Elevate Rail (just the rail, not the rack) Anchor Points?

[Wilklersticks]

I bought the rail because of the sale recently and plan to either go with their elevate racks or maybe something lower in the future, but this was step one. The install went reasonably fine, but as I installed them and then my Rough Country Hard Trifold, I realized there's something inherently wrong with the use case I had in my head. If you put some pressure on them in towards the bed, you can very clearly see the rail flex in AND downward, indicating that anything more than a trivial amount of could actually stress the connection to the bed and twist the rail right off. I don't know what amount of force this is, and maybe it's a LOT, but it has me nervous regardless.

So having said all that ... what's the use case on these, cuz it doesn't seem like a good place to use a ratchet strap on to hold something in the bed?

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[Hot Runr Guy]

You are correct. Putting a lot of inward tension on them will cause the rail to roll inward, so no more pressure than necessary.

HRG

 

[paneubert]

Yep. I am on my third Maverick, so have installed these rails (and a tonneau cover) 3 times. This time, I had to use shims underneath the rail near the tailgate after I added my tonneau cover, since pushing down the cover to latch it flexed the rails enough that the latch would not latch. It is the nature of the beast. One solution is to add more clamps. Mine came with 3 per side. No reason you could not double up. I have also found that the exact location of your clamps can make a difference. The rails flex less directly above the clamps. So being strategic in the positioning helps as well.

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