Hey Guys,

First time Truck owner here. I bought a 97 Ford Ranger with 83k miles on it earlier this week. I am trying to decide what to do with the bed of it. A previous owner put down a protective bed liner on it. Im either thinking of getting a cover or a truck box. I dont have much storage since it is a regular cab. Does anyone have any suggestions? Should I get a cover and a storage tote underneath the cover? Or just a box?

Drew

 

What do you think you will be hauling in it? How often? What you haul determines what kind of space you need and how frequently you are going to have to take it off\out of the bed. I had one of the hard roll up toneau covers, basically like a truck box you couldn't put anything into except the cover. Every time I hauled mulch or dirt I ended up having to take it out because getting the dirt\rocks\mulch out from underneath it was a pain. The nice thing was it locked and couldn't be cut through so I could leave stuff in the bed and it couldn't be seen. Caps give you more space and are useful if you are hauling things in the rain. They can also be locked. They are great for boxes, camping, etc but suck for hauling anything that has to stand upright (motorcycles, refrigerators, washer\dryers etc), or the aforementioned dirt\rocks\mulch. Never had just a truck box but I see the same issues with them, good for it's intended use but takes up bed space for anything else.

 

Hey man, thanks for the help! I dont plan on hauling much with it. Might throw some fishing poles in there, I play Ice Hockey in the winter and since i have a small cab, ill have to put the bag and stick in the back. The truck will be parked out on the street so if I don't have a cover, the bed will get snow in it, which I do not want. So I think ill go with a cover. I have heard some great things about that toneau covers. I think ill go get one of those this weekend.

 

Toneau covers can be hit or miss. Cap is nice for bulky stuff you want dry but they weigh alot so it can hurt MPG if you in alot of stop and go.

Open bed is nice as you can just toss whatever back there (like mountian bike) and go. Cons is yes it does get wet and can fill up with rain. Toneau is nice but you will find alot of boxes are liek 2" taller than the bedrails so then the cover gets in the way. Cap is best but heavy and creates blind spots.

I just picked up a tool box for my ranger so will try it.