The Loadhandler Truck Bed Unloader Is A Real Time And Back Savers

Have you ever had a pickup truck full of landscaping material that was going to take you 30 or 40 minutes to unload with a shovel? How would you like to cut that time down to 30 seconds?! Get yourself a Loadhandler truck bed unloader and give your back a break! They attach to your truck in minutes and can save you a bunch of time. I’ve got one and I love it!

The Loadhandler is basically a one-direction manual conveyor belt that attaches to the tailgate of your truck. Before you load your truck you unroll the “drag sheet” to cover the bed of your pickup box and then you put your load on top of the drag sheet.

When you are ready to unload your material you insert a manual crank handle into the shaft and start cranking. If the material in your truck is loaded properly, you can easily unload the truck and save a lot of wear and tear on yourself.

In this article, we will be providing you with a few links to some products for pricing and informational purposes. We are required to let you know some of these links are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on a link and make a purchase, we could make a small commission, at no extra cost to you. This helps offset the cost of maintaining our website. Now, let’s get started.

What Can I Use A Truck Bed Unloader For?

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Almost anything you put in the back of your truck will come out easier with a Loadhandler! Whether it’s bagged, boxed or dumped in by the tractor bucket full, you will benefit from using one. Just using it for pulling material or bags from the front of the box to where you can reach them, will save a lot of climbing up and down. Below are just a few examples of what it can be used for, but you are only limited by your imagination.

Bulk landscaping materials – black dirt, sand, mulch, stone, blocks.
Bagged materials – landscaping materials, fertilizer, grass seed, animal/livestock feed, wood pellets, water softener salt and so much more!
Stump grinding shavings – In most cases grass will not grow in the stump grinding shaving. The Loadhandler makes it easy to haul it away and to bring black dirt in.
Firewood – Works great for unloading wood. Firewood is one of those items that you can easily overload your truck with and be sure to watch the “locked load” areas, which I’ll talk about below.
Deer feed – Sugar beets, carrots or pumpkins come off easily. Much like firewood, watch the weight and “locked load” areas. Also, know your local deer feed/baiting rules. They seem to change frequently here in Michigan!

Loadhandler Limitations

Loadhandler truck bed unloaders do have a few limitations, but they are still well worth the investment! By knowing and understanding these limitations I think you can easily work around them and still get excellent results. Let’s take a look at some of the limitations.

Locked Load

I would say the biggest limitation is that you can’t just completely fill your box with material and get the 30-second results that Loadhandler claims. What happens is you get what Loadhandler calls a “locked load”. In a fully loaded truck, most materials have the tendency to bind together. When this happens the material on the cab side of the wheel wells gets wedged against the wheel wells and the load will not move.

Can you still get a full load of materials? Sure. Just remember, you may have to unload some of the material around the wheel wells by hand. The Loadhandler will still unload the bulk of the load for you. That’s still better than unloading the entire load by hand!

Tailgate Caps

Many of the newer trucks have wide tailgate caps on them. The new Loadhandlers truck bed unloaders will fit up to a 4” tailgate cap. Loadhandler makes an extra-wide bracket for trucks with tailgate caps larger than 4”. The Loadhandler application guide states that “Newer truck model owners must measure their own tailgate widths, on the far-right and far-left sides of the tailgate, or tailgate cap, where the Loadhandler unit attaches. If your tailgate cap is thicker/wider than 4″ at this outside part of the tailgate, then wide brackets are needed.”

With that said, if your truck requires the extra-wide brackets, they will need to be ordered directly from Loadhandler prior to ordering your unloader. If this is the case, do not use the affiliate links provided below from Amazon. I was unable to verify if you can order the extra-wide brackets through Amazon, so your safest bet is to work directly with Loadhandler.

Loadhandler Tailgate Cap Width Issue Work-Around

I have had my Loadhandler truck bed unloader for many years, so it has the older style brackets that will only open to roughly 2-3/4”. It worked great on my old 1993 Chevy, but would not fit on my 2008 Chevy, which the cap measures roughly 2-1/4” wide. I was able to make a simple extension piece for the bracket which works very well on my 2008.

diagram of a homemade adapter bracket for a Loadhandler

All you need are two pieces of 1” or 1-1/4” wide, by 1/8” thick, strap steel approximately four and a half inches long and two 3/8” carriage bolts about an inch long. Drill two 7/16” holes about inches apart in both pieces of strap steel, centered in the middle of each piece of steel. The shoulders on the carriage bolt will not fit into the 7/16” holes, so you will have to tap them into place using a hammer, with the piece sitting on something sturdy like a vise. That’s all there is to it.

Disassembly the bracket and reassemble using the new adapter, as shown in the pictures below. This allows adjustments from 4” on up. It fits my 2008 Chevy pickup and works well. If you find an older style Loadhandler at a garage sale, you can buy it with confidence.

