Pace Edwards JackRabbit Review: Buy the Full Metal Version

Buy the Full Metal version of the Pace Edwards JackRabbit. It's a manual retractable with double-walled aluminum slats that roll into a canister at the front of the bed, a key-lockable twist lock, lock points every 12 in along the rails and a limited lifetime warranty. It's made in the USA, it costs less than a RetraxPRO XR on every same-bed listing we compared, and the owner record runs to eight and ten years. What you give up is a published load rating, rack rails on the standard cover and, as with every slatted retractable we cover, a guaranteed dry bed.

Pace Edwards sells the JackRabbit in two versions, and owners mostly don't say which one they have. The Full Metal JackRabbit is all aluminum. The plain JackRabbit lays an ArmorTek overlay, a padded polymer that Pace Edwards bonds to the aluminum, over the slats, with a 5-year warranty instead of lifetime coverage. The complaints about skin separating, vinyl fading and endless UV protectant come from vinyl-covered JackRabbits, not the Full Metal. Pace Edwards is now part of the RealTruck family, some Amazon listings are sold by a seller named LEER Tonneau Covers, and you may see it called the LEER JackRabbit. Every listing we link carries the Pace Edwards brand. The UltraGroove, SwitchBlade and Bedlocker are separate Pace Edwards covers, and nothing here is about them.

The short version

What works:

• All-aluminum deck: the Full Metal version has no overlay to delaminate or fade, and its limited lifetime warranty covers separation of the deck panels, the locks and the hardware.
• Partial covering: the cover locks every 12 in along the rails, so you can haul something tall at the tailgate and keep the front of the bed covered and locked.
• Independent tailgate: the cover opens with a turn of the twist lock, and RealTruck says the tailgate works independently of the cover's position.
• Staying power: one JackRabbit has run eight years through Upper Peninsula winters, and an owner who left a ten-year-old JackRabbit on the old truck bought another for the new one.

What to watch:

• Water: expect some. Pace Edwards calls it weather resistant and excludes water intrusion from the warranty.
• No numbers: Pace Edwards publishes no rated load, weight, canister size or install time for either version.
• The overlay: on vinyl-covered JackRabbits, owners report the skin separating from the aluminum and fading without regular UV protectant. Today's overlay version uses ArmorTek.
• Finish: the black powder coat dulls to a grey tint over the years, and on older covers it has bubbled on the rails and canister.
• Drain tubes: on some trucks the supplied tubing doesn't line up with the bed's drain holes, and Pace Edwards says some models need drilling to fit them.
• Warranty: the lifetime coverage is for the original owner on the original vehicle. A used cover, or one moved to your next truck, has none.

Which trucks and beds it fits

Pace Edwards makes one JackRabbit kit per truck and bed, and Amazon lists them the same way. The rows below are the ones we confirmed on each listing's own page; the fitment table under the score panel carries the part numbers. Several listings name bed lengths differently from RealTruck (5 ft 6 in for the Ram short bed that RealTruck calls 5 ft 7 in, 6 ft 5 in for the F-150 bed it calls 6 ft 7 in), so match the part to your truck, not the decimal.

• F-150: the 14th-generation F-150 (Gen14) has a Full Metal listing for the long bed, which Amazon calls the 6 ft 5 in F-Series LightDuty bed and RealTruck calls the 6 ft 7 in F-150 bed, and an ArmorTek listing for the 2021-2025 5 ft 6 in bed. The Gen13 (2015-2020) has a Full Metal listing for the 78.9 in bed. RealTruck lists a Full Metal part for the Gen14 short bed, but we didn't confirm it on Amazon.
• Silverado and Sierra 1500 (T1XX, 2019-2026): a Full Metal listing for the 6 ft 6 in bed and ArmorTek listings for the 5 ft 8 in and 6 ft 6 in beds, all titled Crew Cab. None says anything about the MultiPro or Multi-Flex tailgate or the CarbonPro bed, so ask the seller if your truck has either.
• Ram 1500 (DT, 2019-2026): the tailgate and the RamBox decide it. The standard Full Metal short-bed and 6 ft 4 in listings exclude trucks with the 60/40 (multifunction) tailgate. Separate Full Metal and ArmorTek listings cover RamBox trucks with the short bed; they don't mention the split tailgate or say 1500 in the title, so confirm both before you order. If your DT has the split tailgate and no RamBox, we didn't find a JackRabbit listing for it.
• Tundra (3rd gen, 2022-2026): Full Metal and ArmorTek listings for the Double Cab 6 ft 6 in bed. RealTruck lists a Full Metal part for the 5 ft 7 in bed, unconfirmed on Amazon.

