Hey I am a new member and the new owner of a 09 F-150 Lariat need some help wit my bed cover decision trying to figure out if it is worth paying $200.00 more bucks for the HD bakflip over the G2 I use my truck for hunting and fishing and want the security of the hard cover any thoughts?

 

I have the regular bakflip and it does everything I ever needed. It also stays secure enough that I don't worry about putting anything in my bed.

 

actually we just talked about this in another thread, the current G2 shipping from the factory is now aluminum just like the HD. The place I got my HD cover is offering a special deal on this new G2 version. email me through my profile and I can give you the details.

 

None of these are secure as any of them can easily be popped open with a flat nail puller. The best thing is they keep casual prying eyes from seeing what's in there but I would not leave valuables in there at a trailhead or remote hunting site.

Here was my experience with the BakFlip HD I recently purchased:

I have to admit it looks pretty nice installed.

However, I was really disappointed on three fronts.

1) Quality of assembly. It looks like the guys who assembled them were racing each other and used a miter saw with a spent blade. All the cut aluminum ends were done very crudely with sharp burrs hanging everywhere. The small vinyl coated wire/cable that releases the latches runs through aluminum channels and when I pull the cable the vinyl sheath is cut by the very sharp and rough edges. I will need to go into there with a dremel or file and smooth it all up or the cable will be frayed in no time.

2) Clamps and customer service. When I was installing the siderails I noted the clamps seemed over-sized for the application (2010 F-150 XLT). The rearmost one could not be installed anywhere near where the rail ended without bearing into the paint on the inside wall of the bed. I had to install the clamp almost 2 feet forward of the rail end which puts the clamp well away from the rearward latch. I called BakFlip CS and a helpful man said I needed to talk to a technician but they were all helping other customers. I left him my number (and had him read it back to me to make sure it was written down correctly) but have never heard back from them. That was over two days ago.

It looks like my best option is to try to find some smaller clamps that are suitable for the tailgate end of the side rails.

3) I was mislead on the weight of the product even though I did my homework on the Backflip website and discussed this with a BakFlip dealer. The weight is very important to me because my wife will need to remove it by herself several occasions a year. I also did not want to pack on the pounds so the lightness of the BakFlip HD was very appealing to me.

The BakFlip website says "The average G2 cover weighs only 40 lbs. The new aluminum HD series cover averages at a mere 36 pounds. This includes the weight of the rails."

Sounds good, eh? I have a 6.5' bed so I assumed my cover would fall in the "average" category. Before I placed my order I asked the dealer the weights of the BackFlip HD and G2 in the 6.5' length and he said they both weighed about the same at 45 lbs. That surprised be as it was 9 more lbs. than the average weight claimed on the BakFlip website for the HD model but I placed my order anyway.

When it arrived I was immediately struck by how heavy the cover and hardware was. After removing all the packaging I weighed the components on an accurate digital postage scale with a 330 lb. capacity. It is known to be accurate to well under 1 lb. The installed components weighed 65. lbs! While there are heavier tonneaus from other manufacturers, I felt like I had been purposely deceived because I had been led to believe the complete cover would weigh between 36 lbs. and 45 lbs, not 65 lbs.

The cover is going to work for me but I wish there was more honesty/accuracy regarding it's true weight and a little more care taken in finishing off the cut aluminum. It looked like 3rd graders did the cutting. From what I can see so far, the rest of the product looks to be of good quality and will hopefully serve me well for at least a few years.

 

My experience with Bakflip has been nothing but positive. I had one on my 06 Lariat for about a year and a half ntil it was blown away. (See my thread, Bakflip Beware, to read the entire experience.) Bakflip replaced it with a new cover and I paid only shipping. I exchanged seeral emails with them and then several phone calls in the process.

We played phone tag for several days but persistance paid off. I'd be curious to know if any other tonneau company would have done what BakFlip did for me. They are supposed to be unveiling a new Super Duty (SD) model this November. Might wait and check it out.

 

I just pre-ordered one from the guy SteveVFX4 recommends. They are calling it the "BakFlip F1." It's supposed to be the same aluminum panels as the HD, but with a fiberglass/plastic outer shell. Makes them more impact resistant. I will report on the install when it arrives.

 

so? hows is it?

 

So I installed my F 1 on Sunday had to do a little trimming of the bed liner but so far I am very pleased with the over all product I would definitely recommend it any other questions let me know.

 

I just got back from a long (2400 miles) Thanksgiving trip. I installed the F1 and a BedRug just before taking off about a week ago. I've got pics of the whole process, but they need editing before posting. Pretty easy to install. The only hitch I ran into was the drain tubes weren't long enough to reach the drain plugs in the bed. I ended up buying longer tubing from the Ace Hardware store for $2.50.

