The best thing about having your own truck is that you are able to carry just about anything as long as it within the recommended weight. However, items at the back of your truck might be susceptible to theft or exposure to bad weather. This is where a tonneau cover comes in handy.
A tonneau cover keeps your cargo dry and protected. As long as you have a fitting cover, you wouldn’t have to worry about theft or water leaking into the truck bed and destroying your valuables. So, how do you go about measuring your truck bed for a tonneau cover?
Well, here is a detailed explanation to assist you to measure your truck bed and get the best tonneau cover that fits perfectly.
1. Get the Distance Between the Outside Rails
Start by measuring the distance between your outside bed rails. If you order a tonneau cover which measures a bit less compared to the total outside of the bed of your truck to outside measurement, it might not stay rested on the rails or offer less support or ‘metal’ for attaching the cover properly.
A bigger tonneau, on the other hand, will make the bed rail of your truck overlap and the holes for mounting might not align with the top rails of the truck’s bed.
2. Get The Distance Between Inside of the Rails
Measure the distance between the bed rails starting from inside to inside of the rail. Your new tonneau cover must be an inch or half an inch less the dimensions you get here.
3. Get the Truck Bed’s Length
The last measurement you will need is the length of the truck bed. Measure this from the back of the passenger cabin (the bulkhead) to the tailgate.
Here is a video explaining how to measure your truck bed for a tonneau cover retrofit.
Truck Bed Sizes for Tonneau Cover Dimensions
Not each truck manufacturer build truck beds of the same size. However, truck beds come in 3 categories: long, short and standard.
- Short truck sizes are 5”, 5’6”, 5’7” and 5’8”
- Standard truck sizes are 6’4”, 6’5”, 6’6” and 6’7”
- Long truck size is 8’
If you ever purchase or have recently purchased a truck you can read the article above for a full guide and instructions on how to measure truck bed size for the tonneau cover