Install the Steel Horse Bed X-tender

on your Sport Trac

by Pat Freeman

August 18, 2002

Steel Horse sells an aftermarket bed extender for our Explorer Sport Tracs. Produced by AMP Research, this aftermarket “cargo cage” has been seen on Ebay going for between $130 and $150. It comes with hardware that must be bolted to the inside of the box, but I found a way to install it without having to add the unsightly hardware.

Here’s the bed extender sitting just inside of the factory hole for mounting the factory cargo cage.

Notice the screw that holds the middle tube. The hole in the bed is 2” deep.

 The other side of this screw is has a hole which means the screw won’t bottom out. Remove the screw.

Replace the screw with a similar thread bolt. I found a pair of 3” long bolts at Home Depot that

had the same ¼” diameter and 18 threads per inch. The bolt I found has a 7/16” head.

I installed the bolt in the hole, stopping before it protruded from the other side of the hole.

Here’s the other side of the hole.

I slid the extender into position and tightened the bolt until it bottomed out. 

In this picture, I pulled the extender away from the box to illustrate that the bolt is in the hole. When

Installed correctly, the extender will butt up against the box nicely.

Here’s the bed extender installed. Notice that it’s not perfectly horizontal. It still clears the tailgate

and does not interfere with the factory hard tonneau cover.

Here’s a shot of the bed extender rolled out to position. Again, it’s not perfectly horizontal, but is

still very effective.

Here’s the GREAT thing about the extender. These “tie downs” connect with your tailgate. 

And prevent the bed extender from bouncing out of position. Just pull on the tailgate release and the

“tie downs” will release.

I keep a 7/16” wrench with me when I want to remove the bed extender.

Enjoy your Steel Horse Bed X-tender!