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You can install this retractable, hard tonneau cover on your Chevrolet Silverado in about 10 minutes, and you can completely remove it just as quickly for full bed access. Aluminum and vinyl deck has strength of a hard cover and seamless look of a soft cover.
Features:
Specs:
The Switchblade retractable hard tonneau cover provides you with security and weather protection for your truck bed, easy accessibility to your cargo, and the flexibility to haul large items that require full bed capacity whenever needed. You can install the cover without assistance in approximately 10 minutes, and you can completely remove it from your vehicle's bed just as quickly. The tonneau deck is constructed of a vinyl fabric top sheet that is bonded to rigid aluminum panels, combining the seamless appearance of a soft cover with the security features of a hard cover.
Simple, 1-Person Installation
To install the cover, set the canister on the bulkhead of your truck. Make sure that it's square with your bed. Bolt the side rails to the tabs on the canister.
Secure the rails to your truck bed side rails using 2 clamps per side. Slide the clamp onto the rail, flip the pivot arm up so it is under the bed rail lip, and tighten the clamp in place with the twist knob. Shims are included for trucks with tapered beds.
Each clamp at the tailgate end of the rails has a supplemental kickstand to help level the rails and prevent overtightening during installation. To install the kickstand, simply slide it into the grip handle at the bottom of the clamp. Rotate the kickstand so the foot rests squarely against the side wall of the truck bed, and tighten in place.
Mount the top cover plate to the canister with the included hardware. Attach the drain tubes to the canister and route each tube out of the OEM drain holes in the floor of your bed.
To hold the pull strap off the floor of your truck bed, apply the adhesive hook-and-loop fastener strip onto the underside of a rail at your desired location.
Remove or Reinstall in 10 Minutes
After the initial installation, the tonneau cover can be completely removed or reinstalled in approximately 10 minutes. The Switchblade is great for whenever you need to haul large items that require full bed capacity from front to back and side to side. After your large haul is complete, you can easily reinstall the cover to protect your truck bed again.
To utilize your entire truck bed, detach the canister from the side rails by removing the bolts on either side with a wrench. Then take the side rails off your truck by removing the clamps with the same wrench. Wrap the pull-strap around the canister and use it to lift the canister off your vehicle.
Retractable Cover with Built-In Pull Strap
To retract the Switchblade, simply squeeze the pinch grips located underneath the cover near the center of the tailgate to activate a heavy-duty tension spring. The spring automatically retracts the cover into the canister at the bulkhead of your truck bed. This provides quicker, easier access to your truck bed when compared with manual retractable covers that have no spring-loaded assist.
A built-in pull strap helps you extend the cover over your bed. As you pull, the tonneau will glide smoothly along tracks in the side rails until it reaches the tailgate and secures in place. You can also use the rear plate of the tonneau cover to pull it closed.
Compact, Angled Canister
The cover retracts into a canister located at the front of your truck bed, giving you unrestricted visibility out of your rear window. The canister also protects the stored cover from the elements. And the compact, angled design allows for maximum clearance for your tools and cargo.
Water Management System
The Switchblade rails feature a water management system that channels excess water into the canister. This prevents water from getting into your bed or freezing in your tonneau cover rails during cold temperatures. Drain tubes attached to the bottom of the canister remove water through the OE drain holes in the floor of your truck bed.
Flush-Mount Design
The black powder-coated side rails sit 1/8" above your truck bed rails for a flush appearance. This low-profile design is aerodynamic to reduce wind drag, and it helps to improve gas mileage when the cover is closed.
Stylish and Heavy-Duty Construction
The Switchblade deck is constructed of a vinyl top layer bonded to heavy-duty aluminum slats. This ArmorTek deck looks like a soft tonneau cover with no visible seams, but has the strength and security of a hard tonneau cover. A large seal at the rear of the bed closes the gap between the cover and tailgate to create a barrier to prevent water from entering the truck bed.
