Moved up from 2006 to 2020 2 weeks ago. WOW

XLT 6.5' bed, FX4, 3.5 EB.

However, the rail caps - I went to put tie-downs in the stake pockets. Plucked the cover out of the rear, dropped it in and tightened the screws, perfect flush fit.

Did the same on the port side rear, then headed to the front. Pulled the cover out, positioned the tie-down in the stake pocket....dang.

The pre-formed holes in the cap do not align. The rear does, but the front are 1/4" off, which is enough that you can't seat it all the way in and fill the gap.

Took it in to the dealer because the rear camera does one of:
1) Shows rear view
2) Shows rear view, but very dim and hard to see
3) Shows a test pattern
4) Shows static
5) Shows black

I should also say that sometimes when it does (1), when you go back to Drive, it stays in rear view. Very festive feature.

Anyway, I had it there for that warranty work, showed them the issue with the caps and they...shrugged. "It's Ford".

They said they checked others on the lot, they're all like that.

I'm not letting them off the hook. The caps are clearly meant to have the covers popped out so you can put a stake pocket accessory in, but the part just doesn't match the truck. Maybe they kept the 2019 rail caps, but someone fudged the stake pocket locations by 1/2" on the 2020's and the engineering change record is stuck in some engineer's email somewhere.

Anyway, has anyone seen this, and what did you do ?

Failing that, I can't for the life of me find any aftermarket rail caps for 2020, which I hoped might actually...you know, fit.

 

Welcome to FTE PInstriper,

The front stake pockets have been misaligned for years. No one makes aftermarket bed caps. If you try to remove yours, they will get destroyed as there are probably a couple dozen tabs per side.

 

Check for offset stake pocket tie down rings, this is not an uncommon issue. Mine came with a standard and offset pair.

 

Check Bullring 4035 on Amazon for the front stake pockets. They are suppose to fit where the pocket is offset from the rail cap.If you get these let us know how they fit.

 

Yes...the Bullring tie downs have a product for the mis-aligned caps.

 

I wonder what the story is on that. Hard to believe Ford did this for even one year...

 

Like my dad used to say, If it doesn't affect sales, they won't fix it. I'd guess that the vast majority of people never even think about using the stake pockets.

 

I had to remove some material from the edges of the Bullrings I bought to make them flush in the back. Fronts are so far off I didn't even try to fit them. Looking into the ones listed above.

Mine is a 6.5 ft bed.

 

Does this only affect certain box sizes? We use the stake pockets on our 6.5' bed, and the caps were spot on.

 

Thanks, All. Yeah, I have a super hard time believing Ford allowed this to happen, much less go on. Oy.

The 4035 is 2-pairs of offset. Why you would need all 4 offset...anyway. The 4025 says this:Since my rear are already filled, I ordered a set of 4025's for the front pockets.

I will report back when they arrive so folks here have confirmation.

 

I remember doing research into this problem a while ago. I convinced myself that 4035 was correct for the front pockets at the time, but never made the order. Please let us know if it should be the 4025 for offset front pockets. Thanks and good luck.

edit: reread your post and see that 4035 comes as a set of 4? Weird if only front pockets are offset from rail cap...

 

4025's came today. Visibly offset from center. Popped 'em in, perfect fit.

I rather doubt they'd fit the back pockets, as those were perfectly centered.

So the answer, boys and girls, is buy a pair of 4025's for the front pockets, and a pair of whatever other generic, fungible pop-up tie-down rings comes up on Amazon - they are all likely made at the same factory - for the rear pockets.

In all, this was $30 additional purchase due to Ford's inexplicable foul-up. I'll keep that in perspective, but still see if I can squeeze something out of the dealer, like the $30. But I won't press too hard because I just don't really care at this point.