Loadhandler adapter Top View — **Loadhandler Adapter Top View**

Loadhandler adapter bottom View — **Loadhandler Adapter Top View**

Truck Bedliners/Mats

Why do truck owners like bed liners or bed mats? They protect our nice, shiny truck beds from damage and they also help keep cargo from sliding around in the back of our trucks. Well, you guessed it, the additional friction between some bed liners or mats can present a little problem for heavier loads with the Loadhandler. Some spray-on bed liners are rough enough the could damage the drag sheets prematurely too.

For the spray-on bed liner owners, all is not lost. Loadhandler has come up with a solution. It is their “double bed mat”. It’s a 4’x8’ bed mat that one side has a smooth surface that allows the drag sheet to slide easily. When the Loadhandler mat is not being used, you can flip it over to expose a ribbed surface. This helps protect your truck bed and keeps items from sliding around. This works great for the spray-on truck beds or it makes a good stand-alone bed liner too.

A Little Bedliner Good News

The good news is on the hard plastic shell bed liners the Loadhandler actually works better. They have even less friction than the normal truck bed, which allows the drag sheet to slide easily. Obviously, the best solution for the rubber bed mats is to remove them when using the Loadhandler. Believe me, the time you save using the Loadhandler will make up for it!

Rubber Bed Mat in a pickup truck — **Large Tailgate Cap and Rubber Bed Mat**

Load Size

I’m sure you can load enough material between the fender wells of your truck that “you” and the Loadhandler will not be able to move. You can probably even break your Loadhandler by trying. For example, if you have a pallet of chimney blocks loaded between the fender wells, there is a good chance you will not be able to move them. The problem may not be with the Loadhandler, but more with the size of the load itself. Let’s take a look.

Excessive Load Example

I found that on average a chimney brick weighs approximately 7 pounds. If you’re wondering, paver blocks are very similar. They normally come in a pallet of about 500 bricks. That makes a load of 3500 pounds! With a load like that, you should be using a 1 ton truck with the LH3000, which is rated for 3000 pounds. You may want to make a couple of trips too!

Too often in our quest to save time we all make the mistake of overloading our trucks. Guilty as charged!! That can make the vehicle hard to handle, it increases our stopping distance, and can do significant damage to your vehicle. If we can keep the size of the loads down to a safe limit, it’s much safer and easier to handle all around.

What Size Truck Bed Unloader Do You Need?

Loadhandlers come in several different sizes and fit most trucks. Below are the most common Loadhandlers available. Clicking on the blue links will take you to Amazon where you can get more information and pricing.

If you need more help on what will fit your truck, the Loadhandler application guide, mentioned above, should be able to help. The information below should be enough to pick the Loadhandler you will need. Again, the biggest concern you may encounter is the width of the tailgate cap.

LH2000 – 2000-pound capacity designed for full-sized pickups.
LH2200 – 2200 pound capacity model for standard, full-size pickups.
LH2200M – 2200 pound capacity model for mid-sized pickups.
LH3000 and LH3000M– This is their commercial-grade unloader. They are made of heavy-duty, steel construction. The commercial-grade load handler comes in two sizes.
Load Handler Double Bed Mat – The load handler double mat is a two-sided mat that can be used with the load handler in certain situations.

Loadhandler Truck Bed Unloader Tips

To get the best results out of your Loadhandler here are a few items to consider. They will help speed up the unloading, save wear and tear on you, and help keep your Loadhandler working great for years.

Give your truck bed a quick cleaning before rolling out the drag sheet. This does two things. It will allow the drag sheet to move easier and will help prevent wear or rips too.
Look for damage to the truck bed. Gouges, rust holes and rough edges can damage the drag sheet and prevent smooth unloading. If the truck bed is in rough shape, this would be a good place to use the “double bed mat”.
Spray-on bed liner owners; you will probably be ok for a light load. The “double bed mat” should be considered for heavier loads. The Loadhandler will work smoother, last longer and be much easier for you to use.
Keep the load between the fender wells. Avoid letting the material accumulate in that “locked load” area ahead of the fender wells.
Don’t overload your Loadhander or your truck. They are both designed for certain sized loads; be aware of how much weight you are putting on them.

Conclusion

A Loadhandler is a great tool for anyone who is hauling and unloading cargo in their pickup trucks. They can save you time and wear and tear on your body. Get the correct model of Loadhandler for the type of work you’re doing, and by following a few practical steps, the Loadhandler can make your job and life a whole lot easier. Get one today, you’ll love it. I love mine!

If you have any comments or questions, you can leave them in the comments section below or you can email us at [email protected]. FYI, we do not collect or share email addresses. We will only use them to reply to your comments or provide answers to your questions. We are also required to let you know that some of our links are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on a link and make a purchase, we could make a small commission, at no extra cost to you. This helps offset the cost of maintaining our website. So, if you like what you’ve seen, please be sure to give us a “Like” and “Share” on Facebook and Instagram too. Thank you for reading and good luck with all your home projects!

A Loadhandler Truck Bed Unloader Can Save Time And Your Back!