Security
The Switchblade provides excellent protection for your cargo when used in conjunction with a closed and locked tailgate. Both the pinch grips and pull strap are located underneath the rear plate, which makes them inaccessible when your truck bed is closed. The heavy-gauge aluminum panels are better at preventing theft when compared with soft covers that can be cut or punctured with a knife. The panels are also more effective at preventing theft than tri-fold hard tonneau covers because the panels cannot be pried open at any point along the rails.
California residents: click here
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Randy: Hey guys, it's Randy here at etrailer.com. Today, we're going to be taking a look at the Pace Edwards line of their Switchblade tonneau covers. Now, these are available with the Armor Tech vinyl finish or with the pure powder coat metal finish. I really like the way these covers work. I've messed with quite a few of these retractable style covers, and I got to say this one was probably one of the more easy ones to get installed, and it worked right off the bat. I like the way they design these.
They're custom fit for each vehicle, all your shims and everything are generally already in place, right where you need them. And it just makes the cover so it operates really nice and smooth. We get it installed very quickly. The biggest difference you're going to see between the Switchblade and the metal Switchblade is going to be the finish.As I said, this one has that Armor Tech vinyl, which is a very high grade, very durable vinyl, and it's more of a matte finish. You'll also notice we don't have any seams that run across where aluminum slats are.
Now, if we go with the metal type, it's going to look much more like this. It's going to be a more high gloss, black, powder coat finish. You are going to have the slats as it runs across at each of the intersections. Personally, I like the metal style over the regular, just because it's all going to be the same color. I do think though, that the Armor Tech coating here is a really nice layer on top.
It's bonded directly to the aluminum. So separation isn't going to be an issue. And I think it gives it a nice look, maybe a little bit more clean even than the aluminum one that goes side to side.And I like how smooth the operation is on this one. You can see it very readily reels back in. It has a counter spring located inside of our container here.
Now, that's a self-lubricating spring, so as long as you open and close this maybe once a week, that system should work just about indefinitely. Also, when it's time to close it, we have the option of closing it from each side, of course, by hand. But I like just the strap here, being able to pull back on it. It very quickly and easily clips into place there.We can close our tailgate with the cover closed, which is a big advantage. We don't always see on some of the other ones. So whether we just need a little bit of access to get some stuff out of the back here or whether we need full bed access, I think it's going to be a really good solution for you. When working with customers, the main concern for most of them is going to be one of two when getting a tonneau cover. Either they've got a fifth wheel in the bed of their truck, or they keep some hunting gear, keep some tools back there and you need security. So the reason I like this cover is there's a couple of levers in the back, which will show you. You can't get to them without your tailgate being open. So as long as you have a locking tailgate, security's not going to be an issue at all.The other thing's going to be for protection. Again, maybe you've got a fifth wheel back there, you've got more sensitive items. And I don't like my hunting gear getting wet and getting snowed on and things like that. So by having a system like this, it's going to keep that protected. It's going to keep the elements out of there for the most part. I mean, no tonneau cover is going to be 100% waterproof, but for the most part, everything's covered. They've got a real nice seal system set up all the way along the edge here. We're going to have a seal, and it's nice and flexible. It's not as stiff as what I've seen on some of the other ones. It really contours right along with the cover. Same back here at our tailgate. You can see that seal's going to be nice and thick. It goes all the way across there.And then for the kind of the third level of that, each of our rails are designed with gutters that are essentially going to channel any moisture that might get in into our canister here. Now, our canister's a sealed canister, and it has drains on both sides, the driver's side and the passenger side. Those drain tubes will just route out a already existing hole generally. You might have to enlarge one. On this application, we'll show you a little trick on how you can do it without having to enlarge it. But allows that water to run down and out, so it's not getting trapped in the back of your truck causing any kind of issues with anything you might have stored in there. Now let's go back to that Armor Tech finish for just a minute. This is going to be a very high grade vinyl, and it is not just a cover that goes over the aluminum.They bonded those two portions together. So we've got our aluminum slats, which you can see pretty much at each of these lines, there's going to be an interlocking slat. So you've got a kind of a ball and joint socket. That's what allows it to roll up really easily for us. And then we've got this superior grade vinyl