DiamondBack Covers | Modifications

It’s amazingly huge. I had a Yakima Medium and there’s no comparison. I wired up my tent for power and put a ram ball in the top for my iPad magnet so we can watch movies. Solo I can sleep in any direction hahaha. I got the shoe bin thing but probably wouldn’t order it again. Hangs too far away from the ladder to be useful going in and out.

 

Nice! I think I saw that in the rig walk around vid w/ Overlandbound. Did you remove the Diamondback locking rod mechanisms to fit the fridge/freezer and sliding/telescoping kitchen counter? Thanks for sharing!

 

It's in an apartment building garage. That's typically not allowed in apartment buildings; but I wasn't doing any work to immobilize the truck for too long, so it was okay to work on the bed rack there.

 

Oh I see.....sorry, i'm from the country, never seen that before.

 

I loosened the locking arm on the left side and inverted it so I had more clearance and that helped for the fridge. The right side has my custom drawer that I built to fit under the cover as the video shows. I think I might split the bed mat and make my own minimal height bedslide for half of the bed to make getting out the fridge and gear easier. Keep in mind my build is to go from DD to Overland rig easily so I don’t care if the cover doesn’t open when I have my rack on as the rack is only on when I go off road.

 

Ya, I saw that video on how your different components can come off relatively easily. That's very cool and handy for better mpg's in the city. At first, I thought your drawer system was more permanent; that's cool you designed for it to be easily removed. Great idea on inverting the locking arm. Does it still lock on the right hand side? I still haven't tried to see how the CFX50 we have should fit into the bed with the other gear in there. If needed, I may try to invert the locking arm, also.

I totally understand on the not needing to open the bed cover. It's not needed with the proper system and organizing of gear in the bed; and, to me, yours has that. Plus, you seem to have the other systems (i.e. pully system for bed rack & rtt) to go back and forth between overland rig & daily driver, so that helps. I thought that adding slide out trays would reduce the storage space under the DiamondBack for me, so I opted to not utilize that kind of system. Instead, I went for no bed mat, using multiple bins that I'd just need to organize well for access & removal and still be able to open the front panel of the DiamondBack for accessing the front end area of the bed. The setup I currently have is the same for daily use and adventuring in the wilderness. I also have varying hobbies and needs for the bed space (e.g. snowboarding gear, supplies from the hardware store, etc.) that I didn't want anything to be affixed too permanently so that I'd need tools to remove them. The subterranean garage and gate height where we live also limits what the setup can be, so there's that, too, in considering the build (mall crawler setup, good to clear parking garages w/ 6'7" or higher clearance). Someday, hopefully, I can have an arrangement like yours where I can remove and store the adventure gear in the apartment garage when using the truck for daily driving.

Another concern I had with adding all that gear was the affect on gas mileage. Adding the DiamondBack cover seemed to improve mpg's by about 1 to 3mpg's. So far, I'm surprised that mpg's have stayed within the same range as before I added all the adventuring gear to the DiamondBack cover and truck bed, 16-19mpg. Perhaps, if I add more weight; like with bigger tires, sliders &/or armor (bumpers, skid plates...), or if I changed the suspension, the gearing, get taller tires, then the mpg's will drop more noticeably.

 

Wow that low clearance is a huge limiting factor for sure! With my rack and iKamper I’m at 6’9” but with bikes it’s 7’. As far as my DB cover the right side locks fine, the drawer has 2” of clearance above it and I glued a long mat on top so I could load flat items in like fitpire grills and such. So there isn’t a conflict with the locking arms but the fridges are the height they are and it barely fits.

I had the same bump with the cover on my MPG’s which then was countered by weight from the sliders and now rack and RTT. I have heard and found that weight doesn’t affect MPG’s like we think it will. The MPG killers seem to be a lifted truck due to more wind resistance and tire weight. I upgraded to Load E tries which have very strong sidewalls. If you do any real off roading these are a must so you don’t blow a sidewall on rocks or aired down on washboard roads. Aired down on washboards the sidewalls heat up and a thermal rupture can happen after a number of miles depending on speed. I noticed a 1-2mpg drop with heavier wheels as the rotational wheel weight is a huge factor for MPG. It can happen with larger wheels like 33’s but it’s more about the weight than size.

Sounds like you’ve got a well thought out solution for your truck and gear needs!

 

Good stuff, man. Thanks for the tips and info. I'm still new to off roading, trucks in general, and car camping with a truck. I'm guessing it's kind of good timing, since car camping is evolving to overlanding? ..and companies are catering to newbs like me with glamping gear? Although, from the looks of it, these kinds of gear have been around a few years. Haha... My first attempt at a rtt was a 2-person backpacking tent on the Diamondback, guy lined and staked to the hard dirt in Calico, CA. Since the short bed was a little too short, I strapped down a small table on the Diamondback to overhang past the tailgate for my feet to have support and not dangle on an edge. It was super windy, but the setup felt secure enough. I liked how the combo of the thermal pad (Edit: with a Thule Gate Mate spread out on top of the bed cover underneath the tent) and Diamondback bed cover gave a firm and comfortable sleeping surface. It wasn't all bumpy with rocks and I didn't need to look hard for a smooth surface or take time to smooth out a patch of earth. After that, I got really interested in setting up and trying out a real rtt setup. The wifey isn't too interested in camping, but the rtt setup sure helped her to be more into camping, also. That's gotta be a win.

 

Haha that’s creative! Overlanding is a newer term for the US vs car camping or wheeling, so that’s why I watch a lot of Aussie “touring” videos and reviews. Those guys are hardcore and make us all look like newbs. Ronnie Dahl is a good place to start. Their tourers (what we call Overland rigs) are BUILT with 2 spares, flat bed canopies, serious comms, and 100 gal fuel tanks.

 

I believe the holes are for if the box if fully forward you are able to lock it still cause it will go through the handles into the track.. Don't hold me to it though haha.

 

This exactly correct

 

So my Diamondback SE is arriving in 2 days. I started reading the install instructions. What's the use of the gasket on the bulkhead under the cab tube for?

 

Cab tube? Under the perimeter is a flexible seal similar to a car door, and they provide an extra flat weather strip to make sure the seal between the top of the bedsides and cover is water proof. That extra weather strip sticks to the top of the bedsides. The key aspect is really compressing the cover down when installing it as the gasket is fresh and doesn’t want to easily squeeze flat for a tight fit. After some time it will compresss nicely and keep out 99% of the water

 

I'm talking about these instructions...

 

How is everyone mounting their tools? I thought about putting maxxtrax or a hi lift base attached to the cover at the cab end.

 

Anyone modify the locks on your Diamondbacks? I'd love to swap the key locks to combination locks as I hate carrying keys.

 

I moved my locks, but the way the lock turns I don’t see how one could mod it and do a combo lock, unlesss DB started offering it. My keys have the FOB, 2 house keys, and one little DB key. I just had to learn to deal

 

I haven’t broken them down but you can try cam lock cylinders that would need some modification to move the poles.

 

I skipped this step. Only do it if you end up leaking in that area. I saw it as unneeded. You can always do it later if needed.

 

Has anyone done any mod's to the inside between the support ribs?