tonneau covers that work with the multifunction tailgate?

[baccigalup]

Has anyone installed the gatortrax on a rambox and multi function tailgate....I called a dealer and they asked if I had black or silver rails and said they shortened the rails not to interfere with the rambox....so supposedly they addressed the issues retrax did not....anyone have any experience with these and how did it work out.

 

[EMS_Pilot_66]

Has anyone installed the gatortrax on a rambox and multi function tailgate....I called a dealer and they asked if I had black or silver rails and said they shortened the rails not to interfere with the rambox....so supposedly they addressed the issues retrax did not....anyone have any experience with these and how did it work out.

This thread is about the multifunction tailgate(not the rails) and NO Ram-box because of the corner brackets. The Ram box beds have no issues with most tonneau covers because they don’t have the corner brackets. As for the rails, again it’ll depend on your rails On what you'll have to do. I’m sure there’s a thread for the Ram box and covers.

 

[Whiskeymike]

I installed mine today and this is how they looked. They should look like opposites when installed (hope that makes sense to you). I also did not have to cut/trim any of the plastic for the brackets to fit.

Can you explain what the L bracket does that makes a tonneau work properly? is it because it sticks out a 1/4 inch as a ledge?

 

[c3k]

Can you explain what the L bracket does that makes a tonneau work properly? is it because it sticks out a 1/4 inch as a ledge?

The MFT can put a twisting load on the bed sides. (Traditional tailgates flop down. The MFT opens to the side. Imagine a 300 pound buddy hanging on it as it swings open.) To counter that, RAM installed some brackets on the front corners to anchor the bedsides to the front of the bed. The OEM RAM brackets are triangular shaped: they are an "L" with a cross brace between the two arms of the L. (Like a broadened out letter "A".)

That OEM bracket is aluminum and about an inch thick, front to back, and the cross brace is in the middle. This interferes with a lot of aftermarket tonneau covers.

So, along came RightOn, with a heavy-duty steel bracket with no cross brace and less than 1/2 the thickness of the OEM bracket.

It is this slender bracket that allows most aftermarket tonneau covers to fit.

(There is an argument to be made that the bracket, OEM or aftermarket, may not even be necessary. I'll let others debate that.)

 

[SithLordTrell_]

You did. They should be mirror images. Get with @rightonbracket and I’m sure they’ll correct it. They should see these as I’ve tagged them.

Update:

RightOn confirmed they sent me 2021 and a 2020 bracket. They are sending me the correct brackets today.

 

[EMS_Pilot_66]

Update:

RightOn confirmed they sent me 2021 and a 2020 bracket. They are sending me the correct brackets today.

Awesome. Glad it’s being taken care of for you. Honestly I think they look way better on the truck than the OEM ones.

 

[EMS_Pilot_66]

Can you explain what the L bracket does that makes a tonneau work properly? is it because it sticks out a 1/4 inch as a ledge?

Ditto what c3k said. The right-on brackets still don’t allow every tonneau cover to work on the truck but it opens up a lot more covers that do or can with some modifications to rails and such. An example will be for the undercover ultra flex cover. I’m going to attempt to reverse the rails and cut out some of the angled edge allowing it to sit over the L bracket. pictures and update will be posted if it works.

 

[EMS_Pilot_66]

Update:

RightOn confirmed they sent me 2021 and a 2020 bracket. They are sending me the correct brackets today.

Got my undercover ultra flex installed today. Can’t remember if you’re installing the same or not. I’ll post the steps and pics below. Hope you get your brackets soon and installed.

 

[EMS_Pilot_66]

Today I installed the undercover ultra flex. Some may not agree on my method but it works for me and hopefully this will help someone else. There is one step I haven’t completed yet and that is the support arms as they have to be reversed.

Had to do some serious thinking about how to best install this to make it work (in my mind anyways). After test fitting the rails I realized that if installed in the normal manner it was going to leave too big of a gap on the front sides. Sooooo in looking at the rails and not being able to cut anything out where the drain holes were I thought to myself; Self what if I reversed the rails? In looking at the rails you’ll see a cutout on the normal tailgate end(circled in red). Laying that over the righton brackets I could see the rail would fit/sit better. So in the blue circle you’ll see the area I cut out with a Skill saw(be careful as the blade can hit the lips and kick back on you. You can see the finished cuts and the length on the bracket I measured from the end of the rail WITH the plastic end cap installed.