over the top of it, just to give a lot of protection. This gives us kind of a matte finish look. I like that look, but also they have a metal version of this as well, to where the entire thing would be aluminum. Then you'd be looking at a finish more like this, a little bit more of a high gloss finish. And it could add maybe a little bit more rugged appearance if you we're going with that vinyl cover on top. I like the way this one looks.I think the aluminum, if you're ever prone for tree branches that scrape it or anything like that, I don't think it's really going to be an issue, but you know, aluminum does tend to be a little bit more sturdy than a vinyl. So I'd keep that in mind. Now, a very comparable cover to this one is from Bak. It's the Vortrak. It does not have that Armor Tech finish available on it. It's the aluminum, more similar to the Switchblade that has the aluminum slats on it. And I don't think there's a whole lot wrong with that cover. I also like that cover. This one is just a little bit more cost effective, so I would lean towards this one over that one, but it's all about 50/50 there. Now, when talking with folks about different tonneau covers, a question I commonly get that I never really thought of was, will it handle a snow loadSo Wisconsin, Minnesota, you get a bunch of snow on it and it will. The aluminum construction and the way it's designed will hold a load. I mean, put four or five foot of snow on there, and I don't think much will hold up, but just normal snow, if you brush it off in the morning, I don't think you have any issues there at all. And something that I would recommend if you don't feel like opening it each time, but you still want to see in the bed of the truck, we've got some nice LED light kits that you can install. Basically, have a button back here that you can press and turn those on. And basically it'll illuminate everything inside of there. You can see it gets pretty dark in there. We're in a pretty bright area right now, and it's still pretty dark in there.You might not be able to see each and everything you want to get out. So that would be something to keep in mind. Outside of that, it's pretty much kind of all contained. You're going to get everything you need. I think it's a really nice cover. I think it'll do a great job for you to keep your stuff either protected from the elements or secure from theft. Another common question I get when working with customers is how much space is the tonneau cover going to take up in my bed So we've got a few different numbers to try to help you out in determining what kind of room you're going to lose by adding the tonneau cover. The first one's going to be how much the bed rails stick inside from the outside edge of the bed. And in that case, we're looking at about 2 1/8 of an inch.Then how much room does the can take up in the front, the canister that holds the cover From the front edge of your bed to the very back of the seal on the handle portion, it's 15 1/8 of an inch. And then from the top of your bed rail to the bottom of that canister, it's going to be about 8 3/8. Now, a couple that'll give you an idea about some cosmetics would be that the bed rails themselves, where they sit up over the top, they only stick up about an 1/8 of an inch. So it gives it a nice flush appearance. The canister up front is going to stick up off the bed rail by about an inch and 5/8. Now, in working with customers who own these, I get a lot of positive feedback on these covers.Of course, we kind of already touched on the installation process. I really like the way this one goes together. The clamps are really easy. The drain tubes are easy. It's just a simplified installation process than what I see a lot of the other ones. I also hear how good they are with snow on top. They hold up really well. So if you're up North or where you get a lot more snow, it's going to be a really good solution there. And I also like how well they work. I think our customers, I've heard that several times, just so easy for it to roll up and come back and it offers good weather resistance. Now, I've not dealt with a tonneau cover yet that is 100% waterproof. I just really don't think they exist, but this one seems to have all the right stuff on it to make sure that anything that you've gotten inside is going to be protected as good as it can be.Now, one thing I want you guys to keep in mind is that these are custom fit. They're designed specifically for each bed length in each truck style. So definitely use our fit guide. If you put in your year, you put in your make, you put in your model, we're going to help you to ensure that you get the exact tonneau cover that's going to work for you. Be sure you know your bed length so you can get that input so we can get the right one out to you.And depending on your application, something we ran in here, this is a 19 GMC Sierra 1500. You can see that it's covered up our stake pockets here in the back a little bit. And the side rails do come up and they rest on top of the bed rails. So I would imagine that if you have any type of clamp-on style ladder rack or something like that, that you're not going to be able to use it with this cover, but it's going to go with most of the covers out there. We do have some available though, if you're concerned with it, that do leave your stake pockets open.Now guys, that's going to wrap up our look at the Pace Edward's line of the Switchblade tonneau cover. Again, I think these are really solid, very cost-effective covers that work really well and install very easily..
