Thought I’d share an upgrade to our truck. This isn’t a review; just some thoughts on why we bought it.
THIS kind of slide!!
Our F-250 is 2+ Years Old
This post shared our reasons for buying the truck. Overall we have been very happy with it. Except for occasionally hauling a large item, such as a piano Joyce bought, we only use the truck to tow our travel trailer. Like most things in life, the truck isn’t perfect for our needs.
For short camping trips of a few days, we don’t need the truck to haul any gear. Everything we need is in the camper. One multi-week trips we do store some items in the truck bed, most often my astronomy equipment. When camping in extreme temperatures (110° – 120° F) we may bring our evaporative cooler or our two Honda Generators with the extended gas tank in the truck bed.
What I Don’t Like
I really did not want a super-long truck and ours is super-long, being a crew cab (4 door) with an 8-foot long bed. The truck is somewhat difficult to maneuver into parking lot spaces. It is also more difficult to get into some campsites when connect to our travel trailer.
I would have preferred a short bed (5.8 feet) and a “super cab” that is shorter than a crew cab because the super cab door are much smaller.
A Huge Gas Tank
On the other hand, the long-bed crew cab truck came with a 48 gallon gas tank, which was 13-19 gallons more than the other options. After two plus years of use, the extra fuel capacity is worth dealing with the less-than-ideal maneuverability of the truck. Especially in remote California towns where gas can be $1 more per gallon than the statewide average price.
The extra mileage range allows us to bypass the high prices until we find cheaper fuel.
F-250 Bed Mat
Shortly after we purchased the truck, I bought a closed-foam bed mat. One nice thing about this mat is it had a rough, hard surface that help keep items from sliding around. The down side to the mat is the surface was so rough that it scratched my knees when moving around inside the truck bed when I needed to access items at the front of the bed.
Because we had installed a camper shell, loading and unloading stuff from the front of the truck bed required me to crawl into the truck bed, which at times is a real pain in the ass.
Another issue is bulky and somewhat heavy items aren’t always easy to put into the bed, as the open tailgate hinders access. I’m almost 72 years old and common sense dictates to be careful when lifting heavy objects, such as our generators that weigh around 45 lb. each. Good news is we don’t bring our generators camping very often. Our solar system supplies all our electrical needs except for the trips we take in extreme heat a couple times a year. The solar system is now working even better since I installed a 300 Amp Hour Lithium (LiFePo4) battery earlier this year.
The Search for a Truck Bed Slide
The two major brands are BedSlide and CargoGlide. My research indicated that both are similar quality products.
Weight Capacity
A bed slide is simply a very large drawer. They come in sizes to match the length of a truck’s bed and in weight capacities of between 1,000 lb. to 4,000 lb. For us 1,000 lb. is more than adequate. We don’t need to haul heavy stuff, just bulky things occasionally.
Drawer Extension
The slides typically come in two extension lengths — 100% and around 70%. The 100% extension slides are significantly more expensive. Below is a comparison of the CargoGlide 1,000 lb. slides:
So I opted for the 70% extension.
Installation
Both are fairly easy to install. The slide is placed into the bed with the drawer extended (the drawer has to be supported with some sort of stand). Holes are drilled into the truck bed. Then special well-nuts (supplied with the slide) are installed in the holes. Lastly bolts (supplied with the slide) are used to secure the slide frame to the truck bed.
Both BedSlide and CargoGlide have installation manuals/videos on their respective websites.
Depending upon the slide, they weigh 200 lb. or more. I really didn’t relish the thought of dealing with a 200 lb. piece of sliding equipment and installing it in 115° temperature. Had it been winter, I probably would have done it myself.
So I called Fuller Truck Accessories in Riverside, CA. We bought our camper shell from Fuller back in 2020. They are professional, reasonably priced, and honest. Called them on a Monday afternoon for a price quote. Installation would be $90.
They had to order the slide (one day turnaround) and it was installed on Wednesday.
First Impressions
The slide is well built. The release lever allows it to be locked in several positions. This way the slide can be partially extended and will not move. A good thing if the truck is parked on a slight incline.
The surface is much smoother than our old bed mat. This is a plus as it makes it easy to slide items around on the slide. Plus there are four moveable eye-hooks for securing items with bungee cords or rope. Both BedSlide and CargoGlide sell a plethora of accessories for their bed slides. I doubt we will need anything else.
One thing that is going to be very convenient for us is dealing with our generators. Theft is always a concern. Normally I place the generators and the extended gas tank on the ground.
If we decide to leave our campsite for an extended period of time, I usually put everything back into the truck.
Now I can leave them in the truck (when we bring them). To use them, I can just pull out the slide. No more lifting and moving them during a camping trip.
Both brands can be purchased from Amazon if one is inclined to do the installation themselves. As mentioned earlier, the install shouldn’t be that difficult for most handy-type people.
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