We couldn't confirm a current JackRabbit listing for the 3rd or 4th gen Tacoma, the 6th gen Ranger, the Maverick or the 2023-on Colorado and Canyon. The Tacoma and Ranger rows link to a search and say check fit for your truck; the Maverick, Colorado and Canyon get no row. Owners do run JackRabbits on Tacomas and new Rangers, so the parts may exist; we just won't claim a fit we haven't seen on a listing. If you run a fifth-wheel or gooseneck, most of the listings say the cover fits over most hitches, and one ArmorTek listing puts a number on it: the hitch's highest point has to sit at least 2 in below the bed rails.

The specs that matter

The JackRabbit's spec sheet is short on numbers. RealTruck's pages for both versions list the construction, the lock, the drains, a no-drill clamp install and the warranty, and stop there: no rated load, no weight, no canister dimensions, no install time. Here's how the two versions line up against the two retractables they get cross-shopped with most, from the makers' own pages:

Both JackRabbits clamp on with no drilling for the cover itself on most trucks, per Pace Edwards, and both use the same Continuous Tension Spring to pull the cover into the canister and a strap to pull it closed. One older Full Metal kit listing on Amazon says the whole system usually installs in an hour or less; Pace Edwards' own pages don't give a time. The finish copy doesn't agree with itself either. RealTruck's Full Metal page says semi-gloss textured black in its feature list and gloss black in its spec table, and the Amazon Full Metal listings say matte-black powder coat with interlocking silicone seals.

The missing load rating matters more than it looks. The RetraxPRO XR gives you a 500 lb evenly distributed figure to plan around; the JackRabbit gives you nothing, in either version. Treat it as a lid. Don't stand on it, don't stack cargo on it, and before a rack goes on Explorer Rails, get the load limit from Pace Edwards and the rack maker in writing. RealTruck's ArmorTek JackRabbit page offers optional Explorer Rails and says they take a Pace Edwards rack or any Thule or Yakima rack with no drilling, and Amazon lists Full Metal kits with Explorer rails for some trucks. They aren't offered for every truck, so check for yours before you count on them. If a rack is the plan from day one, the RetraxPRO XR is the safer buy.

The canister costs bed space like every retractable's does, and Pace Edwards only calls it compact. Owners split on it: a new Ranger owner says it doesn't take much room, while a Full Metal owner counts the canister among the cover's downsides. Measure the front of your bed against the cargo you carry before you order, and if you stack lumber against the front wall, know that the canister is in the way.

Weather sealing and leaks

Plan on some water. The JackRabbit channels what gets past the slats down the rails into the canister and out through drain tubes, and Pace Edwards calls the design weather resistant, not waterproof. Its warranty excludes water intrusion at any location on both versions. Water reports on this cover are few and split: they run from a dry bed to wet patches after rain to an older cover that leaked badly enough that its owner planned to replace it. None says where the water comes in, which is why we've left the leak-risk gauge empty rather than guess.

The drain tubes are where we'd spend the effort. They have to run from the canister to the bed's drain holes, and on some trucks the kit doesn't make that easy: on a 2025 Tundra, the supplied tubing is 1/2 in while the bed holes are 1/4 in, it doesn't reach them, and the Toyota factory bed mat sits over the holes. Pace Edwards says some models need drilling to fit the drain tubes. Plan the route before the rails go on, buy a reducer and extra tubing if yours falls short, and trim the bed mat rather than block the holes. If you'd rather not drill, ask the seller what your truck's kit needs before you order.

If what's in the bed can't get wet, keep it in sealed bins. That's our advice for every slatted retractable, and nothing in the JackRabbit's record argues for an exception.

Build quality and living with it

The JackRabbit's mechanism lasts. An F-150 has run one for eight years through Upper Peninsula of Michigan winters with no trouble, and an owner who left a ten-year-old JackRabbit on the old truck bought a Full Metal for the new one. Those long records are older covers whose version the owners don't state, so read them as the design's track record, not a promise about the cover RealTruck ships today. What wears is the surface, and that's where the two versions part ways.

