I have a 2019 F-150 with a hard tonneau cover that will hold up to 500 pounds on top of it. I have a need to strap some light, but semi-bulky items to the top of the tonneau cover, but all of my mounting is in bed. I looked at the bull rings that fit into the Stake wells and those will work for what I need, but my truck has the 5.5' bed and only has the stake wells in the rear. I need ideas for similar tie downs in the front of the bed where I don't have the stake wells. Putting the items inside the bed or inside the cab of the truck is not an option.

Thanks for all suggestions.

 

I believe the stake wells are there just the cover has to be cut. I'll look for a YouTube video showing you how to cut them out for installing the bull rings there.

Found one: https://youtu.be/zUVCt0B0JE8
This one is better: https://youtu.be/_7uGwzCUZec

 

Thanks Artsr2002. I didn't know those stake pocked in the front even existed. Found some YouTube videos. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!!

 

No problem. Those Bull Ring tie downs are what I used. They are well built. Just today though I notice the plastic has faded a bit more than the bed cap on my truck. They also rattle a bit when I close my doors but it's not a biggie. I found some Chinese made pop up tie downs on Amazon a while back that were all metal and had springs to keep the tie down loops from rattling. Again a little rattle isn't a big deal to me. They've worked fine each time I've used them to tie things down.

 

As a side note about the bull rings rattling: I took a plastic drink straw, cut off pieces about 1 inch long, slit it on 1 side lengthwise, and slid it over both bull ring pieces that slide into the holder. That rattling gets to be irritating if you have the rear window slid open.

 

Just remember, that 500lb that your cover can hold is a weight that is evenly distributed across the entire cover. It cannot hold a 500lb dumbbell in the center of the cover.

 

Never seen these before, just ordered a set from Amazon, thanks!

 

Can u post a pic?

Nevermind, I reread your post and understood what you're talking 'bout Willis. LOL. Thanks.

 

Do a search here for short bed front stake pocket locations. Someone posted a measured location to drill into and trim away the cover material.
Don’t understand why Ford decided short beds didn’t need access to the front stake holes.

 

Just added the to mine. The front pocket is in further. I pocked a screw from underneath (on a stick) to give me a dimple then drilled and used the bull ring router bit. You have to trim a bit of plastic to get a neat look. Agree, a wtf for Ford