I then used a grinder (bought the ryobi battery one as I don’t do a lot of grinding) to remove the rest of the metal needed for it to sit flush(circled in yellow and I just ground down plastic (in blue). Recommendation, make sure to buy a 4.0-6.0aH battery as these will eat up the normal batteries. You’ll only get a few minutes of usage for each battery if not. I then sealed up the hole you see at the end with some RTV(I did this with them removed from the rail).


See next post for installation of the rails. It was pretty straight forward from here(reversed rails obviously).

 

[EMS_Pilot_66]

Installation of the rails was pretty straight forward from here(reversed obviously).


The one thing I did do is move the clamp support circled in blue. If you look close you can see the original position. Feel behind the brackets and you’ll find spots where the clamp can be placed between the bolts in it(Hope that makes sense).
I left the other clamps in their original spots.


You can see that the rails don’t sit completely down on the bed cap but it can be either filled with something OR as I might do down the road is grind a little (thinking about 1/8”in) off the top of the righton brackets to let it sit flush. For now it works.

pics of the cover in next post.

 

[EMS_Pilot_66]

Here are some more pics of the tailgate end and the drain tubes. I know some will say they need to be in the front but with this cover I just don’t see that happening without a ton more engineering and fabricating a new drain hole. I’m sure it can be done by someone but just don’t have the time to attempt it and don’t want to completely ruin these rails.

And the finished (well almost finished) product.

I still have to reverse the support arms but don’t plan on needing them for awhile.


As you can see the support arm bracket is 19” from the original end of the rail. I’m not sure if placing the same distance from the “new” front end will place the arm in the proper position. Any of you engineering types out there willing to chime in would be appreciated.

If anyone has questions or wants different pictures just let me know and I’ll answer/provide the best I can.

 

[New1500customram]

Ok i am looking for a cover that will fit the truck i have coming! (black Friday sale if possible)
I have the 2022 1500 Crew crewcab 5.7 bed with MFT and Ramboxes. i am thinking hard or possible soft cover
Thanks in advance, for helping me out with this!

 

[EMS_Pilot_66]

Ok i am looking for a cover that will fit the truck i have coming! (black Friday sale if possible)
I have the 2022 1500 Crew crewcab 5.7 bed with MFT and Ramboxes. i am thinking hard or possible soft cover
Thanks in advance, for helping me out with this!

There’s 38 pages of posts about that here. Best of luck.

edit: just realized you have ramboxes. You won’t have any issue finding a cover that works. This thread is about MFT without Ramboxes.

Here‘s a couple links to look at some if you haven’t had one before.
Tonneau Cover World
Real Truck

 

[dinn2win]

Add me to the RO Bracket club. Or rather, ATTEMPTING to join the RO Bracket club.

I removed the original RAM brackets and used some Bolt Depot, grade 12.9 sockets. (8mm x 1.25 x 35mm for the front wall, and 8mm x 1.25 x 80mm for the sidewall. 3 of each for each bracket.)

I had two (three?) problems.

See the pix...

View attachment 93546

View attachment 93547


The upper image is the front wall. (This is the right-corner bracket.) you can see that the bracket needs to go to the right. The conical shape of the bolt head will assist in moving it. Gotta love the 12.9 steel.

The lower image shows the sidewall. That recessed bolt/washer is interfering with the mount. The bolts on the sidewall are not moving the bracket forward. The bracket hole is not clearing the washer. That may be causing about 2mm of clearance issue seen on the front bolt holes.

The next step will be to remove the offending bolt and washer and then reinstall them. If the hole does not provide clearance for the washer for reinstall, then I'll have to burr out that hole.

The other problem? See below:

View attachment 93548

The front-most bolt (80mm) bottoms out on the sidewall. Grrr.

I just ordered 70mm and 65mm bolts. I've reinstalled the OEM bracket and will re-attempt this next week after the new bolts arrive.

For Ram 1500 owner's with a MFT (multi function tailgate), I used the intel found on this forum and just installed a Retrax Pro XR to my 2021 Ram 1500 Crew with 6'4" box +MFT (no Rambox). The Right-On brackets did the trick and were simply to install with the right hardware; and the Retrax Pro XR fits - and looks - great. As for hardware to secure the RightOn brackets, I also bought mine via BoltDepot.com and used six (6) 8mm x 1.25mm x 70mm [Product ID #13300) and six (6) 8mm x 1.25mm x 35mm [product ID #13294] 12.9 alloy steel metric socket flat head bolts. Have a 5mm hex bit to install. NOTE: The RightOn brackets don't match perfectly, so this style of bolt head worked extremely well to self-align the bracket AND stay flush with the bracket's pre-drilled holes.
The Retrax Pro XR also installed well and am excited to see how it performs. I'll update this thread if it's performance is lack-luster but at first blush it looks like an awesome cover. The photos below show the Right-On brackets and the bolts used to install them; plus the installed Retrax cover. The driver-side photo shows the OEM bracket removed. The passenger-side photo shows the new bolts loosely threaded; but they snug up perfectly once tightened. The Retrax photo shows the cover installed and two beers waiting for consumption after completing the project. Good luck and thanks to all those who started this thread...your info helped me tremendously.

