Pick Up Bed Liner - Choosing

If your like me, you probably dropped a large amount of change when you bought your Dakota, and don't particularly care about scratching up that nice looking gloss coat finish in your bed.

Researching liners, I found there quite a few selections where this accessory is concerned.

You can get a solid one piece liner that just drops in or one that mounts with a sub mat/foam beneath the liner to reduce abrasion and rust to the metal bed. You can get a carpet style liner that tapes or buttons in or a large rubber style mat that just lays down. And the remaining option is to have a tough urethane material that's sprayed in, averaging a thickness of about 3/16". And last but not least I even saw a urethane kit at a Wall Mart® that you brush roll or spray in for about $30., I'm a little leery about this one.

Below are a series of images showing different views of a sprayed in epoxy liner on a regular Dakota.

After seeing a truck bed done in urethane, I'll have to say, this is the way to go if you want to spend $700 bucks on protecting something that was originally made to get beat up.

Update:08-07-2001

When I get a chance I like to stop back to pages I've put up and update them if needed. Well I've gotten a few nudges and this pages updates are below:

Prices on the the urethane liner have been dropping since the original post of this page and the information above, thanks to Don from Oklahoma:

I was looking at your bed liner section, I had a spray on liner in the Chevy and intend on putting one in my Dakota, here in Ok. they are $325, I really used and enjoyed the first one. Just wanted to let you know.

And thanks to another owner that wrote in... but...damn just spent 1/2 an hour looking over the mail box and couldn't find his mail.

The drop in liners and mats can be purchased at some local Farm Stores® and cost about $180.. Name brand liners are distributed through dealers and run $200. to 230. installed.

For now I'm using the plastic tub and hold down system to keep my bed from getting beat up. It's simple, cheap and effective. I'll post a picture of it for those who might be still deciding and need to get by for a while.

Since ordering a A.R.E. lid I'm beginning to rethink the idea of bed protectors and may go in a somewhat different direction. I've always been using vans and always fabricating floor bottoms and storage racks to accommodate my needs and usage and since the lid will make the bed of my Dakota practically water proof there might be a better way for me to utilize the space. When I figure it out, (Update:08-07-2001) - I'll post it here.