I got a new old stock tonneau cover for my 86 F150 flareside. I know I have to wait until it's warmer to put it on, it's only 40 today, maybe 45 or 50 in the garage. Anyway, I've had it out of the box and rolled out on the floor for a week or two now, and so I figured I'd toss it over the bed and see how it looks. I pulled it as tight as I could but I could only get the back to barely get to the top of the tailgate, it still has to wrap down. I put it on the floor again and measured, it's about 2 inches short laying on the floor as flat as I could get it, so maybe an inch or inch and a half without the wrinkles left. It probably shrunk a little from being in the box for so long, but I sure hope it will strech out. I'll wait till the warmer weather and let it sit in the sun for a few hours, that should help. Anybody else put on a new tonneau? How short was it out of the box?

 

What you have sounds about right. With the length of even a short bed, you'll only be asking it to stretch about 2%. Being that tight is the only way they keep their shape.

 

You have the correct part..... On my 97 F150, I had a heck of a time when I would roll up the cover in the winter. It just would not want to stretch out again. I had to wait for a warmer, sunny day to get it back on.
On my new truck I have the tonneau cover that lifts up from the back. It is hinged 1/4 of the way from the front. Now I really don't have to roll it up much any more. If I do, I have a heated garage that I put it in if I need to stretch it back on.

 

I think they shrink over time I had a pickup with one of those tonneau covers before they were great at first then as time went on it shronk and could not put the dam thing on. So I gave it a home at the dump. If I had to do again I would go with a hard tonneau cover I think they even look better.

 

Just read another thread where they had no problems with spray ons and tonneau covers....
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=224977

 

Thanks for the replies. It has finally gone into the 70's and is supposed to be there all weekend, I was thinking of putting it on sunday, but maybe I should wait until it is warmer yet. Personally, I don't like the way hard covers look, even on newer trucks, but it really wouldn't look right on my 86 flareside.

 

I'm up in Massachusetts and we may hit 70's too. I would put it on this weekend. Just leave the cover in the sun for a while so it warms up first, you should be all set....
Go for it....

 

Hit 78 today, but I had to work Tommorow is supposed to be 78 again, so that's good.

One more thing, though. It has a rail across the front that I've already installed, and it slides forward and back. The paper says to initially install it with the rail all the way forward, but there's no way it will reach like this. As long as I space the snaps right, it shouldn't hurt to move this back some for the install, should it? It's supposed to be able to move back in case it shrinks, but It's so old it's probably pre shrunk!

 

Got it on today It looks great! New pics in gallery. It took a while but it's good, nice and tight. Only problem is that if you undo the snaps on the tailgate, its a real sob to get them back on, but the sides are good, snug, but you can attatch and unattach them without much trouble. Hopefully it will get a little easier after its on there a little bit. Leaving it out in the sun today made it much softer and easier to work with. It was in the 80s!