 

[jgmac98]

thanks to everyone's input in this thread. Originally I ordered a RAM with Rambox's and NO MFT, but after 3 months of waiting without a VIN found a truck on a lot near me that had all the same options but no RamBox but did have the MFT. Freaked out a bit last night when I found out the BAK X4s i wanted wouldn't fit and I didn't want to make any structural changes. I ended up getting the Truxedo Sentry. I'll post pictures after I get it on (may take a couple weeks to get it delivered) but the dealership confirmed there are only 3 "hard" covers that they knew would work with the MFT, the Truxedo, Diamondback and Extang Solid Fold 2.0. Contacted BAK today as well, they stated their Engineers are working on a proper X4s that would work with the factory brackets but had no timeline available.

thank you everyone.

 

[greenlawnracing]

thanks to everyone's input in this thread. Originally I ordered a RAM with Rambox's and NO MFT, but after 3 months of waiting without a VIN found a truck on a lot near me that had all the same options but no RamBox but did have the MFT. Freaked out a bit last night when I found out the BAK X4s i wanted wouldn't fit and I didn't want to make any structural changes. I ended up getting the Truxedo Sentry. I'll post pictures after I get it on (may take a couple weeks to get it delivered) but the dealership confirmed there are only 3 "hard" covers that they knew would work with the MFT, the Truxedo, Diamondback and Extang Solid Fold 2.0. Contacted BAK today as well, they stated their Engineers are working on a proper X4s that would work with the factory brackets but had no timeline available.

thank you everyone.

I have that same cover. Other than the fact that it doesn’t have a quick release to immediately remove it as it shows in the pictures/videos, I’m very happy with it. I do use my full bed quite often, so if you could quickly remove it that would be convenient.

 

[alton555]

Hello! First post on this forum, but I wanted to chime in about the replacement brackets from Pete at rightonbrackets.com. I really appreciated all the conversations in the forum here about getting replacement brackets so I could get the bed cover I wanted, so I'd like to add my experience for those that are still figuring out what to do. I can't recommend this option highly enough. The replacement brackets showed up very quickly from rightonbrackets and Pete gave me a call once he saw they were delivered to see how things were working. The only thing I had to do was cut back about 1/4 inch of the spray in bedliner to get the brackets to fit flush. I had the Retrax cover installed by an authorized installer (I didn't have time do it before I needed the cover and was also very curious to see what a professional installer thought of the brackets). The installer was impressed by the brackets, asked for the website I got them so he can recommend it to other customers who have been coming with the same issues. Retrax cover was installed with no issues, works great, no problems at all. Highly recommend, you won't be disappointed. I'm happy to take an additional pictures or answer any questions you might have about this.
View attachment 47827 View attachment 47827 View attachment 47828 View attachment 47829 View attachment 47830 View attachment 47831 View attachment 47832 View attachment 47833 View attachment 47834 View attachment 47835 View attachment 47836

How did you cut back the spray in bed liner?

 

[NorcalMike]

How did you cut back the spray in bed liner?

Mine was the same way spray in bedliner wasn’t underneath the brackets

 

[EMS_Pilot_66]

How did you cut back the spray in bed liner?

There shouldn’t be any spray liner behind your brackets unless you had it done aftermarket and they removed the OEM brackets first. You can see in my picture just paint where the bracket goes.

 

[jgmac98]

I have that same cover. Other than the fact that it doesn’t have a quick release to immediately remove it as it shows in the pictures/videos, I’m very happy with it. I do use my full bed quite often, so if you could quickly remove it that would be convenient.

I'm not too fussed about the quick release. On my last truck I had the original BAK Rollex top and in the 8 years i had it, i think i took it off once. Mostly the truck box gets used for hauling kids stuff around for camping, no dirt bikes/quads or anything like that so the little bit you do lose doesn't impact me much.