Hi everyone,
I'm new to pick ups after being a life long Jeep guy, just got this '98 long bed and picked up a topper yesterday for my overland camping build.
Looking at it, the bed caps (grey plastic on top of the bed sides) look bad now with the topper.
Also, on the Leer website, all the trucks with toppers don't have the bed caps peeking out from between the topper and bed.

Can I safely remove them and have the topper just sit on the steel bed rails?
Thanks for any advice / comments / suggestions.






Only shot I could find of a 10th gen on the LEER website, no bed caps visible here, but this seems to be a newer version of the topper model 100XL that I (think I) have:

 

The newer caps have a lip that overlaps the plastic rail covers, hiding them. At least on my ARE, and I'm about 100% the Leers are the same.
But yes, you could remove the cover, older trucks never had the plastic trim until recently.
Just apply the foam sealer tape under the rail on the cap.

 

Gotcha, thanks. Yeah now that you say it, I see how the newer style shells extend way lower and cover that whole area.

 

Just thought of something. If you remove those rail covers, your liftgate may not fit correctly.

 

Also the insides of the topper are rough fiberglass and will rub into the paint if it touches, and chances are pretty good they will touch. You might get around that by attaching the foam strips to the very inside edge of the cap.

 

Well since it seems like they're supposed to be left on the truck, I'll just leave them.
But nobody's gonna keep me from painting them to match when I paint the grille and other pieces at some point. At least if they were painted, they wouldn't stand out so much.
Thanks for the input!

 

Sounds like a reasonable plan. You may want to include the trim on the tailgate as well.

 

These bed rail trim pieces are a common area to fade. The solution is to paint them with Krylon Fusion for plastics spray paint. It comes in a spray can, and is easy to use.

 

What color would you call it? I've got a bit of scuffing on mine removing/installing my cap. It would be nice to clean them up.