Thanks Gotmy09 for taking the time to post the great pics! I am getting ready to install a Bakflip HD on my truck and have a couple of questions.

In the picture below it appears that the top flange on the rail has been bent to 90 degrees from horizontal, causing the paint to crack. Did it come that way from the factory or was bending required during installation? The ones I have are bent at approximately 30 degrees from horizontal without paint cracks.



In the picture below it appears that a gap is present between the bottom of the rail & the plastic bed cap. Does the factory installed rail shim leave a gap at the bottom of the rail after clamping or is this just unclear in the picture?



Thanks for your help!!

 

I didn't think ford offered such a product? I will have to inquire

 

If the cover is a Licensed Product from Ford, and you bought it from the dealer it is warrantied for the remainder of your new vehicle warranty.It is one of the only reasons to buy some products through Ford.

 

I'm not the original poster (obviously) but I can answer your question regarding the bends in the front flanges. These DO come bent from the factory, although not on purpose. The box in which they ship does not provide sufficient space to protect the ends of the rails, and many get bent during shipping. There should be no bend in these (they should be perfectly straight.)

I called the company that I purchased from (much credit to SteveVFX4) and they had the factory ship a new set of rails in a thinner, longer box. These arrived just fine.

It appears that using the rails as shown in the pictures really shouldn't cause any problems, as the front rubber seal will cover the gap anyway. However, for the money involved, I wanted straight, unblemished rails. Also, on one of my rails, the plastic nipple for the drain tubes had snapped off during shipping.

Regarding your second question about the factory installed rail shim leaving a gap at the bottom of the rail after clamping. There may be a small gap at the bottom. Mine doesn't appear to be quite as large as the pictures here show, but I can see where some gap would be possible due to the pre-attached shims. I would consider this normal. The main idea here is to have the rails end up plumb, not slanting inward or outward.

Overall, I think the Bakflip HD is a great cover, and I am quite happy with mine; but the factory should use more care during packaging to avoid shipping damages.

Mike

 

how much, where can i get one, and can i stand on it? can my girl and i stand on it?

 

email me through my profile.

 

What he said above.

The rail came bent, probably around 30 degrees. I was a bit confused about that part when installing... just didn't seem right and I remember being a bit mad thinking it was sloppy engineering. I installed them as is, but the rail stuck out too far I couldn't get the tailgate closed. So of course I did the guy thing and took out a hammer... pounded those rails down to 90, and everything fit fine. In retrospect I should have pounded it out the OTHER way to make it straight, but ultimately it doesn't really matter. It works just fine the way I did it.

As far as question number 2... I think I need to go look at my truck! It's been a long day!

 

Mike Thanks for the feedback. Did you see any bending of the aluminum rail or bed side flange when tightening the clamp due to the gap? Seems like the shim needs to fill the gap to prevent bending.

 

Thanks for the response. When you get a chance, can you see if there is any bending of the aluminum rail or bed side flange due to the gap not being filled by the shim? Thanks!

 

Hey there... I took a look at my truck. I think the angle of that pic makes it look like a bigger gap than there is. There isn't much of one at all. I don't notice any bending or movement of the rail or any other parts.

Go ahead and get that thing on your truck - you won't regret it! Very happy with this product, in both looks and function.

 

d445,

I do not notice any bending of either the rail or bed side when clamping. The clamps are gripping near the upper portion of the rail where the pre-installed shim is anyway. I wouldn't worry about any bending in this area.

NOTE: when installing my Bakflip HD, I did have to trim about 1/8 inch from the end of each rail, as they were too long and touched the tailgate. Perhaps this was due to the dealer installed bedliner, but I just carefully used a fine-toothed metal hacksaw blade and touched up with black paint.

Still very happy with the Bakflip ... it's not waterproof, but very close; and no problems with the cover so far (other than being a dust magnet!)

You will be pleased once installed. Take your time -- be sure to allot a few hours just in case.

 

try a piece of weatherstripping along the back rail of the bed (adjacent to the window), I think that helped me, I haven't notice any minor drips back there anymore.

and yeah if you have the factory bedliner with the plastic cover on the tailgate, the rails will hit the tailgate cover. So I just cut the corners off the plastic tailgate cover rather than trimming the Bakflip rails.

 

++++ to the weatherstripping along the top of the bed rail just behind the cab (I think Bakflip refers to this as the bulk head rail). My cover, the Ford hard folding cover, actually came with a piece of weather stripping for that exact spot.

 

Thanks!

 

Thanks!