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Cargo cover rail removal

sconley

New Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2005
Messages
4
ok, before I relate my problem, I will confess that it was a pretty dumb move that got me into this position in the first place!  So here's the deal, I bought my avalance one week ago with the intent of dragging my quad around.  I measured the bed to insure a good fit - but didn't notice that nasty rails which just happen to stick out where the wheels need to be.  Are the rails removable?  Are they easy to reinstall once removed?  Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Steve Conley
 
To the best of my knowledge the rails are part of the plastic sides and cannot be removed by themselves
 
Welcome Sconley,

To make things clear first, are they the bed cover rails or the rails that catch the water to direct it to the corners?? If its the plastic, flimsy rails that direct water, they pop out by tipping them upward.? I had recently took mine out due to the same reason.? My rails had a crack on both sides as if a razor went down the middle.? I took them out and applied tape to hold them together on the bottom side. Then proceeded to "paint" on that black rubber dip handle stuff which fixed the problem. The new rails would have costed $35+ each.? Rubber Dip cost $6 can.

Hope this helps.?

 
Unfortunately it is a little wider than those plastic rails - actually goes into the rails that hold the bed covers...  I am guessing those don't come out easily...

And thanks for the welcome!!!
 
The newest post I could find is 16 years old!
I made a rookie mistake and I’m 74 years old!
I bought a trail RZR to hall in the back of my 2006 Avalanche 1500. The RZR is 50” wide. The bed is about 52” wide but the cover rails are about 48” after I removed the latches. I stopped by a body shop and they $65 per hour to try and figure out if the rails can come off. We tow the Avalanche behind our motor home so a trailer is not an option and my wife won’t drive the motor home or the truck and trailer.
 
I am sure they come off some way but question is do you ever want to put the covers back on easily?

Maybe have rzr (what is that?) on top of covers?

Next size smaller RZR?
 
I would worry about breaking the rails taking them on and off so much and that the rails may leak when needed since they are part of the "water management" system of the AV. They may be hard to find and replace if broken.
I think this is what they are referring to when they talk about RZR :

Under tire size and accessory section it looks like that vehicle can be fitted with different size and width tires and rims so why not consider getting a smaller or narrower rim/tire setup to allow it to fit in AV bed? Just for transport and when you get to use site you could change tires.....
Like the Germans did in WWII for their Tiger tanks when transporting, they used narrow tank treads for loading onto train cars and narrow areas but under normal use they changed to wide treads to distribute the weigh over ground.
 
If you watch the video on how to install the Bakflip cover it shows how to remove the side rails since they are not used with that cover. It's pretty easy. Start watching around the 48 second mark. I was going to go with this cover cause you gain the extra inches in the width of the bed and it's watertight if installed correctly.

BakFlip Cover Install
 
If you watch the video on how to install the Bakflip cover it shows how to remove the side rails since they are not used with that cover. It's pretty easy. Start watching around the 48 second mark. I was going to go with this cover cause you gain the extra inches in the width of the bed and it's watertight if installed correctly.

BakFlip Cover Install
Thanks, I’ve watched it thinking they might take the rails off. All they removed is the rain gutter and the latches.
 
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