Rhino vs Line-x vs others

[TresCrows]

"I have been very happy with those $80 rubber bed mats."

Every rubber mat I have had has blown out, I saw one blow out of a truck ahead of me a few days ago. Here in Kansaw if you are going 70 MPH into a 40 MPH headwind that is a total windspeed of 100 MPH. This is a common occurence here. If it ain't tied down it might not be there when you get where you are going. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif J

 

[Mrwurm]

I had a rubber mat in the last truck I owned. It never blew out even at 70 mph. I have a new truck on order and I plan to put one in the new truck.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

One of the things I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is the litigation against Rhino. It seems a plastic gas container on a rhino liner is a severe fire hazard.

A bud of mine has rhino installed not only on his dually but also inside of his eleven foot utility body. He's done this even though one of his customers is one of the attorneys involved. He just don't carry gas in the back of his trucks without putting them in a box etc.

Anyone else hear about this?

 

[lamarbur]

all the local gas stations in my area will NOT load a gas can then allow you to place it on any liner regardless of brand name. They were given a notice (so they tell me anyway) from the flag carriers, Exxon/Shell/Texaco/etc, not to allow gas cans on liners due to explosions.

 

[TresCrows]

That is just another stupid lawsuit /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif. Rhino is not responsible for an idiots actions. Obviously any rubber, plastic or similar liner of any type including a drop-in can cause a fire. The gas can should be filled on the ground, not on the liner /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif.

Look, I am sure rubber mats work well, if you install one I suggest fastening it down, because, unlike the static electricity thing, if a rubber mat blows out and lands on a following car and they crash you may well get sued. Just fasten it down with some pull rivets or 3M yellow adhesive etc. The rubber mats also don't protect your bed sides. My last rubber mat was very thick and heavy, it went away with a kawoosh and a kathump. I was going fast into a blustery headwind. It landed in the median and I recovered it and use it for a foot mat in my shop for a long time /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif. That has just been my experiance with them, others may vary. J

 

[rrsquid]

You should never fill a gas can inside a bed with a liner. The plastic to plastic contact can develop a static charge. Then when you bring the metal filler nozzle close a spark can occour between the metal and plactic can. This is the theory at least. I have never heard first-hand of this happening.

--
Mark

 

[RobertN]

Yes, it can and does happen. A few months ago, a Fire Fighter buddy of mine was getting fuel. He warned a guy who was about to fill a gas can, that was sitting in the bed of his truck on a liner.

He got just inside the gas station when he heard a big WHOOOSH. The guy did not lkisten, and lit himself and his truck up. The guy got a nice trip in a medic unit...

 

[JJT]

You should always place the gas can on the ground, (which electrically grounds the container). The hazard exists with or without a bed liner, the truck is not grounded.

 

[jyoutz]

I've never heard of such a thing, and I have lots of relatives who live in Wyoming who use them. I don't think there's anyplace in the US windier than WY.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

</font><font color="blueclass=small">( That is just another stupid lawsuit . Rhino is not responsible for an idiots actions. )</font>

I guess I'd be one of those idiots you're talking about. I had no idea that putting a plastic gas can in a rhino lined truck presented a fire hazard.

I'm sure rhino has been sued not because they make a product that under the wrong circumstances can start a fire. But because they didn't inform their customers about it.

Some of us weren't born as smart as others.

We were talking some time back about the proverbial new guy on the crew that fills the line truck's hydraulic tank with gasoline. It happens all the time. Driver goes in for a cup of coffee and tells the newbie to fill her up. Newbie sees what he thinks is the gas tank and fills her up. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

One of my buds whom I believe is the smartest and most knowledgeable person I'll ever have the luck of knowing ducked his head and started kicking rocks.

He was once a newbie. He also did the deed.

Hard to believe just what kind of person can be an idiot. Sometimes it's one of us that just didn't know.

Labels aren't just for idiots.

Sometimes they're for guys like me or maybe even you.

If rhino put in a label warning there could be a fire hazard maybe they wouldn't have gotten sued.

But then some idiot in their company might have worried about such a label hurting sales. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[therrien]

I am not sure, but I believe it is metal cans on bed liners and auto carpeting that cause these explosions. The spark happens from the filler nozzle to the metal can. Plastic causes the static electricity but it should not conduct the spark from the nozzle. Fill it on the ground and put it in the bed should be OK. But I'm no expert.

 

[Bird]

Yep, Doug, everything I've read and seen on the TV about the problem indicated that it's mostly metal cans that have caused the fires, although there have been incidents of plastic cans doing it, too. And everything I've seen indicated it was from filling the can while it was in the pickup bed, car trunk, etc. In other words, safe if you set the can on the ground and have the nozzle touching the can while filling. And that's the way I always filled both gasoline and diesel cans. I think doing it that way is as safe a way as you can handle fuel, and don't think the bed liner has a lot to do with it, except that there may be a greater possibility of static electricity from sliding a can on the liner vs. sliding it on the metal truck bed. And of course, that's just my opinion formed from what I've read; no expert technical knowledge at all.

 

[RobertN]

It is the static from plastic to plastic contact. Metal to plastic does not build up as much charge. Enigines in our Fire District are switching over to metal safety cans after years of using plastic.

The thing that gets you is the open can, with lots of vapors in and around it. A full closed can has less vapor around it to explode if exposed to a spark.

 

[RobertN]

The Dodge shop my Dad works at gets damaged Turbo Cummins in rather frequently. Someone pulls up to the pump, does not pay attention, and fill with gas instead of diesel. When they try to drive away, there goes a $6000 engine!

