Bed rails 8' Styleside box

Hi Gentlemen!
Hope you get nice Hollydays!

About this subject, I admit it was discussed A LOT before, but still not perfectly clear for me, I went through a lot a confusing discussions (sorry!)

For the same product (D3TZ-9932230-B) Dennis Carpenter says 73-96 (out of stock) and CG Ford 73-79 (stock).

Do 73-79 rails fit on 80-86 beds, or not?  Is it the same kit than E0TZ-9932230-A (80-86 catalog)?

It can't be the same kit as it contains different part numbers, and Ford didn't give the same part different numbers.  However, I cannot say that the D3 part won't fit.  Just that it isn't the same as the E0 kit.

I reply to this thread, in order to clarify the rail kit compatibility.

I hope that the 1973-1979 used ones that I bought today will "perfectly" fit my '84 8 feet bed.  I will post the results here when I will have received the rails and all the fitting parts (I had to complete my buy with some Dennis Carpenter and Greensales items).

I made a lot of search and I am confident.  An interesting thread is available here (https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/180208-bed-rails.html), but without clear conclusion.  Does it fit "perfectly", or simply "correctly"...

We'll see.

I plan to list here the complete OEM parts numbers, to avoid any confusion.

For those interested, I grabbed these nice and clear diagrams (for 6' and 8' bed).

Stay tuned!


-Diagram-4-D3TZ-9932230-B.pdf
-Diagram-3-D3TZ-9932230-C.pdf

Ok, bed rails finally installed!






I bought a used 8’ rails kit that was in fair condition, although the 4 corners chrome supports were tarnished and all six black plastic pads were missing (not a surprise, this was clearly described by the seller).
I had to complete my purchase with a 6’ kit from Dennis Carpenter (8’ kit is back ordered for almost two years now), and two center support black plastic pads form other source.

About the 6’ and 8’ kits:
Rails length set appart, they have different center supports since the short bed does not have six rectangular holes on bed top, only four.  Then, the center support of the 6’ rail has to be drilled on the bed top, but the long bed allows the center support to be attached the same way than the corner supports, using a fixation plate.
The rest of the kit is the same.



With this miscellaneous hardware on hand, I had all parts needed.
New stuff:
- The four corners supports, their black plastic pads and their screw
- The two bolts for the center supports
- The two black plastic pads for the center supports
- The six fixation plates and their little black plastic tab
- All rail screws
- The sliding load retainers
Used parts:
- The two rails
- The two center supports and their side plastic covers

There is no installation instructions in Dennis Carpenter’s kit, just this parts diagram.



More detailed instructions would have be useful, since they send two different thickness of the corner supports black plastic pads.


Without any clear instruction, I had to figure out why the kit contains these different pads.  Looking closer to the pads, we can see that the thick and slim ones have the same end part number, but they have different prefix:
Thicker begin by E2TB
Thinner begin by D3TJ



Considering that the kits numbers vary for different years, I concluded that E2TB ones were ok for my ‘84 Bullnose:


Not sure why the pads differ...  Maybe the bed top is slightly different for F-Series generations, from 1973 to 96.
There is a guy who posted these pictures on this thread from the Other Forum (https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/180208-bed-rails-2.html), showing bent rails:



Anyway, the thicker corner pads were significant, using them kept Big Brother’s rails straight and not curved.

Conclusion, seems that Dennis Carpenter is right when they sell their rail kits for 1973 to 1996 trucks, the beds are enough similar to enable the rails fitting all these years, just requires to play with the plastic pads thicknesses.
 

Jeff - Those rails look great!  And that's a good job documenting the installation.  

Those go with the truck perfectly. Appreciate the followup!

Based on the very nice report, here might be a starting point for someone else:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/374171478920?hash=item571e5bab88:g:TvYAAOSwea9iyxHq&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAsNrD6O3UmXRS%2F%2BRmiquJshiqklz4zXzKTGpqKNP5aIposQl0%2BGUUYO%2B7oRI4oZpDLKjANoShgRLTCRj%2FnEplf9FlgpcKhEPecVlQgHQFTB0Glfbm7UJESEkn6qAR86cOr95W1EqSxNE%2FrWY4hG89NPIKttGGvE4e%2F6eKFUqZ3k00BTiF%2Fjj5JdLxG2BayHGcIXyWXnbwJ3Z6tsdUl5%2FQ60TgVDrAKbEUvTUzJjl6wfzz%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR66b0-LYYA

I found an old post by our friend NumberDummy which might be of interest:

  #3  
Old 02-20-2013, 05:44 AM
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NumberDummy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 68cabby View Post
I know these rails were offered through 97,  but what was the difference in the D0TZ-9932230-A rails (lwb) and the D3TZ-9932230-B rails (lwb)
Same: 1970/91 F100/350 Stylesides, will also fit 1964/66 F100/250 2WD, 1966 F100 4WD and 1967/69's / 1992/96 F150/350, 1997 F250/350 don't mount on the stake pockets, use different stanchions, the rails have 'pointy' ends.

D0TZ was replaced by D3TZ / D3TZ was replaced by E0TZ / E0TZ was replaced by: E7TZ-9932230-A 8' kit & E7TZ-9932230-B 6 1/2' kit.

Coupla years ago, FTE member Phil105 contacted me, was looking for a 6 1/2' bed 'dealer installed' bedrail kit, bought the E7TZ-B kit for his 1970 F100 Ranger XLT. Pics in his gallery.

I then posted both these 1987 part numbers and the sources that had them NOS / As of 2/20/2013 @ 4:23 AM PST, there are 3 E7TZ-B 6 1/2' kits available and 2 E7TZ-A 8' kits available.

Carpenter has reproduced the bed rails, but wants a lot more money than the genuine Ford kits sold for...when they were obsoleted.

And, the dealers are STUCK with the kits, cuz they cannot be returned to FoMoCo for credit. I don't recall what Phil paid, but it was far less than the last MSRP

E7TZ-9932230-A .. 8' Kit - Last MSRP: $154.00 / Dealer net cost: $116.00 /// E7TZ-9932230-B .. 6 1/2' Kit - Last MSRP: $258.98 / Dealer net cost: $172.65.
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Those rails look nice!

That’s a nice looking truck right there!

David, it is really weird!


This rail has the same scratch at the same place than the used one I bought... so similar that we could this about a manufacturing default.

Life is sometimes so strange...