Undercover Flex Install and Review.
 

Hello all fellow F150 owners. I thought I would share with you all the install and review of the Undercover Flex tonneau cover. Reason I went with Undercover versus Bakflip is that here in Canada, the price for the F1 was ~$1200 while this cover with the same features as the f1 was $825.

On a couple of steps for some reason I did not take pictures. So I want to apologize in advance for not have pics at every step.


This install was done to a 2012 F150 with 5.5' box. Model# FX21002

If you plan to do the install yourself, the box is a good size and has some weight in it. It is packaged very well.
Attachment 528613

Once you pull all the parts out of the box and verify that everything is present you can start with the install.

Place the rubber gasket seal with goes at the front of the box. This gasket is required as the sides of the box are slightly higher then the front panel. Make sure the surface is clean and free from any grease or wax as you want good adhesion. In my case line-x was just applied the previous day so it stuck on perfectly.
Attachment 528614

Here it is with strip installed.
Attachment 528615

Now you have the 2 rails. I started with the passenger side. Make sure you have the correct rail by looking for the drain tube fitting at one end. Not really hard to figure out.
You have to assemble the clamps which will hold the rails in place.
Attachment 528616

Now I set the rail to be just slightly higher then the box side. Use a 9/16 wrench or socket and tighten down. I started with the middle and adjusted from there making sure it was high above the box throughout the whole length. Also make sure the clamps are properly meshing when tightning. If you can have a 2nd pair of hands it would make this step easier.
Attachment 528617

Repeat for other side
Attachment 528618

Now we are nearly ready to place the tonneau onto the truck. All you have to do is place the large bolts into the sliding mounting strips. Once in place put cover onto truck and getting them to go through the mounting plate. This step would be easier with a 2nd pair of hands but not impossible to be done by yourself.
Attachment 528619

Place the knobs onto the bolts. But don't tighten them down yet.
Attachment 528620

Now unfold the cover and make sure the cover is even side to side and front to back. Once you are satisfied with its location, gently fold the cover enough so that you can tighten down those knobs at the front of the box. Now test the cover to make sure it closes and opens perfectly fine. If it still needs adjustment, just loosen the knobs, adjust and retighten.

Here is the cover fully open.
Attachment 528621

Space between the cab and cover.
Attachment 528622

1 section down.
Attachment 528624

(TIP: Go to your local auto supply store and get some rubber foam weather seal. Place a strip along the top edge of this panel. Reason I recommend this is that twice already is that when I was holding the panel upright while I was grabbing the rod to clip on, I let the panels hit the back of the cab. Once I placed that rubber foam strip, I let it rest against the cab without worrying of damaging the cab while I grab the holding rods.)
http://ak.buy.com/PI/0/300/204593118.jpg

You can kinda see in this pic that the panels are resting against the cab.
http://i1186.photobucket.com/albums/...l/IMG_0764.jpg

2 panels down.
Attachment 528625

Picture with the panel closed and the hardware in place except for the drain tubes.
Attachment 528626

Another view to show how much of the cover is exposed in the fully open position.
Attachment 528627

Attachment 528628

Now I forgot to get a picture of the drain tubes installed. I am going to grab some pictures of them soon and will post once I have them.

What I did was drill a hole for the drain tube through the large rubber grommets on the front panel of the box. I left enough length of tubing so that it drains towards the ground. You will need a 5/8" hole saw to make the proper size hole. TIP: to prevent any damage to the cab when drilling the hole that I took some cardboard, folded it over several times so that it would hold itself up between the box and cab. This way once you punch through the rubber you hit the cardboard not the cab. Now you are complete.

Here is a good video on youtube which will also help with install.


Now, after having this cover on for several months. I am on my 2nd cover. Reason for this was that at the first rainfall which I had stuff in the box, the whole box was wet inside. I took it back to the point of purchase and they tested it and found the seal in the panels were not done correctly. They quickly contacted Undercover to get the approval and they swapped it out and tested it before they gave the truck back to me. Now I can say barely ANY water gets into the box and where there was a couple drops was near the tailgate. Now I am really statisfied!!!!! My local truck accesory store and Undercover took care of their customers. I would recommend this product and especially for us Canadians where bakflip F1 is way higher in price then the undercover. :thumbup:

I just purchased an undercover flex and it leaked bad. Went back to the place that installed it and advised it has a manufactures defect and needs to be replaced. Not happy. They have ordered me a new one. Will let u know how the second one is

quick question, I just recently purchased the cover and I guess mine seems to be slightly different than yours. Is it me or are the clamps that hold the rails supposed to be on a very slight slant when tightened??

