Installed Bed Extender Yesterday
Sorry I don't have pictures - but I thought this information might be useful to some. First of all - the local Pepboys has the Steelhorse bed extender for $149 and there is a $25 coupon right now (through Sept. 9) for any purchase over $100. For $125, I don't think you will find a better price anywhere. The Steelhorse brand is the Bed X-Tender that is manufactured by AMP-Research - which also happens to be the same one sold by Cabellas for $169 (plus $20 shipping). You can go to the amp research webpage to read about it www.amp-research.com. They make three models - the 7714 (which is made for the supercrew) the 7715 which won't fit the supercrew and can't be modified to fit) and the 7716 - which is the full size model and it can be modified to fit - which is what I did because the 7714 was a special order item for Pep Boys. You simply cut 4" off each of the curved aluminum tubes - a total of 6 cuts. I did this in a vice with a hack saw and it worked great. I like this bed extender for 2 reasons. First, it can't be removed from the truck when the tailgate is up and locked. Second, it has two "buckles" which latch into the tailgate releases on each side of the tailgate when the tailgate is down. You can lock the tailgate in the down position and it also locks the bed extender in place, but someone could cut the nylon webbing and steal the bed extender in this position. The aluminum tubing has a "brushed" finish and looks real nice - it feels very sturdy and can be installed over a plastic bedliner. Installation is a breeze - drill 3 holes in each side of your bed with the provided template and screw in the mounting brackets (or, simply measure 8 1/2 inches up from the bottom and 1 1/4 inches in from the back and drill your bottom hole, install the bracket and drill the other two holes). The screws are inaccessable with the bed extender installed, so nobody can uncrew them and steal it. I like this bed extender better than the factory Ford model, and for $250 less, it's a real bargain. Total installation time, including hacksawing was about an hour. If you were lucky to get the "pre-cut" model #7714, installation would take about 20 minutes.


