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After hauling a few loads of furniture for my son I am thinking about getting a bed extender.
Anyone felt the need for one?
Looks like I have two choices:
never needed one, between my father and me we have over 30 trailers. I literally have to put a letter on them so i know what to select for a trailer when I hook up. I put nothing in the bed of my truck.
Got mine (the one that splits) at a pawn shop for $30. It was in used condition but that didn't matter to me. I've used it numerous times. Comes in handy with the short bed.
My truck had them when I bought it. I never thought much about them before but now that I have them, I use them all the time to keep items from sliding to the cab on my long bed. I have never used them with the tail gate dow. I'm to afraid of damaging my tailgate.
I just bought the Ford one last month. Had it installed when I bought my "new to me" 2017 SB Lariat. Had one on my previous 2009 SB Lariat and use it mostly to divide up the bed when hauling home groceries and small stuff. It does give you eight feet of length on the short bed when you need it. The new one does not have straight sides like the one in my 2009, so it isn't quite as useful. Total cost was $365.
The thing about the Ford version, it does split in the middle and folds out of the way to each side of the bed. The other being a one piece design can be in your way folded back into the bed.
Also, one bolt each side of the Ford and it is removed with ease. Once person can do it with no problem
One thing to consider is that the Ford OEM bed extender blocks the in-bed trailer wiring plug when it's in the stowed position. Not sure why Ford hasn't revised the design to address this issue.
Here's a picture from an F150 that shows the stowed configuration.