I have not yet put my drain tubes in yet as Im trying to locate a good hole too put it through. However, there was a ton of water in the bed after a full day of rain, lol more than i expected. But then again, I havent installed the weather seal that goes on the front of the box....

My clamps are on a slight angle as well. In my f150 I have the drain hoses at the top of my bed just under the rails by the cab. I get my new cover today and will let you know how dry the bed of the box is. My cover was leaking in 3 spots at the hinges and it shouldn't. Let you know how it goes in a few days.

I'm just trying help: Is it possible that the clamps appear tilted to compensate for the fact that the truck's bed rails are not horizontal to the ground?

Good idea, there seems to be a hole that I can see when I open the stake pocket on top of the bed. It looks like that hole should fit and the tubes will be out of the way.

As for the clamps, I never really took notice to the rails being at an angle. I will check that out and see later tonight. Looks light a possibility, thanks.

I am on my second one of these covers, the second one leaks as bad as the first just in different places. My dealership is awaiting approval from the maker to give me a full refund (they say). This has been dragging on for over two months and everytime it rains the bed get full of water. Not at all happy with the cover or the responses of the maker. Not sure what I am going to replace it with but for sure it will not be another one of these covers.

I am on my second cover and it also leaks. They are now going to lift the rails up 1/8 inch so the cover has more down force in the rails to see if that stops the leak. They are also going to put a little silicone at the front rail as water over flows the drain hole and leaks into the bed of the truck. I was told this cover would leak a little but it pours into the bed. Will let you know how this works. If not I will also be looking for my money back. I would not recommend this cover to anyone.

After looking at an installation, it's normal for the clamps to be slanted. Also, the instructions say to lift the Flex's rails 1/8" above the truck's rails.

My dealership also tried that. All it did was move the leaks around. Still leaking just as much if not more. I also will not recommend this cover to anyone.

Just had dealer lift up the rails 1/8 inch and it leaks more now then before. I am going to try moving the rail down 1/4 inch and see if that fixes it. If not I will be looking for a refund. This cover is much cheaper look and feel then a bakflip F1. Does anyone know a shop that sells a Bakfip F1 close to the Niagara Falls Canada boarder as they want over $1200.00 in Canada for it. Will purchase it in the states.

The thickness of the Flex is 3/4", thickness of the F1 is 5/8". Warranty of Flex is 3 years, warranty on F1 is 2 years.

I just had my undercover flex cover replaced with a bakflip F1. It is a stronger cover and doesn't flex as much as the undercover flex. My dealer told me the flex covers had a manufacture defect that has been fix. I wouldn't recommend the undercover flex. The Bakflip cost me $150 dollars more but worth it. If you are in the market of a hard cover check out the bakflip F1

I really like my Flex but had to solve a security problem
 

I got my Flex for my 2012 F-150 5.5ft bed in early March. I too drilled holes for the drain tubes in the plastic grommets in the front bed panel. It's been through heavy rains and one automatic car wash -- only a little bit of water inside the bed. Nothing I can't live with.

I did have a security problem though. With the tailgate closed and locked, I could shove the cover either right or left enough that one of the rear latches would move completely out from under the rail -- allowing me to simply raise that corner & pull the wire to open the entire cover.

I solved the problem by reinstalling both rails with 3/16" Camper Seal foam tape behind them. That narrowed the distance between the rails by a combined 1/4" after some compression of the foam -- so now I can shove the cover as far as possible either way and both latches are still holding under the rail.

This wasn't a fluke with just one bed install. I got rear-ended the week after installing the Flex, so I got a complete new bed and tailgate -- same problem on the new one.

Based on my experience, I would definitely buy the Undercover Flex again! It's every bit as good as I expected!

Does anyone have the Flex with a BackRack? Wondering if they are conpatible.

I had an undercover flex put on my 2013 f150 supercrew and had bad leaking right off the bat. nothing fixed it I was finally able to get undercover to do a refund of sorts for it. also before I sent it back the bar that goes across the front to latch the front panel down had the screws come out of the top and that bar fell off.

I would NOT recommend this cover to anyone!!!

I'm going to be looking into getting possibly the Bakflip VP

Does anyone know if the bakbox from bakflip will fit the undercover flex? They are almost carbon copy designs.

