If you had to buy a truck bed cover again...

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...which one?

*For F150 5.5ft bed with bed liner (things slide around if not stowed in front of the bed or secured)

Parameters. (At least for my truck.) It stays locked in the garage at night 95% of time. The other 5% of the time it might be in a hotel parking lot, but anything of value will either be in the cab, or in the room with me.

It's not a "work" truck, meaning the bed is usually empty during the week.

What I put back there is range bags, and gear (to make room for shooters in the cab while in transit) and folding chairs on weekends, and furniture a few times a year when I move my nomadic kids to yet another apartment.

The one thing that's kept me from getting a roll up hard cover is the fact that I am assuming it is harder to stow things in the front of the bed without taking the cover off, but I may or may not know what I'm talking about here.
 
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Most bed liners have notches in them for 2X4s to sit in. You can run a 2x4 across the bed to keel things from sliding up. The bed extenders are nice too, but pricey.

If you are on facebook, there are a lot of them on marketplace. I'm trying to catch a cover or camper for mine.
 
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I have a Under Cover hard cover on my 5.5 bed F150 and will buy another if I ever buy a new truck. It is fairly simple to remove if I need to hall something big but it's solid enough to climb on to wash the roof of the truck. It keeps the water out and that's why I went with this cover because I've had the soft sided covers leak in a heavy rain or from the sprayer from the carwash. Thankfully this one has not in the 15 years I've owned it.
 
I bought a Bakflip for my 5.5" F150 last month. It's exactly as advertised. easy to install, keeps the water out, secure and looks pretty good.

With the way it folds, you lose maybe 8" of space if you need to fold it all the way to the cab.
 
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I bought a Bakflip for my 5.5" F150 last month. It's exactly as advertised. easy to install, keeps the water out, secure and looks pretty good.

With the way it folds, you lose maybe 8" of space if you need to fold it all the way to the cab.
If you want to strap in furniture or such in the bed right up against the front of the bed (right at the back of the cab) do you just remove the cover?
 
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I have a vinyl Gator cover on my truck. Keeps out most of the rain, but it does leak a few oz into the bed if it rains hard all day. My kit came with an additional seal to seal up the leak prone area around the front of the bed, but I didn't want to install it before confirming if I needed it or not.

Overall, I'm pleased with it for the price. No wind noise, keeps the inside of the bed clean, and protects/hides things I store back there. The water leakage has been very minimal.

Can be removed completely in under 5 mins if I need an open bed, or can be folded away to give access to 2/3 of the bed.

If I had to start over, I might would look at some of the hard covers, but they're considerably more expensive.
 
Over had two trucks with uundercover tips on them. If I need to haul something big I just hook up a trailer instead of taking the top off. It’s tough, and keeps water out of the bed
 
If you want to strap in furniture or such in the bed right up against the front of the bed (right at the back of the cab) do you just remove the cover?


yes. I haven't done that yet, but in theory should be easy peasy.
 
I just installed a undercover elite on my dad's crew cab shortbed. Includes a led light and cargo retriever rod for items in the front of the bed. Easy install and it only weighed around 70 pounds. Its claimed to support 500 pounds of distributed weight on the top. We took thier word and decided not to test it.

I also installed the optional keyed alike lock.
 
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Just ordered a backflip mx4 for my new Tacoma. Had a camper shell on my tundra and a retrax rolltop on my last Tacoma. I like the Backflip because it can fold all the way up against the rear glass leaving your bed completely open. Friend has one and it really looks nice.
 
I keep checking reviews on amazon and bakflip and the G2 and MX4 are getting kind of beat up in recent reviews. Especially fitting my 2017 F150. I know it's usually just the unhappy folks who post reviews, but I can't bring myself to click "place order" just yet seeing those reviews.
 
Just do the bakflip. You wont regret it. You also have to figure that not every tom dick and harry are handy and detail oriented as we are when installing something......food for thought.

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Everyone I think has their own parameters for what works for them. I’ve had a few different types (hard and soft) and for me my favorite has been the Access Roll Up Cover


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I'm not a truck bed cover kinda guy, but I have been intrigued by these. I just got a new truck and upgraded my Cam Locker to a 28" wide Weather Guard cross over, it's amazing how much more room it has.

13R565_AS01


https://www.grainger.com/product/13...s_kwcid=AL!2966!3!50916774117!!!s!71852746519!
 
Everyone I think has their own parameters for what works for them. I’ve had a few different types (hard and soft) and for me my favorite has been the Access Roll Up Cover


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I had an Access Lorado on my former F150, and liked it enough to put one on my current F250. Very well made, kind of a PITA to install until you realize you need a couple of C-clamps.

It can be defeated with a box cutter, but thieves don't usually try to steal what they can't see; and I don't leave valuables back there with the truck unattended for long periods anyway. It's mostly for protecting stuff from the elements.

I've had several hard covers, probably won't have another one.
 
Have a RetraxOne XR on my Tacoma, deliberated between this and the BakFlip for quite a while. Came down to I was willing to sacrifice a bit of bed space for the rolling cover over the BakFlip.

Like the security that the hard cover provides, ability to lock it, for the most part it's fairly water tight, however it's a issue particular to the Tacoma bed style that can be fixed with some silicone to make it 99.9% water tight.

Anecdotally I've found it beneficial to have the ability to lock the cover in place along the entirety of the bed and not be forced into a specific size opening.
 
I put a Retrax cover that rolls up into a canister. I like the idea you can lock it at any position. Had it for 2 years has not leaked.
 
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I bought a Bakflip for my 5.5" F150 last month. It's exactly as advertised. easy to install, keeps the water out, secure and looks pretty good.

With the way it folds, you lose maybe 8" of space if you need to fold it all the way to the cab.
I have been looking at a bacflip for my Ford Explorer Sport trac for a year and a half... I like the way it looks, and the rigidity... I dont want a roll up soft cover... but that bacflip is damned near $900....
 
Just do the bakflip. You wont regret it. You also have to figure that not every tom dick and harry are handy and detail oriented as we are when installing something......food for thought.

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By the way, if you use the chat feature and the bakflip website, they will discount the cover for you. website showed $989 for the MX4 for my Tacoma and they discounted it to $899.
 
Most bed liners have notches in them for 2X4s to sit in. You can run a 2x4 across the bed to keel things from sliding up.

I've got a 2x6 running across the bed in my Tundra closest to the tailagte. Perfect space for my trash cans, fuel cans, range bags, chainsaw, cooler, ruck ect. No more having to hop my short ass up in the bed to get the stuff that slid all the way up to the cab. I also put a couple of pieces of pipe on the 2x6 to slide my flag poles into when I'm feeling extra redneck and want to fly my flags :cool:.
 
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