Sealing the bed with a bypass rack

For those of you that live in snow country and have bypass racks in your bed, what have you done to seal up the big holes that are cut for the shocks to pass through? I'm on the edge of pulling the trigger on upgrading the rear suspension but the thought of having two big ass holes in my bed for mud, snow and mag chloride to go through and cover everything just makes me a bit uneasy.

Are there any flexible rubber membranes that can be mounted over the shock to kind of seal everything up? What have you guys done?

Use sheet metal and weld it in place. Just make sure you can get to the bolts for the top of the shock so you can remove them for rebuilds. Then LineX the bed and wheel wells to prevent any corrosion and make it look more uniform.

One solution I have seen is to build sheet metal "dog houses" that close out that area and then spray them with bedliner. Off-Road magazine did something similar (on a smaller scale) with their project F150 a couple of years ago. I can't seem to find a pic....

These are the holes for our suspension kit. They are not centered in the wheel well so not alot of debri gets slung into the bed. We would rcommend using a sheet of neoprene and form it around & over the shock. Our bed cages also cover the holes up pretty well too if you want to go that route.

@CrownOffroad has a cage and his bed stayed pretty dry while we're running around in rainy moab mud.

ADDcole said:

These are the holes for our suspension kit. They are not centered in the wheel well so not alot of debri gets slung into the bed. We would rcommend using a sheet of neoprene and form it around & over the shock. Our bed cages also cover the holes up pretty well too if you want to go that route.

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Oooo.... never thought about Neoprene!

Seems like the holes could be cut alot smaller too... at least on the sides, no? As the suspension cycles, isnt the shock really just kinda moving front to back a little? Can imagine it going side to side much.

Drunktank said:

Oooo.... never thought about Neoprene!

Seems like the holes could be cut alot smaller too... at least on the sides, no? As the suspension cycles, isnt the shock really just kinda moving front to back a little? Can imagine it going side to side much.

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No, your shocks rotate clockwise and counter clockwise as the move moving the bypass tubes closer and farther away as they do. Also under heavy lateral load such as big slide or landing at an angle your whole rear end shifts side to side moving you shocks left or right. Cram 4.0's in there like I did and see just how little room you have between your springs at compression and your wheels.

^ exactly. When the rear of your truck flexes, for example, pull into a ditch sideways, one tire will droop out, the other will tuck up into the fender, this will move the shocks inward & outward

Okay.... makes sense. Didnt suspect the rear axle would drift that much side to side but makes sense.

Well if you think about it, the only thing keeping the rear end in place is the leafsprings and they're only attached in the front and back, so naturally the will drift.


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