Diamondback HD ATV Carrier Review

2012 Product of the Year

Riding ATVs and UTVs is what we like to do best, but getting all of our gear as well as a huge trailer to the ride site can be costly and cumbersome. Many times we’ve wished we could simply load an ATV in our truck along with our gear, but unfortunately the truck can only haul so much in the limited space available. Keeping it safe as well as out of the elements Mother Nature throws our way is another concern. This is where the Diamondback HD truck cover comes into play.

Built in the small town of Phillipsburg, Pa., Diamondback truck covers are sought after by many off-road enthusiasts. These guys make a host of other items, such as UTV accessories, long aluminum folding ramps and decorative diamond plate trim and furnishings.

Diamondback truck covers were conceived by some self pro-claimed garage entrepreneurs. While attending a Penn State University engineering entrepreneurship class, the would-be inventors came up with the idea and with some hard work, eventually turned it into an American corporation.

Both the front and rear of the Diamondback HD ATV Carrier open up.

So how does this play into our need to go ride? The truck cover shown in the photos of our recent Yamaha Raptor 700 giveaway is an actual Diamondback HD cover. This very well built cover holds up to 1600 lbs on the deck and with the ability to haul the quad up top we still had plenty of room in the dry and secure space inside the bed. The cover was very simple to install using some regular hand tools and a cordless drill. Installation took about an hour.

The all aluminum deck construction on the Diamondback HD cover is made from heavy, thick diamond plate aluminum. With reinforcing aluminum cross support studs, the strength of our HD cover is built to hold the weight of two full-size ATVs. Initially we had installed the cover a little too far rearward and could not get the tailgate to stay shut after the quad was put on top. However, with just a little adjustment everything works flawlessly now.

Rain is diverted away from your storage area with this center channel.

Both the front and rear of our Diamondback HD cover will open up for easy access and the center section has channels to allow rain water to drain off the sides of the truck and keep our stuff inside dry. Foam seals provide a little extra insurance that the elements will stay outside where they belong.

Security is important when hauling your things in the bed of the truck and the locking front and rear cover doors on the Diamondback HD take care of that problem. The keyed twist lock on top spins rods outward and under the lip of the truck bed rail to help prevent the opening of the cover sections.

The front and rear panels also have gas shocks to hold the cover sections aloft while you load and unload.  A looped strap is included on the covers to help with reaching the raised panel to lower it.

The optional cab guard was a no-brainer for us.

On the forward panel of our Diamondback HD cover we also chose the cab guard. This keeps the tires of our ATV from bumping the cab. Although it could still accidentally happen, it is prevented for the most part with this much needed piece. We did manage to run into the cab guard and bent the top plate down a bit, but we did not hit the glass or the cab so it works well!

Some people have shown concern with how high the bed cover sits when loading/unloading ATVs. Diamondback has addressed this with the bi-fold heavy-duty ramp that accompanies the bed cover. The ramps are secured to the truck with a secure clamp-style lip. Also, the ramps are very long, giving the user a comfortably gradual incline.

The ramp secures simply and safely to the bed cover.

As far as securing the machine to the cover is concerned, with eight different tie-down points our Raptor felt very secure and seemed to ride down the road very well. You can tell it’s up a bit higher with a little more sway in winding roads, but it stayed securely where we put it.

If you are a serious rider of anything off-road you should consider this Diamondback HD bed cover. Due to the short bed on our truck we opted for the rear loader, but longer beds can take advantage of the side load option and haul up to two ATVs or even a side-by-side like a Polaris RZR 570!

Diamondback makes quality stuff and we just love the ability to haul the quad and all our gear in the bed instead of in the inside of the truck!

Thanks to the long ramp, loading and unloading couldn’t be easier.

Visit DiamondbackCovers.com for more information.

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