DiamondBack Covers | Modifications

I have not, although there’s a good one a guy did of one in his garage. I use this hoist system off Amazon without the tray, but hooks and my drill to winch it up and down. Works well, I keep my rack fully intact with tent on top, unscrew 4 bolts and lift it off

Racor PHL-1R Pro HeavyLift 4-by-4-Foot Cable-Lifted Storage Rack

Racor - PHL-R, Garage Ceiling Storage Rack Lift

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0009I8AO6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_gOQnCbARDNQXQ

 

This is exactly what I was thinking. If you aren’t able to weld it, maybe you can bolt it. Ideally you’d want to weld it but that obviously isn’t an option with the Line-X. My other question would be, my friend is looking at the SE and purchasing an RZR 1000. They are 60” Wide. I measured my DiamondBack which is a 270 and it’s 61 1/4” Wide before the bend. With that said, all four tires would be right over the Bed Rails of the Truck which would be holding all of the weight. Therefore, do you really need the extra Supports going accross or wouldn’t you be more likely to need the extra supports going down the edges of the DiamondBack where the Tires will be and all the weight before the weight is supported by the actual Bed Rails of the Truck and not the Cover? This could be a dumb question and for that I apologize ahead of time but I thank you ahead of time for answering my questions.



The bed cover would obviously need the extension because it’s longer than the DCSBs.

Thanks for the Video. I have not seen that before and it was nice to watch the process of how they are made and just simply seeing everything about the product.

This is exactly what I will be doing. I have been planning my build for a year, but I have been prolonging buying the cover until just now and I couldn’t pass up the deal I got on my 270. I love it! I actually plan to match my Roof Rack. It’s in the process of being made right now. Then when I get a trailer for my RTT, I will do the same thing and tie them all together. This is the other way you could mount the racking system if you didn’t want to use the Bed cleats. Thule Sales the Side Mounting Brackets. This is not the trailer I’m looking at getting, just an example.

Yeah. I originally liked DiamondBacks Cover-Mount Rack, but the load capacity isn’t that much. I loved how they wrapped around the edges of the bed cover as well as had additional mounting cleats.

 

I originally wanted this as my bed cover but ended up buying a Retrax MX Pro instead. It’s a great cover but I think I’m going to sell it and a buy a diamondback like I originally intended.

 

DiamondBacks are definitely worth all the hype and more. I love my 270. I love how the front I can open one side and I don’t have to have the whole front open, but that if I have something long that I want to put up front I still can. I also really like having the 8” Tray. I can still fit longer stuff underneath that need the whole bed or I can remove it, but it also is there to hold tools, recovery gear, blankets, and misc items.

 

Anybody attach a removable headache rack? Would like to have one when I am hauling things like lumber on top, but it's my DD, so I don't really want one all the time. Do you think the Thule mounts on the cleats would be strong enough for this? Other ideas?

 

You might want to combine their headache rack w/ one of their cover-mount racks that KTJO mentioned in a post above for hauling stuff that needs to clear the roof of the cab. I just don't know how easily either of those can be removed compared to a set of Thule racks (or other aftermarket racks). Alternatively, I''ve seen some pictures of people's Thule or Yakima racks bolted on top of the DB covers.

The one's on the cleats in the Tundra forum was the first I've seen installed that way. DiamondBack customer service would know better if that setup is advisable and how much load it could carry. I just thought it was cool that the Thule legs were either able to attach onto the DB cleats without modification or the person was able to make the Thule legs attach to them somehow.

 

Thanks for sharing this!

 

I just need the mounting plates from the Diamond back rack, but I do not like the design of the actual rack they have on there. Something similar with the plates would be great and then just get longer bolts for the anchors so they could stay in place.

 

Ya. Not meaning to offend, the DB cover-mount rack reminded me too much of scaffolding. It'd be more aesthetically pleasing (and practically robust?) if they had a bed rack that was more angular or edgy in design. Maybe, ask their customer service if you can just buy four to six individual mounting plates of that rack without getting the uprights and crossbeam assemblies. ...or fabricate your own. The uprights and mounting base plates appear to be separate pieces welded together.

