Install the Ultimate Bed Cover on your Truck

Diamondback HD Cover for Project MegaRam

Jun. 01, 2007 By Dean Waters

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Project MegaRam will have only the best equipment and that would be no different in the bed cover department. The first time we seen the Diamondback bed cover nearly two years ago we knew that our next truck would have to have one. The Diamondback bed cover is not your normal bed cover. Not only is this a cover that can fold up, be easily removed, but it can also haul your ATV or ATV's.

The Diamondback Truck Cover is a heavy duty aluminum bed cover that has all the standard convenience features of the lighter duty fiberglass and vinyl bed covers and more. The HD cover can hold up to 1600 lbs on top of the cover. The diamond plate aluminum cover is a tri-fold design. This means you can fold up the front half or you can fold up the rear half for access to your bed. Need full access? Then just remove the 4 clamps and the complete cover can easily be removed. You can also just remove the front or rear half if you like. The cover can lock to provide complete security for all your gear. A weatherproof bed seal will keep everything in the bed dry.

The best part is that it does not stop there. Now you can personalize your Diamondback bed cover by picking from the ATV solutions or the commercial solutions. The ATV solutions allow loading one ATV from either the rear or the side or you can get a side loading package to haul two ATV's. This can even be accomplished on a short bed truck like our Dodge Mega Cab with a short bed extension kit. From the commercial solutions you can get a heavy duty cab guard, a rear rack, a ladder rack, a Kargo Master Pro ladder rack, side toolboxes, or a tailgate protector. With all these options you can make the Diamondback cover do just about anything you need.

For Project MegaRam we wanted a cover that would keep all of our gear dry, out of sight, and locked up. Next we wanted the ability to carry either one or two ATV's while still having room under the cover for our gear. We tested another dual ATV system a few years ago but it basically left the bed of the truck unusable when installed. With the Diamondback side load system we can have one ATV loaded on the front and still open the rear half of the cover for access. With two ATV's loaded we would still have the bed available from the rear for all of our gear. We ordered a Diamondback HD cover, side loading ATV kit, and short bed extension kit.

Installation

One very large pallet held our Diamondback Truck Cover.

Our Diamondback system arrived via UPS freight on one large pallet. (Did you know UPS had a freight division?) We have to admit that it looked a little intimidating. A complete pallet must mean hrs upon hrs of work. We even put the installation off a week as we dreaded a multi hour install. Guess what? It is not as hard as it looks.

As we started pulling back the covers to find the installation manual we could see that this installation would not be that hard. Since we had a side load ATV kit the manual suggested we install the adaptor bars before installing the cover. We started there.


A drill key along with the adaptor bar is used to help mark the position for drilling your cover.	You will need to mark and drill two holes on each side of the front cover, the rear cover, and the center section.

The center section is installed on our Dodge Ram first. Place it in the center of the bed and clamp it down loosely.


This is one of the heavy duty clamps used to hold the bed cover in place.	Two clamps hold the center section to each bed rail of the truck.

Now attach the rear section of the cover to the center piece.


Each half of the cover slides on two stainless hinges.	A little bit of white lithium grease will make the hinges slide together easier.

After the back half is installed you should adjust the positioning of the cover by grabbing the cleats and pulling the cover back so that it seals against the tailgate. Make sure it is centered and tight against the closed tailgate. Now install the front cab section and double check your alignment. If all is well the 4 bed clamps on the center section can be tightened down


Adjust the locking rods so they extend past the edge of the bed and hold the cover down tight. A second person will be needed here.	Now attach the 4 gas springs to the front and rear panels. When installed the panels open and close very easily.

Almost there. Now we need to finish installing our side load kit.


Attach the side rail hooks to the adaptor bars you installed earlier	Then drill and bolt the side rails to the side rail hooks. The side rails prevent you from driving off the side off the truck and are removable.

Now your ready for an ATV. The 12 foot ramps make for a decent load angle even with the extra height of the Dodge Ram.

Our Can-Am Renegade fit perfectly on the Diamondback HD Cover.

Summary

The Diamondback HD cover with ATV kit has made a huge improvement to our Dodge Ram. We have only had the cover installed for a short period of time but it seems I get feedback just about everywhere I take our Project MegaRam. Even a stop at the fuel pump seems to yield a comment or two about the new Diamondback cover, with out without ATV.

The installation was much easier than it first looked when we seen that large pallet unloaded. The diamond plate aluminum simply looks awesome on our Dodge Ram. The cover seals nicely keeping our gear clean and dry. We are thinking about installing a tailgate lock to make our sure our gear is fully secure under the cover.

With one ATV loaded all the way to the front we can still open the rear panel for access to the bed of Project MegaRam

Next month we will install an AMP Research bed step to make it easier to access our gear and we will also install the Diamondback short be ATV extension so that we can haul two ATV's on the cover of our Mega Cab.

Enjoy!