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (267 Customer Reviews)
You can install this retractable, hard tonneau cover on your vehicle in about 10 minutes, and you can completely remove it just as quickly for full bed access. Aluminum and vinyl deck has strength of a hard cover and seamless look of a soft cover.Rather than order a truck bed cap and wait 3 months for delivery, I decided on a hard tonneau cover at about one third the cost and available immediately. I viewed several you tube and decided on Pace Edwards. I am able to follow instructions and handy with tools so this installation was straight forward and the end result is just as I had hoped for. The look is nice, the quality of the item is very good and the final function is just as I had wanted. The items in the bed are safe, out of view and secure as the tail gate can be locked. I am very pleased with the quality, ease of installation and overall function. The installation took a bit longer to complete as I was working alone.
I purchased this cover as a replacement of a 16 year old switchblade cover. Which held up extremely well for the amount of sun exposure it gets in Southern California. I like the new style of bed rails which I believe are powder coated and not painted. Installation was a breeze. Six bolts and it is installed. I also like the lip that comes up to cover the gap over the tailgate. I'm going to miss the key locking feature on my old cover, so I did upgrade my tailgate lock to a power one so the tailgate locks all the time.
Easy to install (even solo) took me about an hour with lots of pet the dog breaks.
Shipping was fast too!
Very easy to install. It took about an hour and half. I did have a second person to help.All the parts where ship with the top. Only drawback is the rope to pull closed the top. If I had a do over, I would purchase the motorized Top.
I have had this cover on my truck for a year now. The cover has been flawless no problems whatsoever. I open and close the cover multiple times a week it has been a great addition to my truck.
Nice cover. Easy to install
Within three months the seals along the rails warped in the sun making it nearly impossible to slide the cover open or closed. I have upgraded my cover to a Bakflip MX4. I can’t share photos because I discarded the whole cover.
This is my second switchblade, I like the security and look. It allows more water in the bed than expected. The packaging could be better this unit showed up with serious damage to the box and the drain tubes were broken due to placement under the canister in the box. Etrailer sent replacement drain tubes soon as I called. Great service!
Just installed this afternoon, so not a lot of experience yet. I installed by myself in about 1 1/2 hours. The instructions were clear and brief. I had a little trouble getting the front clamps in place, but that was due to the thickness of a brand new spray-in bed liner, it was pretty thick. Once everything was in and adjusted the cover works good and looks like it will keep most of the weather out.
The bad:
1. The product showed up with damage. Box looked to be taped to fix it being dropped.
2. The metal parts that rest on the bed rail were bent.
3. They talk about shims in the instructions and the video but do not show where the shims are. I did have to remove them to help even out the distance the rails are between the front and back.
The good:
1. All parts were still in the box.
2. I was able to straighten the metal parts and install the product.
3. The installation video was very helpful.
Does not fit entirely flush with the trucks bed as the picture shows. Called customer service for help with the order and they tried to upsell me on another cover. I specifically stated that I didn’t see the cover with the matte finish. Website has poorly posted pics. Buyer beware. I’ll pay $[XX] to return the cover and will buy from [online vendor]
Received my bed cover last night in a wore out beat up box. parts hanging out of it. When I opened it it was full of returned items from other customers. When I asked to discount and speed up shipment on the replacement I was told nothing he could do. I have been a loyal customer and I'm not happy with the way this has been handled.
After searching for a bed cover I came back to etrailer because of the service and quality of my 5th wheel hitch that I purchased from them when I bought my new truck. I received my new bed cover and it is awesome just as described and fit perfect and took about 30 min to install it. etrailer is the place to buy all your truck or trailer needs . As you can see from the pictures it covers up my diesel tank and the 5th wheel hitch when not in use and when you pull the 5th wheel then just roll in into the canaster.