• The vinyl overlay: it's the weak point. A 2015 F-150's cover is separating from the aluminum underneath, and because the current owner bought the truck used, the warranty doesn't apply. Owners of vinyl-covered JackRabbits also describe fading within about a year and having to keep putting UV protectant on it. Today's overlay is ArmorTek, and Pace Edwards' 5-year warranty covers delamination of the ArmorTek deck but excludes fading or discoloration.
• The powder coat: it has bubbled and flaked on the rails, the roller cover and the lock edge, and Pace Edwards has replaced those parts under warranty from photos, though a replacement can bubble again. Years in, a Full Metal's black finish goes dull and grey, like faded plastic trim. Fading is excluded from both warranties.
• The tracks: a cover that gets hard to open may need its side channel rubber lubed, as often as monthly on one older cover. Use only the lubricant Pace Edwards' manual prescribes, because anything else voids the warranty.
• The lock: expect the odd locking glitch, such as the metal strip the cover latches into sliding out on one side. Check that it's seated before you trust the lock.

That's why we'd buy the Full Metal. The overlay is the part that fails on vinyl-covered JackRabbits, and the Full Metal's lifetime warranty covers separation of the deck panels for the life of the cover. The catch: Pace Edwards limits that coverage to the original owner on the original vehicle, and the ArmorTek warranty runs five years from purchase. A JackRabbit bought used, or one you move to your next truck, may carry no warranty at all. Some Amazon listings also show a 3-year warranty line next to a lifetime bullet; go by RealTruck's warranty page for your version.

How it compares

• Versus the RetraxPRO XR: aluminum slats, full-length T-slot rails, a 500 lb evenly distributed rating and a lock that holds the cover at any position along the track, with the same kind of limited lifetime warranty. It cost more than the Full Metal JackRabbit on all seven same-bed listings we compared. Buy the PRO XR if a rack goes on the cover or you want a published load rating; buy the JackRabbit if you don't, and keep the difference.
• Versus the Roll-N-Lock M-Series: vinyl over aluminum slats, a canister RealTruck lists at 7.25 in deep, three latch positions and a 3-year warranty that excludes water intrusion. It cost less than the Full Metal on four of six matching listings. It's closer to the ArmorTek JackRabbit than to the Full Metal, vinyl care included, and its water record is a little drier. Buy the M-Series for a small canister on a short bed; buy the Full Metal for an all-metal deck and lifetime coverage.
• Versus the RetraxONE XR: T-slot rails and a latch that locks anywhere along the track, on a one-piece polycarbonate cover rated 200 lb evenly distributed with a 1-year warranty. It cost less than the Full Metal on every matching listing we checked. It's the cheaper way to get rails; the JackRabbit is the longer-lived lid.
• Versus the ArmorTek JackRabbit: the same Continuous Tension Spring, twist lock and 12 in lock points with the ArmorTek overlay on top, for noticeably less money. The step down costs you the all-aluminum deck and lifetime coverage, and buys you a 5-year warranty and a skin that needs looking after.

Installing it

The JackRabbit clamps to the bed sill with Pace Edwards' clamps and a truck-specific kit, and RealTruck says no cutting, trimming or drilling is needed for the cover itself on most applications. Follow the install sheet for your part number; it governs. Owner installs range from relatively easy to about three hours, and the kit is heavy, so plan on a helper. The drain tubes are the exception to no-drill: route them first, and if your kit needs holes, treat any bare metal edge so it doesn't rust.

Two things catch people. If you have an over-the-rail drop-in bed liner, Pace Edwards' bedliner sheet says the part covering the sill will usually need to be trimmed or removed, and a notch may need to come out at the front for the canister, because the rails lie flat on the sill and the clamps grab it. And look along the front of the rails before you tighten everything: a new install on a 2018 Tacoma ended up with a gap between the bed rail and the front end of the cab. Square the rails, then hose-test the cover before you load anything that can't get wet.

Should you buy the JackRabbit?

Buy the Full Metal JackRabbit if you want a lockable aluminum retractable that will outlast the truck, you don't plan to put a rack on the cover, and you'll keep it on the truck you bought it for. It costs less than the RetraxPRO XR, its warranty covers the deck for life, and the design has an eight to ten-year owner record behind it. Route the drain tubes before the first rain and keep your cargo in sealed bins.

Skip the ArmorTek version unless the price gap decides it, and if it does, expect to look after the overlay: its warranty excludes fading. Pick the RetraxPRO XR if a rack or a published load rating matters, and the Roll-N-Lock M-Series if every inch of a short bed counts. If you're buying a JackRabbit used, assume there's no warranty and inspect the deck for separation before you pay.