates a clearance problem. Measure your garage, your yard gate and the drive-through you use before you buy a tall rack.
Chevrolet's own published cargo box figures — 50.63 in between the wheelhousings, 22.4 in box height and the three floor lengths above — are reproduced with their sources on the Silverado bed dimensions page. They are consistent across Regular, Double and Crew Cab for a given bed length, which is why the cab configuration is not on the checklist.
A rack and a cover on the same truck
This is the question that separates a Silverado rack purchase from a generic one, because GM short beds are covered more often than not and most racks are hostile to a cover.
The JY PERFORMANCE rack publishes the exclusion outright: its listing rules out trucks running a tool box, a utility track or a tonneau cover. That is the maker's own statement rather than our caution, and it applies to a great many clamp-on racks that do not say so as plainly — a clamp that needs the rail top is competing for the exact surface a cover's rails occupy.
The ADARAC parts exist because of that conflict. They mount to the bed rail and carry sliding crossbars above the cover line, and the Pro Series is published as designed to work alongside a roll-up cover. That combination is why it ranks second here despite being one of the more expensive ways to get two bars over a bed. If you are fitting both, decide the cover first — the best roll-up tonneau covers covers the format that coexists with a rack most easily, and running a rack with a cover sets out the clearances.
What a ladder rack is not
A ladder rack spans the bed and carries long material above it. A headache rack stands at the bulkhead and protects the rear glass. They get bought with the same search and they do different jobs — plenty of trucks want both, and neither substitutes for the other. Headache rack against ladder rack is the full comparison.
What we would actually buy
On a Silverado 1500 with an uncovered bed, carrying ladders and conduit: the AA-Racks X31. The 800 lb published figure is more than any ladder on a half-ton needs, the extendable width covers the 64 in rail with room either side, and the money saved against the premium racks buys the straps and the bed mat too. It is the budget pick on this page and it is also the one we would fit.
On a 5'8" bed that is keeping its cover: the ADARAC Pro Series, accepting the price. It is the only rack here published for this truck by bed length and designed around a cover rather than in spite of one. On a 6'6" bed the Access 70530 is the same mounting concept in the lighter standard series at roughly half the Pro Series money, which for occasional long material is the right version to buy.
If the rack will be loaded hard and often and has to stay square: the Thule TracRac TracONE. It publishes no capacity figure, which is a real mark against it on this page, and what you are paying for instead is a clamp system that keeps the two bars parallel after a year of loading. Budget racks that walk out of alignment make every strap job harder, and that is the failure the trade pays to avoid.
Questions people actually ask
What size ladder rack fits a Chevy Silverado 1500?
UWS publishes the Silverado 1500's exterior bed rail width at about 64 inches, so you want a rack whose range brackets that figure with adjustment left over — the JY PERFORMANCE rack's published 49-73 in span is a good example. Measure outside to outside across the top of your own rails nearest the cab before ordering, because a bonded rail cap or a utility track changes what the clamp lands on.
Will a universal ladder rack fit a Silverado?
Usually, if the width range covers about 64 inches and the bed rails are sound and accessible. Clamp-on racks do not care whether the truck is a new-body Silverado 1500 or a Classic, because they grip the rail rather than a body-specific mount. Bed-rail racks such as the ADARAC parts are the opposite: they are published by truck, body style and bed length, and the 5'8" part is not the 6'6" part.
How much weight can a Silverado ladder rack hold?
Three of the six racks on this page publish a figure: 800 lb, 800 lb tested and 1000 lb. The three bed racks publish none and their cards say so. Treat any published rating as describing the rack alone — the real limit is the lowest of the rack, its clamps and the bed rail they grip, and a ladder's own duty rating under OSHA 29 CFR 1926.1053 is a separate limit again.
Can I run a ladder rack and a tonneau cover on a Silverado?
Only with parts chosen for it. The JY PERFORMANCE listing explicitly excludes trucks with a tonneau cover, a tool box or a utility track, and many clamp-on racks have the same conflict without stating it, because the clamp wants the rail top the cover's rails occupy. The ADARAC Pro Series is published as designed to work alongside a roll-up cover, which is why it is the pick for a covered bed.
Do I have to drill into the bed rails?
No. Four of the six racks here mount without drilling — clamps on the AA-Racks and Thule racks, four J-bolts on the JY PERFORMANCE rack, and both options in the box on the VEVOR. A no-drill mount keeps the rails intact for resale and is usually the only option on a leased truck. Drilled mounts are stiffer and permanent, and the holes need sealing properly or they rust from the inside out.
Does a ladder rack work on a Silverado with the composite bed?
That is a question for the rack maker before you order. None of the racks on this page publishes a position on GM's composite bed either way, and the tonneau covers on this site that exclude a GM bed exclude that one specifically. Where a maker has not published an answer we will not invent one, and a clamp load path into a composite rail is not something to assume.
Last reviewed November 13, 2026. Think a figure here is wrong? Tell us at contact@toolboxandtruck.com and we will check it, fix it and date the correction — see our editorial policy.