I'll post a summary after I get the pics up.

 

I got the same setup on order, so im anxous to see the pics

 

Piranha,
I'd like to install the same setup you have however I have one concern. I just bought my used '09 F150 Supercrew Platinum last Saturday. It has the short (5 1/2') bed but it also has the bed extender installed. My concern is that if I put in a Bedrug (or even a spray in Linex liner) I won't be able to lock the bed extender in place when it's rotated inside of the bed. Right now the extender has to be hard on the bed in between to ridges before I can push the locking pin in place. Have you , or anyone else, had to deal with a preinstalled bed extender? Will the bedrug interfere with the bed extender where it attaches to the sides of the bed?

Also, an open question for anyone:
I was all set to order the F1 BAKflip today and went over to a local shop to see how they looked. When I was there they showed me an etang 'Solid Fold' cover for about the same price (actually $30 less). The main difference I could see was that the extang sits on top of the bed rail and had a latch on each side that you have to release and it didn't appear to have additional latches for the middle panels but the plus side was that it didn't have any additional rails on the inside of the bed rails taking away from the over all bed width (kind of minor issue probably). It appeared to only be clamped in place right behind the cab so you only had two clamps to remove if you wanted to remove the entire cover. Anyone out there have any experience with the extang products?

Oh yeah, they tried to tell me that only the G2 was available and never heard of the HD or F1 so the brochure I picked up only addressed the G2. They talk about shims being needed in some applications. Are shims required to install the F1 on a 2009 F150? Has anyone else experienced the poor quality that 'REAL' experienced? That sounds a little scary. 'REAL', when did you buy yours and did you buy it direct from BAK Industries?

 

The HD is no longer being produced. The two models are G2 (aluminum, no longer plastic) and the F1 (FRP and aluminum). Note that if you go buy a G2 from a retailer, you could get old inventory and get the old plastic one.

Extang covers are good, here's the Solid Fold:


Have you considered the FoldACover G4 Elite?

 

Okay, I uploaded my install pictures to an album in my profile. Here's the link...

2010 F-150 SuperCrew

First the BedRug install went fairly easy. I laid it out in the sun on my front lawn for about an hour before installing it which helped get most of the wrinkles out. Mainly just a lot of messing around with industrial hook & loop (i.e. Velcro). I opted for the official Ford version (they call it the SportLiner) which I ordered from our friends at Tasca. It didn't cost much more than the ones with the BedRug logo on it and I'm kinda partial to the blue oval. Here is a picture of it installed:



I need to change the tailgate positioning, but it works great. For my purposes, I think the BedRug is a good choice.

Now on to the BakFlip F1. Here's a picture of the hardware - 2 rails, 6 clamps, and 2 sets of bolt, washers, and star nuts. The "shims" were already installed on the rails, so I didn't need to mess with those.



Not shown in the picture was a strip of self-adhesive weatherstrip which is place along the top of the front bulkhead and some self-adhesive rubber bumpers for when the panels are flipped up.

I clamped the rails on, checked the seal, made some adjustments, and then put the cover on. I adjusted the cover fit, then bolted it down to the clamps with the bolts, washers (rubber+fender+lock), and star *****. The tricky part was attaching the drain hoses. I had drilled holes in the black rubber covers in the front of the bed to accomodate the drain tubes. Unfortunately, once the tubes were on the rails, they wouldn't reach the holes I had drilled. I also had to cut some cross slits in the BedRug to run the tubes through. Here is a picture of the tubes (before I fixed them)...



I went down to Ace Hardware and picked up some longer tubing and re-routed them out the holes with 2-3 inches to spare.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the functionality. I get full access to my bed and while I don't kid myself that it's 100% secure, it certainly provides a deterrent to anyone that might want to grab tools and such from my bed.

Here's the cover fully closed...



There are more pics in the album in my profile...

 

Well, the BedRug fills in the ridges, so that might be a problem with locking down your bed extender. It shouldn't interfere with the mounts because you can just poke holes through the BedRug and reinstall the mounting hardware. I did that for my tie down hooks inside the bed with no problems.


For the BakFlip, there are latches on each side of each panel, but they are connected to a cable that allows you to open the latches with a tug on the cable from either side of the bed. The rails sit flush against the bed caps and don't really take up much bed width - maybe 1/2 inch.

The shims were already installed on my F1 rails from the factory. They're there because the bed caps don't come down at a perfect vertical and the shims set the rails so they are vertical against the side of the bed caps.

 

congrats, looks good both the cover and bedrug. Some of us have also installed an electric tailgate lock so then your bed is automatically secure each time you lock your truck via the keyless entry.