Watertight bed DIY how-to. Rails/Tailgate/Tonneau

[BigOleOgre]

First of all shout out to @Jeffola. He was who I saw first point out the swiss cheese under the rail caps that go straight into the bed and cover with vinyl.

Parts I used
-.5x.5in D shaped weather strip (From anywhere)
-KEKO 24+ Ranger Tailgate seal.
-Loctite Plastic Bonding (incase you break any cap clips) you CANNOT usse epoxy or other glues, the rail cap plastic is PP
-Permanent Vinyl (cricut, oracal,decal,w/e. vinyl to cover the swiss cheese) i got mine from Michael's.
-Small can of flex seal (used to seal the 6 total covers in the caps from water ingress.

I Removed the rails caps. You can access alot of the clips from below, inside the bed. Some you can't but I had no problem getting those out. If I went slower I wouldn't have broke any clips, but if you break any dont worry. They break very flush and the loctite plastic bonding seals them back very well. Just wait at least 1hr after applying before putting the caps back on the rails.

I took the vinyl and cut to fit, there is a grid layout on back of the peel plastic, very handy and easy to cut to size and shape. Laid the vinyl over the swiss cheese and cut a starter slit in each hole that a clip would go into with a razor.

Yes, it looks like ass I did not have the little edge tool to apply this perfect, and apparently my putty knife skills are lacking. But this is going to be covered and was put on to fill unused holes so serves it purpose.

I cut some rectangles from the vinyl and applied to the bottom of the rail caps where the 6 little pop outs are, with enough excess to smooth out and seal completely, I then sprayed the areas with flex seal. I will never use these cap holes but if someone way down the road wanted to they could easily pop the vinyl/felxseal.

After the flex seal dries you can pop the caps back on the rails, just line them up decently and tap in, I started rear-front. Then popped my tonneau cover back on (Gator EFX trifold) and sealed any holes i could see daylight through at the front of the bed. Filled gaps with the .5x.5in D shaped weatherstripping. Had to remove and repeat tonneau once. After this I saw no daylight at front or side when in the bed. Good to go.

I ordered a tailgate seal kit from truxedo and instantly realized it wasn't going to work. The tailgate edge meet design is just as confusing as the swiss cheese rails with built-in water ingress points in the rail covers above.
I originally used the .5x.5in D shaped weather stripping to run the outer edge of each tail light side section, running a bit under the rails for tonneau. This worked well for for a watertighting but the strip rubber started deteriorating from rubbing within a week. Ordered and installed the KEKO tailgate seal for the 24+ Ranger. The kit comes with brackets that allow for a strait bed seal, works well, no water ingress as well.

I let the truck sit and everything dry/seal, then went and took it to my local car wash. Ran through twice. Almost zero water entry. A few DROPS probably blown in by the high pressure dryers, or when i popped the tonneau and tailgate.
Overall very happy with the outcome. Time will tell with heavy storms, but hopefully this ends any water concern for me as I will be traveling 30,000 miles a year all over the Midwest with parts and tools in my bed, family camping trips, etc

Sorry, a little long, but if you didnt by a $1000+ tonneau that covers the bed rail, this is the way. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

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[DanielRayJ]

You rock!!!!! Thanks for talking the time to post the pics and type the words. This is EXACTLY why I come here.

 

[BigBassDaddy407]

Need more DIYs

 

[BigOleOgre]

Need more DIYs

You rock!!!!! Thanks for talking the time to post the pics and type the words. This is EXACTLY why I come here.

Thank you! I've always found forum DIYs a lifesaver on my other vehicles, and hadn't seen any on these issues for the Ranger, just that they exist. Always loved modifying vehicles and figure i can give back to the community's where I find so much information. I'll be doing DIYs for any mods i do that aren't easily found on YouTube or already on 6g.

 

[BigBassDaddy407]

Thank you! I've always found forum DIYs a lifesaver on my other vehicles, and hadn't seen any on these issues for the Ranger, just that they exist. Always loved modifying vehicles and figure i can give back to the community's where I find so much information. I'll be doing DIYs for any mods i do that aren't easily found on YouTube or already on 6g.

