How hard is it to replace the bedside and tailgate caps (plastic part)?

 

I dont have the answer yet. I'll be going to the dealer soon to get a replacement. I just bought this truck 2 months ago and its already warping from the sun.

 

Cut off the excess sealer, and it should lay down!

 

The cap was flat when I purchased and the sealer doesn't touch the cap when it is flat. I came out one day when it was 95 degrees and it was curled up. If you look at how the cap is curled and where the excess sealer is located they don't line up. The sealer is where the rear hole in the bed rail is not where the bed rail is peaked. There is a measurable distance between the peak of the curland where the bed post hole/excess sealer is.

Also, chipping the excess sealant away will open up a pore in the paint inviting corrosion and I'm not about to chip a spot of paint off even if it would make it lay flat.

 

There are dozens of holes in the top of the bedrail where the plastic OEM clips and alignment pins go. I hear it’s pretty tricky to get them off without breaking a lot of the clips. Not a problem if you are replacing them though.

 

Extremely easy. Line-x damaged mine and i assisted in the replacement. Rip the old one off which breaks about half the tabs. Snap new one on.

Took less than a minute.

From what i could tell, they are not meant to be removed unless you intend to replace. Would be tough to do without breaking the tabs.

 

They are not that hard to remove. On the Aluminum some care will be needed to prevent denting the top, but basically you take pliers and squeeze the tabs from underneath while applying upward pressure. For the ones on the outside, as the bed rail widens, some do not have slots to reach the tab, so you push a flat blade screwdriver, or wider tool at the tab from the top while lifting up on the trim and they pop off with little damage. A gasket scraper tool works best, but since I didn't have one, I used a large screwdriver and just worked it.

They are squeeze tabs.

 

just out of curiosity do you have any windows reflecting straight down on your bedrail in your driveway. I've seen pictures of homes where the vinyl siding gets all twisted up from reflections.
I haven't noticed any rail deformation on my truck and its been Over 100 for almost the entire month.
However, even if thats what happened, they should be making them out of materials that won't do that these days. Especially on trucks that cost as much ad these things.

 

The truck sat in the sun in Tennessee at the stealership for about a week and then I couldn't park it in the shade for a week until I picked up my 5th wheel from the shop and then the 5th wheel blocked the sun from about 10am on. I dont know how long the truck sat in the sun before it was delivered to the dealership. My 5th wheel has been parked in the full sun for about a year only occasionally in the shade with no issues of peeling or cracking of any plastic or even the silicone
The truck wasn't in my possession for long enough to have ANY issues let alone an exterior piece that didn't hold up to the environment.
It is possible the sun reflected off a window and hit that spot but that would just be a better argument for sticking with aluminum or some other metal that is more durable than ABS plastic. Then again, given the quality of the chrome plating on their running boards metal may hold up better but whether or not the finish they put on them held up would be a whole other story.

 

When I drove my truck home from the dealer back in April this year (10hr drive), I noticed the driver side bed rail cap was bowed up in one spot. Seems one of the clips wasn’t snapped in good enough. A mild hammer fist thump snapped it in place and it’s been fine since. My truck lives outside 24x7 and I’ve not seen any issue with them trying to warp.

My truck is white, maybe a darker color truck could see higher temps from the sun enough to cause it?

 

That glue or sealer needs to be chipped off. Probably could dab a little paint on the spot after with a little water color brush.

Then put some dabs of epoxy or silicon (I used silicon on mine) and set some bricks on top to weigh it down.

10 minute job.

If you want to take it off just yank it and all the tabs will break. You can’t get it off without breaking some tabs. Basically one time use.

 

Oh, you can take them off without breaking the tabs. Just did mine on my 2012, no different than the op's, still same kind of clips. I would suggest trying to re-engage the clips, it is possible the clip isn't fully seating when inserted, some side movement while pressing down can fully seat the clip, unless the clip IS broken, in which case, there is no fix, just replace.

 

Yes, I have got one off but you are going to scratch up the paint disengaging the clips. I snagged one off a damaged bed once so it didn’t matter. It takes forever and more than likely you will break a few clips and need to glue it.

 

Same issue on my 2020. Hoping to get replacements under warranty.

 

shouldnt warp tho. mine is a 2017 and sits in the sun every single day since i bought it. Phoenix sun too. no warping. Now, my windshield cowl has turned to absolute dust, so i have a new one coming tuesday. hopefully that's an easy project.