How To: Reattach The "One-way" Clips On The R1T Bed Caps

[Vincent]

This is one of the many series of how-to articles that I plan on writing. In this particular article, I would document step-by-step instructions on how to reattach the one-way clips on the R1T bed caps.

Word has circulated for a while now that the bed caps on the R1T use "one-way" clips. In other words, they break off and can't be reused. After a little investigation, I was able to reattach 100% of the clips.

Here is the dreaded sight after removing one of the bed caps:



Close up shot of the clip:



Close up shot of the plastic "wings" it attaches to:



I'm not sure what Rivian's reasoning for this was. The attachment isn't very strong even from the factory. There are also several spots with double-sided tape. I wonder if that was added further along in development or in the manufacturing process.

To reattach the clips, I pushed them back on as much as I could and then I used two big flat head screwdrivers to press down on either side of the plastic wing:



Here is what they look like reattached



Some of them were tough to get back on because the plastic wing on the bed cap would bend to the side. For those, I used a smaller flat head screwdriver and pushed up on the clip's teeth to open them up a bit more to make it easier to get onto the plastic mounting point.

Here are all the clips reattached to all the bed cap pieces (28 clips total - not counting the normal automotive clips):



I found it interesting that they even included magnets on the cab side of the bed rail caps. They likely didn't have a place to put a clip because of the auto tonneau cover box so they just used magnets.



Hopefully this is helpful for those who are brave enough to tear apart their truck!