Looks great. Should be durable enough for me and my application. Appears to be well made and was fairly easy to install. I was replacing an older well used cover for my truck that was a dealer installed after market cover that was merely worn out. My brother and I installed this Slingshot in a little less than an hour. A person with with average skills should be able to install this cover with minimal issue. Certainly is easier with two people but not difficult.
Dear Ranger owners. This product is one inch short. Be aware. If you got a one inch thick liner, this is perfect. If not, this product will not be flush with the front bed. If you make it flush, then it is one inch short. etrailer tells me to return it with xxx return fee. And they would charge me for restocking fee. Haha what an amazing policy. Now that customer received it, they know customers wont return with heavy return fee. STAY AWAY.
easy install, works great, allows me to keep the bed cover on while using my 5th wheel.
Seals didn’t last long. I had to replace the tailgate seal twice and finally siliconed it in place. Other than that it’s been a good bed cover.
Cover was very easily to install. However wasn’t pleased with how the cover of box was bowed and never sealed to truck bed, or the cover didn’t fit up to top cap. Wasn’t impressed with how quick the seals on the end caps tore off.
The buying process - is very easy, and shipping - is sooner than expected at my door. Installation of the cover is also very easy. The quality is very good and it looks good.
The cover looks great and DOES work on a 2020 Ram 3500 8'bed. It was easy to install. It was missing 2 hex bolts to connect the rails to the canister but a few dollars at the local hardware store fixed that. The only concern I have is the canister cover is a little warped, either from shipping or manufacturing, allowing the cover to retract in the canister without touching the brush on the canister cover. This could allow dirt and dust into the canister later as well. All in all great looking cover that does what its intended to do.
Excellent product. Helped shield product from weather ( snow,rain ). Seal is not perfect so some moisture does get through, but significantly better the if not covered. Switchblade concept very convenient as can open and close as needed. As with anything required periodic maintenance. The side channels where the cover slides in do get dirty from the environment and over time require cleaning as the dirt impedes the sliding of the cover. Also do need to be watchful for the small screws at the back end of the cover (by the rear truck hatch). They do get loose over time. If not careful they come out and may cause the cover to come apart. I do not consider this as unusual. Everything requires periodic maintenance.
Given the choice I would still purchase this product. Cannot think of what might make the product better or function more smoothly. It is certainly worth the investment.
If desired can take it apart if needed to access the unobstructed truck bed. I have not had the need to take it of though.
This will be the third time that I’ve bought from etrailer and I soon will be back again, for my new F250 always taken care of in the most professional way, I ordered the retractable bed cover for a birthday present for my wife, when it was delivered it look like it been through a battle took pictures and sent it to etrailer, With no hesitation and pure professionalism they took care of me right away and still made my wife’s birthday on time the product has always been good I know I haven’t had a chance to put it on yet, but the delivery this time look like a brand new product on a mark on the box, the delivery company which I will not mention, I just got substantial raises in the way they deliver products this is sad but etrailer even took care of their unprofessionalism, so everybody that reads this hats off to Martie etrailer, They have created a loyal customer and a happy wife thank you etrailer For what you do.
Shipped immediately and arrived in a couple of days. Unfortunately the unit comes in two boxes and UPS split them and delivered them over two days. This was not etrailer's fault!
The unit was exactly as described and fit my 2021 Ram Rebel like a glove. The only problem I had was the end caps were reversed on the box cover making it impossible to get the Philips head screws to catch. Once I figured that out they went right in.
I've bought many products from etrailer over the years and have never been disappointed. I highly recommend them.
This is a nice enough cover and fairly easy to install but does not keep the bed of the truck dry like some other covers I have owned.
The products are great when you get the right stuff ordered twice through you guys got the wrong parts both times not ordering from you again
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David
4/14/2022
Very pleased with the product and the ability to be able to open the cover part way while covering most of the bed. This is not possible with a solid cover. The vehicle is used frequently to transport various items of different size . The product works very well and allows me to leave equipment in the bed the locked tailgate. I would purchase this item for a different truck in the future.