What is the best way to transport a sliding patio door in a pickup truck? I needed to get a Pella 72”x80” sliding patio door home in my pickup truck. A lot of the forums suggest laying it flat on the bed of the truck with padding. A number of people suggest transporting it vertically which is what I did. The truck was a 1989 F-150 with an 8ft bed. The same setup should work in a short bed, but you may have to leave the gate down depending on the width of the patio door.

I followed the instructions in this YouTube video and built a jig out of 2×4 scraps

Once the 2×4 were in place, the window was stable enough to stand on its own while I threw two straps over and tightened them down. The door was surprisingly stable and wasn’t moving anywhere. There was even a stiff 20mph crosswind that didn’t move it at all.

All in all, there wasn’t a great deal of information available on ways to move a sliding door – but if I were to do it again, I would absolutely use this method again. There were lots of heads turning to look at us driving down the highway, but the window made the trip without any issue.