No Stress Tonneau Cover for Ford F250 CCSB , Pullrite Slider and 150 Series

**Alfredo** · 02-09-2021, 01:35 PM

I am monitoring both the Ford Forum websites and Grand design Websites to find a "no stress" Tonneau cover for a 2020/21 Ford F250 Short box using the Pullrite Superglide. My wife says I worry too much, soooo I don`t want to worry about
- hitting the cover with the hitch head when the slide moves back into the straight position, or,
- clearing the cover when it is folded up or rolled up near the window when making turns, or,
- clearing the bed / tonneau cover side rails on turns .
I would appreciate any advice on any worry free cover any members are using to accomplish this. Thank you

**Tsquared23** · 02-09-2021, 02:01 PM

There is cause to be cautious. A couple of years ago I travelled crosscountry with a friend to pick up a new light weight fifth wheel trailer using his F150 and Pullrite Superglide. Bringing it home neither he nor I were familiar with his truck and this particular trailer. All went well until we got off our intended route at one point and needed to make a U turn. He pulled into a driveway, and I got out to watch for traffic as he backed out onto the road. As he backed out turning onto the road there was a screeching noise. Worried I looked at the back of his cab, but that was no problem. It wasn't until later when we stopped for gas that we noticed that the back part of his pin box had jammed into the rail of his tonneau cover. bending it bacly. It hadn't occurred to us that this could happen because when we first picked up the trailer there appeared to be plenty of clearance above side of the pickup box to the bottom of the pin box. What happened though was that because the driveway he was backing out of, sloped down from the road, the angle between the truck and trailer changed and the back of the pin box was much lower than when sitting on flat ground. The pullrite hitch will protect your cab in a tight turn, but you do need to careful about clearance between your tonneau rails and the back of your pin box.
His ultimate solution when we got home was to adjust the height of his hitch in the truck and the position in which his pinbox was bolted to the trailer to create more clearance, (and also to be more careful). Don't let yourself be pressured or rushed when backing up your trailer.
Cheers.

**MoonShadow_1911** · 02-09-2021, 02:41 PM

Originally Posted by Alfredo

I am monitoring both the Ford Forum websites and Grand design Websites to find a "no stress" Tonneau cover for a 2020/21 Ford F250 Short box using the Pullrite Superglide. My wife says I worry too much, soooo I don`t want to worry about
- hitting the cover with the hitch head when the slide moves back into the straight position, or,
- clearing the cover when it is folded up or rolled up near the window when making turns, or,
- clearing the bed / tonneau cover side rails on turns .
I would appreciate any advice on any worry free cover any members are using to accomplish this. Thank you

So mine is anecdotal. I have an F350 SRW with an 8' bed and a 320MKS. I have the Retrax hard retractable cover. Even though this coach is new for us, I still have been at 100° into a turn without issues. Now, remember, this is an 8' bed. I didn't hit the rails or the cover.

I really like the Retrax covers. Very sturdy and lockable. Thieves would bed a crowbar to get into the back, unlike the Tonneau covers, where they only need a knife.

https://www.retrax.com

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk

**Alfredo** · 02-10-2021, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by MoonShadow_1911

So mine is anecdotal. I have an F350 SRW with an 8' bed and a 320MKS. I have the Retrax hard retractable cover. Even though this coach is new for us, I still have been at 100° into a turn without issues. Now, remember, this is an 8' bed. I didn't hit the rails or the cover.

I really like the Retrax covers. Very sturdy and lockable. Thieves would bed a crowbar to get into the back, unlike the Tonneau covers, where they only need a knife.

https://www.retrax.com

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk

thanks Moonshadow. Do you think if you had the short bed version truck which would be 1 foot 3 inches closer to the Retrax you would hit the canister or the canister cover?

