84-86 720 Bed Rail Caps and Tailgate Cover

[DrvnDrvr]

Here's my experience with truck bed rail caps and tailgate covers.

 

I have an 85 bed on my 83 720. I got lucky and found a very good condition 85 bed for $100. My 83 bed was rusted out at the front of the bed and at the sidewall lower bed panels. When I started removing the paint on the 83 bed for refinishing there was bondo galore.

 

While it looks good, form and function, notice that the bed rail cap is about an inch short. That's because the regular cab bed is 1" shorter than the king cab bed. Thank you Nissan. :frantics:

 

I bought the rail caps from http://RealTruck.com/. I was surprised that a custom fit cap available for a 720. There was no option for king or regular cab. I forgot that they are different. They arrived when I was out on the road and didn't check the fit until more then a month later. Couldn't return them.

 

http://www.icionline.com/bed-caps manufactures them. When I called them about the application snafu they said they would have gladly of made them an inch longer if I had talked to them first. OK, fair enough.

 

 

 

In a buyer beware world I figure my bad. Hell, I've been an inch short my whole life so no big deal.

 

The tailgate protector is a Trailfx TG39X and as per the Ebay application guide

https://www.ebay.com/itm/TG39X-TrailFX-Black-Tailgate-Liner-with-Tailgate-Lip-Cover-/232110623917

 

It's for D21s and Frontiers.

 

 

In the application table it lists it as fitting an 86 720. That's the half year transition between the 720 and D21. Pretty much totally different trucks.

 

The thing is that the tailgate protector just needed trim by a 1 1/2" on the bottom and about the same at the top lopping off the curve that form fits to the thicker D21 bed. The sides are a perfect match. I ran it through a table saw with the blade 1/4" up on the top and bottom. Then I heated and bent the top angle a little more to conform to the 720 bed. Went ok but could have been better.

 

 

I riveted to the bed but didn't use the center holes in the cover as they go right into the tailgate latching mechanism.

 

 

One left at

 

https://www.amazon.com/Trailfx-TG39X-Tailgate-Nissan-Frontier/dp/B001P2F1VA/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1519787385&sr=1-1&keywords=tg39x

[datzenmike]

Short... it still looks great!