On top of that, even if they realize it before they start it up, it's about $600 for hazmat disposal of 35gal of drained gas/diesel mix!!!

 

[TresCrows]

Well Harv, it is like this, born smart or not, static electricity is basic high school science. I have heard since I was a child not to do certain things and I think I can figure that plastic is non conductive and a charge can build up and when the fuel nozzle is moved toward it the charge tends to equalize generating a small spark. Obviously this is a condition that can be caused by things other than plastic bed liners.

I will stay with what I said, because I am sick of the lowest common denominator setting the standard for everyone else and the lawsuits that enforce it and the greedy lawyers that profit from it and our choices that suffer from it /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. If someone blows themselves up it is their fault not Rhino.

When I taught high school many times I told "johnny" he better listen cuz this was important, he did not and that he blew himself up or is in an unemployement line or flipping burgers is his fault, not mine /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif.

So there you have it, like it or not /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif.

As to Wyoming being windier than Kansas, my bet is on Kansas, as to rubber mats blowing out, lot's of things in the back of pick up trucks blow out, beer cans, dogs, occasionally people, plywood, lumber and yes, on occasion, rubber mats. The highways are littered with the refuse out of the back of pick up trucks, good grief. Just joking with both you and Harv but perhaps you guys ought to get together sometime /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif. J

 

[Inspector507]

Here in my neck of the woods.........a fire happened at a local gas station that was caused by filling a plastic can, with gasoline, while it was still in the trunk of the car. I saw the damage and will never even fill a diesel can unless it's setting on the ground after that.

 

[Alan L.]

Trescrows, I understand the possibility of paint damage under the liner, but I still don't understand the usefulness of the $350 spray-in bed. It doesn't "protect" anything, because the paint in the bed is already ruined by the stuff they put in there, and it is permanent. If its used roughly, and thus justifysomething to "protect" the bed, then the stuff they spray in there is going to look like heck anyway. I don't get it. Is is because the spray-on stuff looks "cool", or perhaps is it because it does NOT get banged up looking and still looks good after years of abuse? If the answer to the last question is no, then why no just save the $350 and beat up the original bed?

 

[TresCrows]

"I don't get it. Is is because the spray-on stuff looks "cool", or perhaps is it because it does NOT get banged up looking and still looks good after years of abuse? "

Well each to their own. It is not the paint damage so much as the ensuing rust from a drop in or years of unprotected wear and tear. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif As to the durability of a spray in, I cannot totally answer that since mine is new but I have seen those used rougher than I ever will and they still look good. They do protect the bed from rust /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif. They also absorb some impact due to thickness and they are apparently very tough and durable and repairable. Line-X has a nationwide warranty for example.
No, I think you are wrong if your assumption is that they are for looks or to be cool. Anything can be torn up, for every immovable object there is the unstoppable force /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif.

My long experience with a drop in and my short experience so far with the Line-X---no comparison. I admit, for some purposes or budgets or older beaters, drop-ins, rubber mats etc may be a perfectly good approach /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif, for a new or newer truck with years of service left ,in my opinion, a quality spray in of which there are several brands is a better answer.
As to looking cool /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif, looks often do count, why have an ugly truck?
And you know what, if I explode myself with gasoline cans on my tailgate /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif, just send red roses and DON'T sue anyone on my behalf, please /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif. J

 

[wroughtn_harv]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( And you know what, if I explode myself with gasoline cans on my tailgate , just send red roses and DON'T sue anyone on my behalf, please )</font>

I don't think that would be an issue. Any attorney would only have to read TBN and realize you were totally responsible and no one else could possibly be at fault.

It's hard to find recourse when a know it all screws up. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[RobertN]

See, in your other post things came up about how who looks at who driving thier trucks. I look from my $35k truck at you in your $35k truck, thinking "he don't use that like a truck" /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif All that power and even more extra power from chips and exhaust and super duper TRD parts, and it's afraid a little piece of concrete will ding it. I thought it was "truck"! Honestly though, I use a trailer too, a flatbed for the tractor/other, and a second trailer with sides for material. The second trailer is mostly because it's a pain to access material in this tall 4wd

Honestly though, I think a regular bed on a truck is fairly useless. Even with a lining... Let's think about this...
a - There are no usefull hooks. Come on! Those silly little things they put at each corner of the bed, where you can't reach them when the bed is full and you need to tie stuff off. And, how can you securely tie off a load with four little hooks? Talk about stuff flying out of the bed, littering the road ect...
b - It's whimpy metal. You can't drop anything in to it for fear of big ole dents. And, if you want to add tie hooks, hope they don't tear out when you use real hitches and knots to secure the load.
c - Wheel wells... a pain to load around, especially if you are shoveling loose stuff.
d - sides... The only way you can shovel is out the back, or heft it over the side, where you drop stuff and scratch the outside of the bed.

A flatbed would be so much nicer(I want one, but can't afford the switch right now).
a - most flat beds have hooks all over the place.
b - they are easy to make in to dump beds
c - they are tougher metal, and don't dent so easy when that piece of concrete falls
d - They are easier to move material in and out of from the back OR sides
e - no wheel wells in the way of shoveling or sweeping
f - Nothing to scratch when shoveling over the side

A flatbed is MUCH MORE USEFUL for most anything you might do with a truck. The only downfall I see is they aint as pretty, since you can see all the various truck parts, frame, ect.

I have hauled everything you mention except for airplane parts. In every case, a flatbed would be easier to use.

All of this, is, of course, IMHO /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif