I haven't christened the new truck yet and don't really want to... But I have yet to own a truck that at some point doesn't get the corners of the bed driven into the cab resulting in a lovely little dent on the cab near the front bed corners... On my 97 Ford 4x S/C Flareside it failed to dent but created a nice inch long "cut" in the paint on the drivers side. I don't really think I am out doing any harsh 4 wheeling... just casual stuff of moderate difficulty at most. I have owned 7 trucks to date (5 two wheelers and 2 four wheelers) and aside from the 3 week old 7th truck, all 6 of the others have ended up with at least one side of cab dented from the corner of the bed contacting it. I am sure it's doing this from the truck being twisted up on angled approaches and departures, just not sure how I can cure this short of staying on pavement and behaving... Anybody else with this type of experience.

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2000 F-150 Lariat S/C 4x4 ORP 5.4L Red/gold

 

All I can say is, anyone gets to complain about door cracks, except you!

 

I have had the same problem. I have one heck of a dent and i dont consider my driving harsh off roading. After looking at the Flareside and Styleside beds it apears that there is less clearance with the Flareside. I am not sure if there are problems with the styleside beds or not, but i am rather pissed about the whole deal.

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1998 Lariat S/C Flareside
4.6L ORP K&N Superchip Dynomax CatBack

 

Raoul:

Roflmao... It's kinda like stretching.. Keep limber and nothing will break. I'll probably be the only one who doesn't get them there door cracks, lol... Seriously though, I hope to avoid it for a few years at least... But don't really anticipate being able to. Trucks just too long I think. Lotsa' flex. My last one was a Flareside though so maybe you are right, Notloc1. Though I've done it to all my standard bed trucks too... Actually thought I wasn't gonna' get it on the flareside cause it had been so long... Then one day it appeared. At least the fiberglass bed didn't dent it much... Just cut the paint up and rounded the fiberglass edge on the bed. We'll see. Just wondered if I was the only dork out there crashing into himself.

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2000 F-150 Lariat S/C 4x4 ORP 5.4L Bright Red/gold

 

Almost sounds like you're getting frame flex in that it's giving at times causing the box to hit the back of the cab. The frame has to have 'some' flex in it else it would break eventually.

I don't think there's much the average guy can do about it other than try not to get in those situations.

One additional thought. I think the shorter the vehicle, the less flexing you should experience. Like a Jeep CJ would be less than an extended cab with a 8' box.

Sorry - I don't have an answer for you.

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97 XLT Extended Cab 4X2, Northland Edition Short Box. Dark Toreador Red & Saddle Tan Accent. Tan Interior. 4.6L V8, 4-Spd Automatic. 3.55 Limited Slip differential, ABS, Factory Mag Wheels, Factory Bedliner, Non-Leaking Sliding Rear Window, Trailer Towing Package, LeBra Tonneau, Ziebarted, with Repaired Crack in the drivers door - appears to be cracking again.




[This message has been edited by HCBPH (edited 06-02-2000).]

 

My 1998 4x4 F150 has some nice dings in the cab. A dealer told me that they would fix it for $1300.