Quick question. I have a F250, Crew cab, short bed, diesel Harley Davidson. The reason I say HD is that my truck has plastic "bed rails" (Not sure if all the 250's do or just the HD).

Anyways, I want to get a bed over, but not sure which one is best. Also, i think the plastic bed rails wont allow the toneau cover frame to sit correctly since it only runs down the sides and the tailgate and the other end of the bed is just metal, if that makes any sense?

Any suggestions would be great.

 

I have an F250 as well, I am not sure what you mean exactly by plastic bed rails so I will list two options I have seen.

I have a full plastic bed liner that extends from bed itsel and wraps around the top of the sides of the bed but sits flush on top of all surfaces. I use the undercover hard toneau cover. It is lockable I got mine in black rather than the red of my truck because I liked the difference in color it was around $600.00 installed from the dealer, but I am sure you can get it cheaper, and it would be VERY easy to stick on yourself. It is also on hydrolics which makes it very easy to open and remain open or close. It is also completely removable as is all hardware should you desire to removie it. It also comes with hardware so you can hang the cover up in a garage should you choose to ride without it for some reason.

If you have bed rails that do not sit flush with the bed itself such as those used to holding onto whil climbing in and out of the bed and used as tie points for cargo, I have seen toneau covers that roll, and slide along installed tracks that sit flush with the bed and will not come in contact with the bed rails, I am not sure of pricing, but I believe you can order them from Cabelas, and many other places.

Hope this helps!

 

I have an Extang cover. It fits on the rails just fine. The front has extra think weatherstrip to make up the difference.

 

I have a Truxedo and it also fits just fine with the factory plastic bed rails. There's a rubber strip at the front to seal against the one metal bed wall there. It mounts on the inside of the rails, so your plastic bedrails are still exposed, and you can put tiedowns in the stake pocket holes, etc. and the cover won't be a problem with them.

Duncan

 

I'm getting a snug top cover. It fits over the bed rail and extends down the sides a bit to cover them up. It can be factory painted by snug top to match the color of your truck exactly.

 

i got the top of the line "lund" when i got my truck. it has "hook and loop" fasteners (velcro) and it is a piece of crap. the corners curl up the cross bars slide around and it has blow off once , breaking all four plastic corner brackets. i would guess you would be better off with anything other than a lund!!

 

I've got the Retrax roll top cover for mine and I love it. It works fine with the rail covers. This things strong too, a person could stand on it if they had a mind to.

 

I have a 2002 F250 CC 8' bed. I put a Retrax Gen III cover on mine and love it. It rolls up, is water proof and Lockable in any position down the bed to help hold a load in place. It looks awesome and has helped me pick up a mile or two per gallon at highway speeds. Web site is WWW.Rolltopcover.com.

 

I have a Pace Edwards Jackrabbit cover and it works well. It leaks a tiny bit of water going through the car wash which can be wiped up with a paper towel. It locks. Can't put anything on top of it since its not made to carry anything. I think max load is only 50 pounds so you definitely wouldn't want to stand on it. I like it better than the ARE hard cover I had on my F150 because it retracts to hold tall items.

 

I have the EXTANG on my long bed and love it

 

I went with a cover from Ziebart and got a spray in bed liner. Very good combo and no leaks. even had heavy snow on it and it didn't bother. I have the same siderails you are talking about.

 

I have the PE Roll-Top on my SD and I'm very happy with the concept of it although it's been less than durable with the type of use my truck gets. I got it initially for locking items in the bed while travelling or skiing, however I use my truck also as a farm truck and for hauling hay, lumber and loads to the dump. I didn't like how the cannister at the front reduced my bed to less than 8' making it necessary to carry large loads of fencing lumber with the tailgate open. Another time I had a 1000lb round bale of hay loaded into my truck before I realized the damage it would do to the tracks. Now I can't roll the cover very easily and it doesn't lock any more. Guess what I really need is one SD and one Expy -- too bad I can't afford that!

 

The space the roll-up ones take up, and the precision necessary for their tracks... is why I went with the Truxedo. It's not quite as secure if you're storing expensive stuff in a high crime district (anyone with a knife could get in if they wanted) but it's worked well for us on trips, and gets completely out of the way when I'm hauling a bed full of tall heavy stuff.

Duncan

 

Had a Snugtop on my last truck and loved it with one exception, it was heavy. It is made out of fiberglass and removes with 4 pins. This time I may go with the undercover which is made of ABS plastic so it is much lighter (about 60 lbs).
I looked at the retractables but after I spoke with some people that have them they said that it didn't seal all that well. I do suggest the rubber tailgate seal and if you get the hard cover drill the 2 bed rails that the shocks connect to and put in 1/4 inch nuts and bolts to hold them in place. I know, they are supposed to be drill less but I found the clamps do not hold worth a darn over time and go out of alignment especially when I was driving on dirt washboard roads.

 

I have an Extang Black Max cover, and it's ok at best. I've had to call Extang and get replacement snaps on two different occassions. With that said, I've never had a problem with them warrantying it, and they are easy to deal with.

The cover tends to shrink quite a bit in cold weather, making it almost impossible to get on.

It does keep everything dry in the bed, and it sits on the bed rail caps just fine, but it's a real pain undoing all of the snaps to get to my tool box at the front of the bed.

All in all, for the money (bought it on Ebay, $80 brand new), it's been a good investment. Especially when hauling all of the kids toys home after Xmas at the grandparents!!!!