Can You Put A Tonneau Cover On A Truck With Bed Rails?

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Here's a hypothetical scenario: let's say you want to install a new tonneau cover on your truck bed to protect it from the elements and perhaps improve your gas mileage a bit. However, you've already got a set of bed rails installed on your truck for mounting cargo. Logic dictates that you wouldn't be able to have both of these accessories installed at the same time, and depending on the precise type of tonneau cover you want to install, that could unfortunately be the case. However, that doesn't mean the entire prospect is a write-off.

It is entirely possible to have both a tonneau cover and a set of bed rails installed on the back of your truck simultaneously, and not particularly difficult to facilitate, either. The only catch is that you need a tonneau cover that installs in a very particular way, sliding in between the bed rails rather than mounting in the same spot. Worst-case scenario, if you've already got a tonneau cover that installs in the same spot, you'll have to get a different one.

Bed rails are typically installed onto a truck via the stake hole pockets, the little holes you can see on the tops of the bed sides. Because they're installed onto the top of the bed's sides like that, they're naturally incompatible with anything else that has to go over the top of a truck bed's sides. This, unfortunately, does include large tonneau covers that cover the entire top of the bed like a lid. Large tri-fold and roll-up covers in particular won't work on a bed that has bed rails installed.

However, those aren't the only kinds of tonneau covers. There are also lower-profile covers that are installed inside the bed's confines, conveniently between the spots the bed rails would go. Small roll-up and tri-fold covers will work just fine, so long as they're precisely sized to fit between the rails. A smaller retractable tonneau cover is a popular choice for this pursuit, as it can slide open and closed without covering the stake hole pockets, allowing you to freely install or remove your bed rails.

If you're unsure about whether a tonneau cover would fit on your truck alongside bed rails, just get out a tape measure out of your home tool kit and check the dimensions of the bed. If the measurements of the cover you're interested in are smaller than those dimensions, small enough not to cover the stake hole pockets, you're golden.