Ogre you might want to copy/paste this writeup in the DIY section as well. Theres only like 3 threads in there. That way this doesn't get lost from lack of bumps.

 

[BigOleOgre]

Ogre you might want to copy/paste this writeup in the DIY section as well. Theres only like 3 threads in there. That way this doesn't get lost from lack of bumps.

Thank you, will do.

 

[CrustyNoodle]

Well done, sealing the bed is definitely an issue...

I covered the Swiss cheese bed caps using gaffer tape (100mph tape - whatever you want to call it).

Then I added a foam rubber seal around the bottom edge of the plastic cap to reduce dust getting in as much as possible - I do use the post holes for various things so no option to seal those caps.

There are also a heap of holes and openings in the sides of the bed so I sealed them with black gaffer tape.

But the most important thing I did was develop a kit to seal the tailgate:

Note:
If you are interested in the tailgate kit, we sell them here at Digital Twin Developments (https://digitaltwin-developments.com).
We do sell and ship globally however getting stuff into the US these days is a bit difficult due to the tariffs, Australia Post has suspended shipments to the US while they sort out a process for dealing with the chaos. And if you are in the US you will need to add somewhere between 10% and 50% onto the prices shown to get it into your country - for every other country, it's business as usual.

 

[BigOleOgre]

Well done, sealing the bed is definitely an issue...

I covered the Swiss cheese bed caps using gaffer tape (100mph tape - whatever you want to call it).

Then I added a foam rubber seal around the bottom edge of the plastic cap to reduce dust getting in as much as possible - I do use the post holes for various things so no option to seal those caps.

There are also a heap of holes and openings in the sides of the bed so I sealed them with black gaffer tape.

But the most important thing I did was develop a kit to seal the tailgate:

Note:
If you are interested in the tailgate kit, we sell them here at Digital Twin Developments (https://digitaltwin-developments.com).
We do sell and ship globally however getting stuff into the US these days is a bit difficult due to the tariffs, Australia Post has suspended shipments to the US while they sort out a process for dealing with the chaos. And if you are in the US you will need to add somewhere between 10% and 50% onto the prices shown to get it into your country - for every other country, it's business as usual.

The weather strip to the edge of the bed rail cap is a great idea. My water problem is solved, but that's a great extra seal for dusty/gravel travels.

Im sourcing some rubber grommets for the holes in the interior bed sides, almost have all the sizes found.

And that tailgate seal bracket should have been a factory assembly if not a dealer add on. Hard thinking about it even with tariffs. Well-done

 

[reptarwagon]

Don’t forget the holes on the leading edge of the bed. Got some rubber plugs from Amazon that worked out well to seal those.

Grommet Kit on Amazon

 

[1996-to-2025]

Good stuff, thanks for posting!

 

[BigOleOgre]

Update: the .5x.5 weathstripping worked for watertighting but started to deteriorate after only a few days from the constant rubbing when opening and closing the tailgate. Walk through updated with the KEKO 24+ Ranger Tailgate seal kit. Comes with brackets for a straight bed seal on the Ranger for $50. Passed the 2x car wash test for no water as well.

 

[AZ_Ranger]

Man, I wish I’d known this BEFORE I put my 3-part hard folding tonneau cover on! (From realtruck.com; also purchased nerf-bar side-steps from them; very happy with the quality and price of both, and the packaging-for-shipping was first-rate. Their online installation videos could have been improved a bit, but, overall, very helpful.) I might have to remove the whole thing and seal those bed caps; I just presumed it was the tonneau cover leaking, but perhaps not… thanks, Nate.

 

[LantaLurker]

Do we have a list of which tonneau covers will cover the rail caps?
I got the flowkottu one in the mail today, but if there was a trifold that did they too id happily switch over

 

[BigOleOgre]

Do we have a list of which tonneau covers will cover the rail caps?
I got the flowkottu one in the mail today, but if there was a trifold that did they too id happily switch over

the only ones ive seen that fully cover the rails are the retractable's

 

[Hedder]

I tried this just as an experiment, and it worked so well I left it on there. I used a piece of 3/4 water pipe insulation and just double sided taped it in place. It is very flexible, allowing you to form it to the curves/gaps in the tailgate. Works great, all for less then 10 bucks.

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