Bed Liner Drains
 

I recently installed a slide in style bed liner and after a recent rain I observed that the geniuses that designed it did NOT include drain holes :-hair. Of coarse a couple of hard accelerations dumps the water out the back but should you have covered boxes in the bed they would be sitting in several inches of water if the truck had been parked. I know that some of you are thinking, jeeeech...drill some holes and it'll drain, and you are so right, kinda!

The bed has numerous ribs that run the length of the lined and dead-end into the cab portion and they don't leave much room except for 1/4" holes which will more than likely plug up with bits of debris. The ribs also do NOT inter connect to a common drain trough at the head end. :-banghead To either side of these ribs is an area quite large that a much larger hole (s) could be drilled.

Now for my question:
What has the experience been of other forum members that have installed drain holes in a slide in style liner? Just on the front sides? In between the ribs every so often? Did you have a drainage/plugging problem? Did you find that wet debris collected between the liner and the bed to cause rust/corrosion? etc, etc, etc?

Any input is always appreciated.

Rog

When I bought my Ranger (used) it came with a bed liner. Like yours, it has no drain holes so the water leaves under acceleration. I've been told that one has to remove them every so often to clean under them. The water and dirt that gets under them will wear down the paint, and start to cause the bed of your truck to disappear. I'm afraid to remove mine and see what's under it. My next truck will have a sprayed in liner.

I have them in both trucks. I usually just point the back end downhill at better than 1/4" to the foot, or about 2" higher in the front.

When it snows, I leave the snow in until it gets slushey and then do doughnuts in the parking lot with the tailgate down.

Well I didn't purposly install drain holes, but I did drill 2 3/8" holes through my bed to run bolts thru to secure my tool box. I ahve noticed that water never stands in the bed even when I park downhill. The only place i could think of the water getting out would be through the holes I drilled. Even with the box covering them and the bolts going thru them the water drains very well. You should have no problem with a couple of small holes. Also why not drill thru the rib? There is no reason to be limited to drilling just in the gap between the ribs.

my '93 has had a liner in it since new, last summer i pulled the cap off and took the liner out to inspect things. while there was some slight scuffing, it didnt look bad at all. i put on a thick coat of wax and put the liner back in there. being as i have a cap, i dont worry much about the lack of drain holes.

Thanks for all of the replies. Cutting donuts sounds like fun but I think I will just drill a couple of 5/8" holes with a hole saw and let it do what it will do. :-X10

Rog :-drink

I'd prefer that my bed liner does NOT drain out into the bed. Having moisture between the liner and the bed seems like asking for trouble - the bulk of the water will drain out, but it will probably never completely dry out... rust city!

Exactly. If you wanted to sell your truck, it would be worth less because of the drop in liner. It is a liability. If you had a spray on liner, your truck bed would be protected and would be worth more than a truck without a liner. Drilling any holes will invite rust and ruin your truck. I would say for now, remove the liner. If the liner doesn't protect the bed, what good is it. Take it out and save yourself the grief.

Well that's not quite what I meant... :D

I do use the drop in liner, I just try to keep it clean and dry underneath it. I use the bed of my truck to carry materials that are shoveled out, so a spray liner would be totally unworkable for me - it would be too rough, and wouldn't last a month...

I have the same problem with my line-x liner, it sealed the bed completely.
If it rains the front half will fill with water, I'll have to find an incline to park on to drain it out.

I have a drop-in, and do not believe I would ever want a spray-in liner. I too just removed my liner last month to check under it, and there was no evidence of water problems, and the paint was barely scuffed. Why are you concerned with boxes in the back getting wet? Do you not have a bed cover of any type?

My dad's Dakota has a drop in liner. Believe you me, it does a lot of damage to the bed. My brother has a spray on liner, I think its a Reflex, though he may have a Line-X. He hauls a lot of stuff in there, much of it nastier than dirt or gravel. It holds up just fine. That stuff is every bit as tough as a drop in liner. And it is starts to wear out a bit or you are concerned with it not holding up, get a second coat.

No damage to mine with a drop-in either at last check... looks like new under there.

A lot of what I carry in the bed is fed to cattle. If I had a spray-in and it started to wear out, guess where the pieces end up?

For my purposes, I'll stick with the drop-in, thanks... :)

My 79' rotted out with the drop in, so I swore I'd never get another one - I have a Line-X spray in and I shovel out of the back of it without a problem. I have a Ford OEM rubber 'mat' as well that I keep on top of the liner for hauling clean stuff, and it just goes in and out easy.

Sorry to go so off topic but I figured I'd throw my $0.02 about the drop in liners while everyone was on the topic ;)