Do I Have to Drill Anything to Install an Extang Solid Fold 2.0 for a 2019 Dodge Ram 1500
Dodge Ram Owner: Quick question. I need to get a Tonneau cover for my truck. I just bought a truck, and the one from my old truck doesn't fit the new truck. And I need it because I'm going on vacation and I need to put all the luggage in the back and I have to have a cover. So I need it quickly.
Shawn: Okay. No problemDodge Ram Owner: How long does shipping take to get one of these covers?
Shawn: What kind of cover are you looking at?Dodge Ram Owner: Well I like American Hard Tri-fold.
Shawn: Okay. Let's see here. American Hard Tri-fold. Are you referring to like the Tonneau Covers USA?Dodge Ram Owner: No, I saw one online somewhere else. All it says is American Hard Tri-fold Tonneau Cover. The problem is when I called the other place they were telling me that I can't get this from them until the end of next week.
Shawn: What's the truck?Dodge Ram Owner: It's a 2019 Dodge Ram 1500. It's a new model. The one with the 6 lug wheel, 5.7 bed.
Shawn: I don't think that's going to be something that I can get, unfortunately. We don't carry that.
Dodge Ram Owner: What else can you recommend?
Shawn: The only thing the closest I can get you for a hard tri-fold cover, and it's going to be night and day versus what you're looking at, but it's going to be way better quality, is the Extang Solid Fold. And that one goes for a few hundred bucks more.
Dodge Ram Owner: And how quickly can I get that one?
Shawn: Let me see.
Dodge Ram Owner: You're saying this a better cover?
Shawn: Yeah. The one you're looking at, I mean, I don't know, I might be biased. But I worked for the company that owns Extang for about 10 years. And yeah, they just make a great product. And the one you're looking at, I don't know who makes that. It looks just like Extang's soft folding cover, but they're saying it's a hard folding so I don't know. But based on your location it looks like it can ship tomorrow, and then arrive at you I'd say next day if not the following day.
Dodge Ram Owner: Is there a way to see how it clamps on underneath?
Shawn: Yeah. If you're on Extang's website, you can go to Solid Fold 2.0. Scroll down and you'll see installation, and there's a video right there. It's very simple though, man. You've got two clamps on the very front panel. And then you've got two in the rear by the tailgate. Essentially what you're going to do is the clamp is recessed into the cover. So you're going to grab it, pull it down, and then you're going to loosen it. It's got a little hook on there, so to speak. And it actually hooks on your rails.
Dodge Ram Owner: I mean, I don't have any rails or anything. So you're talking about the side of my bed?
Shawn: Correct.
Dodge Ram Owner: So I don't have to drill anything to install the cover?
Shawn: Nope. No, it's just got those little clamps. It's like a J is how I would describe them. You just loosen them up, and they clamp right onto the side. You don't even have to add an extra rail like if you were to buy a back flip or one of those that sit between the rails. They come with two separate rails that you have to clamp onto your bed rails. This doesn't do that.
Dodge Ram Owner: I see the other ones were actually like a vinyl. That American one. It's material, but it has a hard plate or something underneath it. So, it's actually, they call it a hard because it's got the hard bottom. But I don't want somebody to be able to cut into my back with a knife or something. Do you know what I mean?
Shawn: Yeah. No, you're not going to have that with this. You're going to have, it's an inch thick EnduraShield panel, which is their patented design there, that panel.
Dodge Ram Owner: The seams don't leak?
Shawn: No. From what I understand, this is the best folding cover for keeping water out of the bed since it sits on top of the rails, instead of between the rails like a lot of folding covers do. I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're going to like this a lot more. Because I'll tell you, even though you spent an extra couple hundred bucks, you're buying American made. You're not buying Chinese like that other stuff.
Dodge Ram Owner: Oh really? Oh good. Well, that sold it right there. Go ahead. Let's just go ahead and do it.
Shawn: And I'll get it placed in my distributor right away too. Just to make sure it makes it on tomorrows truck.
- Aubrey Lovegrove
