I have a 2004 F-350 long bed. I've had it for nearly a year and have always hated the drop in bed liner. I'm taking it in to get a spray-on liner in the next few days. So here's my question:

I wanted to have the bed rails sprayed, but the tech at the shop said that it is not adviseable to remove the factory plastic bed rails. He said that it leaves exposed holes on the bed rail that the spray on liner will not fill. Has anyone removed the factory plastic rails? How does it look and function? The reason I want to remove them is that it seems like water and debris could get under there and cause rust.

 

Old picture, but the rails are still the same today.

 

Thanks TruckDaddy, that's exactly what I was looking for. I got my bed liner today and of course I didn't mess with the factory bed rails. I did find out the hard way that the tailgate is similarly configured and the plastic cap shouldn't be removed.

If anyone from Ford is listening, please give us metal bed rails and tailgates!