Also, I am having leaks around the drain hoses and out the back end of the rail gutter (overflowing and to much for the tubes???)

Anyway, all the hinges and everything else is dry and overall very happy with it. Just have to fix that leak before it drives me crazy.

Had my Flex for four months now and love it. No leaks, fits right and looks great. Sorry to here you guys are having problems with yours.

When the Flex covers first were released, there was a problem with the first few batches. The problems have been corrected for quite a while.

I bought one of their other brand covers and when I installed the rails they sat at about a 25 to 30d angle. (BTW first set of rails were bent and had to be replaced.) I finally figured out that they had installed the parts on the wrong ends and when I switched the parts end for end (effectively turning the aluminium rail end for end) and remounted the rails they sat level. The flange on the inside of the F150 isn't vertical and so the rails are not a 90d angle. The angle in the rail offsets the angle in the F-150 flange when they're mounted correctly. If they're reversed then the angle of the rail adds to the angle of the flange and the top of the rail will not be horizontal. That was just ONE of the many problems that I had with this brand. It appears that they have these made in China with ZERO quality control and that they're prepackaged and drop shipped to customers in the US with absolutely no inspections. Mine had the wrong instructions included, bent rails, the replacement rails were incorrectly assembled, seals were missing and the knobs and some other parts were missing! I called the US distributor with problems several times and they finally just refused to talk to me any longer. They were supposed to refund my purchase price but never did and I finally had to contact CC company and have them rescind payment.

Oh and this was last summer (2013) so problems have not been corrected for "quite a while."


Buyer Beware!

FWIW Extang, Truxedo, Bedrug and UnderCover are all owned by the same company http://www.kinderhook.com/news/6.23.10.html and use many of the same parts such as the rails and clamps.

If you're taking about Undercover, they are made in the USA. I don't know what cover you're talking about, but the Undercover Classic, SE, LUX, and Flex are all very good covers. There were three short-lived problems over the years that I can recall, but that's not bad.

I had one installed 2 weeks ago and love it so far. We have had a couple of hard rains and my bed is totally dry. It looks amazing too.

UPDATE: Last August 1 panel seam developed a bad leak, I went back to my dealer, They took pictures, sent it off to their undercover rep and I had a new one installed the same day. So now I am on my third. I hope it the last! Warranty is good but if the track reason keeps up, 3 years will pass then I am SOL. So far it doesn't leak but the true test will be in the spring.

One thing I did notice is that the rubber on the new one seems a little thicker and they installed rubber 'bumper' on the 1 panel which would hit the back of the cab when you open it all the way. In my original install I purchased foam tape but now that is not needed on any of the new ones. I will give a update in the spring time to see how it did through a winter season.

Wait a minute, that's sounds like a Bakflip, not an Flex. The Flex does not lean against the cab, it stands vertically. The Bakflips lean against the cab. :blink:

Anyone put these on the 2015 F150 yet?

You can lean the Flex against the cab if you want. Thats all the OP is saying. It won't secure with the rods and I wouldn't drive with it like this but it is doable.

So does anyone else have an Undercover Flex that they're happy with? I really want to buy a new bed cover, but it's so frustrating because they all seem to have their share of good and bad reviews (including Bak covers). I'm wondering how many improvements Undercover has actually made to the Flex since the beginning, and how many of these problems manifest themselves due to variations in the installation.

See my post #14 in the thread below.

https://www.f150forum.com/f118/under...311556/index2/

i decided to go with the Extang Solid 2.0. it isn't as flat as the undercover flex but I have found mostly good reviews on it. very few bad ones and they weren't really that bad as is.

Hi KP Texan
DONOT buy the Undercover Flex!! Check out thread "Tonneau cover Blues - Bakflip and UnderCover Flex" Since July 2015 Im current waiting on replacement # 3 as of today. Also I post video's attach to that thread be sure to check them out.

I have had an undercover flex for a few weeks. It has been rained on to extremes and the bed stayed dry.

I read reviews prior and made sure that I had someone else install and that they did the drain tubes.

I'm pleased overall.

I've got an Undercover Flex. When I bought it from the dealer said it wasn't meant to be waterproof. As we all know hardly anything is waterproof. He told me there may be be a few leaks, but a couple hundred miles to stop by and have it adjusted. I had a few leaks, but I adjusted it myself. I also had a tailgate seal added for a little peice of mind. I still enjoy it and it works with only a few drops even after a hard rain.