 

I already asked this and they said they do not offer that as an option. I wanted to go that route too

 

Thanks man. We are pretty excited for the new arrival.

I really appreciate the detailed response. This seems like a really solid setup and more than likely the route I will go. I don't do any hardcore off-roading, just some mild trails here and there but I do have some other trails on my list (i.e. Imogene, Black Bear, Alpine Loop...) and just wanted to make sure everything would hold up long term. Seems like there will be no issue. Also, I was able to correspond a little with Mike from LLOD and he confirmed his setup has been rock solid.

Now if I could just get a few grand to magically appear I could get this rodeo show going. Haha

 

I was wondering if anyone has added scene lighting to their Diamondback cover similar to this.



The images are rigid scene lights however they are designed to be mounted vertical and if they were mounted horizontal they'd be facing the sky. I'd like to have lights mounted to the top of the cover to light up the area around my truck but I'm not sure how to go about it.

One idea was to mount pods or light bars but then I need some way to waterproof the wire penetration into the cover (maybe marine cable glands???). And they'd stick up above the cover so you'd have to work around them if you wanted to transport gear on top.

My other idea was to 3d print custom mounts in abs for rock lights and hide the wire penetration underneath. If I could place these on the 45 degree bevel on the edge of the cover then I would still be able to mount stuff on top of the cover which is preferred, but I think it'd be more difficult to drill/mount/waterproof in those locations.

Just looking for a little guidance, Thanks!

 

Do you have the cover already? If you have the HD, you'd have a lot of cleats. If you don't mind removing some, then there are pre-drilled holes there you can use. A steel bar with holes drilled to the same spots for the cleats may be used as a type of mounting bracket for the scene lights. I'm not familiar with the mounting system for those scene lights, so I'm not sure what kind of "adapter" may be needed for their attachment to a custom mount.

 

Hahaha... for the baby shower, make it a "Jack and Jill"; women bring diapers and men bring cash for the Diamondback project (indirectly helps out with baby when hauling baby gear in a secure fashion).

 

I have always had issue with mine front panel not locking down with out having someone on the passenger side push down on it. It was set up with 280lbs on the panel, didn't open the front for 2 weeks. The panel would either not lock down(could feel the rod flexing) or if I adjusted the tension, the lid wouldn't compress enough to be water/dust tight. So I made a bracket do attach the the rail on the passenger side on the front. Now when I rotate the lock I can see the lid lock tight (moves about 3/4 of an inch).




When I talked to Diamondback about the issue, they said it was possible that the panel could have been warped due to the heat of applying the line-x coating. They recommended I could "twist" the panel to make it lower on the passenger side.

 

Diamondback also recommended this "twist" thing to me. I was skeptical and thought I was going to have to really tweak it to see anything, but with some gentle pressure (driver's side held up me pulling down on passenger side) it worked. I was shocked at how well this went. Now, from the driver's side, the passenger side clearly makes contact first and compresses when I press down from the drive's side.

 

So they are saying our cover is like a cheap baking sheet in the oven? Hrm.

 

I’ve never had a problem with mine up front, that’s surprising to me. Good fix

There’s nothing cheap about these covers, they are solid

 

I was looking at the same set up with same RTT. How are you liking the Yakima tent? Ive heard of issues with it leaking from other people in the corners from some reviews.

 

I loved my Yakima tent when I had it. I upsized to an iKamper so I could fit my teenagers. I had the rainfly on top which completely covers the tent so I don’t know how people had the corners leak, mine never did. The tent material is more 3 seasons as it’s like most ground tents. In comparison my iKamper and most nicer tents like Tepui have thicker poly canvas material. But I have a zero degree bag so the snow was fine for me. It’s smaller and light, I could just pick it up and put it on