**Tsquared23** · 02-10-2021, 04:39 PM

I don't think you will have any problem with any retractable style tonneau. I previously had a short box Ram 3500. With a trifold tonneau I needed to fold it all the way up so that it stood upright behind the rear window because when it was folded as far as possible while still laying flat it did interfere with the fifth wheel on my trailer. I got rid of that one because I did not like having the back window completely obscured by the folded cover. I had two different retractable tonneaus, both of which were Pace Edwards models. When retracted into the canister they left a good 12 or more inches of clearance between the front of the hitch and the canister.
I am currently waiting for my new F350 to be delivered from the factory and will be getting another retractable tonneau when it arrives. I have no concern about clearane between the canister and the hitch.
An unrelated comment, but another consideration for me in choosing a tonneau is that I don't like the ones that have an external lock or latch. I much prefer having a latch only underneath the tonneau so that I can lock and unlock the box with just the tailgate lock. One less key to carry around and I always know the bed is locked if I click my electric tailgate lock

**Alfredo** · 02-10-2021, 06:51 PM

Originally Posted by Tsquared23

I don't think you will have any problem with any retractable style tonneau. I previously had a short box Ram 3500. With a trifold tonneau I needed to fold it all the way up so that it stood upright behind the rear window because when it was folded as far as possible while still laying flat it did interfere with the fifth wheel on my trailer. I got rid of that one because I did not like having the back window completely obscured by the folded cover. I had two different retractable tonneaus, both of which were Pace Edwards models. When retracted into the canister they left a good 12 or more inches of clearance between the front of the hitch and the canister.
I am currently waiting for my new F350 to be delivered from the factory and will be getting another retractable tonneau when it arrives. I have no concern about clearane between the canister and the hitch.
An unrelated comment, but another consideration for me in choosing a tonneau is that I don't like the ones that have an external lock or latch. I much prefer having a latch only underneath the tonneau so that I can lock and unlock the box with just the tailgate lock. One less key to carry around and I always know the bed is locked if I click my electric tailgate lock

thanks Tsquared. thats good to know about the clearance. Do you have any recommendations for retractables without locks on top

**Tsquared23** · 02-10-2021, 07:46 PM

The only one that I know of for sure does not have an exterior latch and lock is the Pace Edwards Switchblade. The other one that I had earlier was a Pace Edwards Jackrabbit. The Jackrabbit had an exterior latch, which I did not like, but it did have another feature that I did prefered to the Switchblade: that is that the Jackrabbit latches in a number of partially open positions while the Switchblade does not. As I recall, that feature allowed the Jackrabbit to be closed part way with the fifth wheel trailer attached and cover that portion of the bed in front of the bed. If you look them up on the etrailer site they have some descriptive youtube videos. It seems impossible to find one with all of the features that I would like.

**Alfredo** · 02-11-2021, 08:51 AM

Originally Posted by Tsquared23

The only one that I know of for sure does not have an exterior latch and lock is the Pace Edwards Switchblade. The other one that I had earlier was a Pace Edwards Jackrabbit. The Jackrabbit had an exterior latch, which I did not like, but it did have another feature that I did prefered to the Switchblade: that is that the Jackrabbit latches in a number of partially open positions while the Switchblade does not. As I recall, that feature allowed the Jackrabbit to be closed part way with the fifth wheel trailer attached and cover that portion of the bed in front of the bed. If you look them up on the etrailer site they have some descriptive youtube videos. It seems impossible to find one with all of the features that I would like.

Tom does the strap interfere with the sliding action on the slider? My impression is that it would be flying around in the box when driving getting tangled up?
thx
Al

**Tsquared23** · 02-11-2021, 12:57 PM

Your right that the strap is a bit of a nuisance. If left loose it will fly around like you say, but there is velcro on the end of the strap and you can loop it through one of the tie downs at the back of the truck bed to hold it down. That's true of the Switchblade model anyway, I don't remember whether the Jackrabbit had velcro. The nuisance the strap creates is more about getting caught up under anything that you place in the bed of the truck or on your hitch so that you have to free it before you can pull it to close the cover. Despite this i still prefer the retractable style cover to the hard folding style. Just personal preference though.

**Tsquared23** · 02-11-2021, 01:02 PM

I just figured out what you meant by getting caught up in the slider. I have never owned a sliding hitch so that has not been an issue for me. Having seen the Pullrite hitch that my friend had, I don't think that would be an issue though. The sliding mechanism for that hitch is pretty well protected under the rails. There is not much for the strap to get caught up in on the top side.