Putting the Truck Bed to Work: WOLFBOX SmartSlide & HyperFlow X

As part of our Summer Bed Utilization feature, we wanted to focus on products that make the truck bed more useful, secure, and ready for everyday work or weekend adventures. Two of the products we installed came from WOLFBOX: the SmartSlide Electric Retractable Bed Cover and the HyperFlow X On-Board Air Compressor.

WOLFBOX has really been making a statement in the automotive accessory world. Their lineup continues to grow, and they have been coming out with some impressive products that combine useful features, solid construction, and technology that actually makes sense on a truck.

WOLFBOX SmartSlide Electric Retractable Bed Cover

We installed the SmartSlide on our shop F-150, but WOLFBOX offers its bed covers for a variety of truck models and configurations.

One of the first things we noticed with the SmartSlide was how substantial it feels. The cover uses heavy-duty aluminum slats with a matte black powder-coated finish and is rated to support up to 800 pounds. It also has integrated T-slot rails, giving you the ability to add compatible racks, crossbars, bike carriers, and other accessories above the bed.

That construction does make the cover heavier than some others we've worked with, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It feels solid when opening and closing, and once everything is installed, the low-profile design gives the truck a really clean and sleek finished look.

Packaging and First Impressions

Before even getting to the installation, we were impressed with how the SmartSlide arrived.

The packaging itself is fairly compact considering the size of the product, but everything inside was very well organized and protected. Components had protection between them to prevent pieces from rubbing or damaging each other during shipping, and everything arrived safely in our case.

The wiring was also neatly organized and secured inside the packaging rather than simply being thrown into the box. It's a small detail, but when you're dealing with a powered cover with multiple components, good packaging goes a long way toward making the installation process easier.

SmartSlide Features and Controls

The electric operation is obviously one of the biggest features of the SmartSlide. Instead of manually folding or rolling a traditional cover, you can power the SmartSlide open and closed and stop it when needed.

The cover also incorporates LED bed lighting, powered controls directly on the rails, and a locking system designed to help keep the bed and anything stored inside secure.

WOLFBOX includes two key fobs with the cover, along with a small mount that uses 3M adhesive backing. This gives you quite a few options for where you want to keep a remote.

For us here in Arizona, however, adhesive-backed mounts inside a truck can be a challenge. With the temperatures our interiors see during the summer, we didn't want to rely on the supplied 3M backing eventually giving up from the heat. Instead, we're making our own mount that will stay in the back of the truck and give the remote a permanent home.

The fob itself gives you control over several functions, including opening and closing the cover, pausing its movement, operating the bed light, and locking or unlocking the system. Having two remotes is also a nice touch, especially if you want to keep one in the cab and another somewhere else.

Installation

Overall, installation was pretty straightforward. The wiring is color coordinated, so there isn't much opportunity to mix anything up.

Running the harness toward the engine bay wasn't difficult either. Our biggest recommendation is to keep the wiring tucked high and tight as you go. There isn't a ton of extra slack in the harness, so leaving too much hanging in one area can make it harder to get everything routed across the engine bay properly.

Getting the cover itself lined up took a little more time. It's large, heavy, and fits very tightly. We pushed ours as far forward as possible to get it snug against the front of the bed. It's definitely a tight-fitting cover, but we'd rather have a snug fit than excessive gaps around the bed.

Installing the SmartSlide With Bed Accessories

Our installation was a little different from a completely stock truck because our shop F-150 already has MOLLE panels installed along the sides of the bed.

This is an important consideration for anyone who already has bed accessories installed or plans to add them in the future. The WOLFBOX rails need to sit and mount correctly along the bed rails, and our existing MOLLE panels interfered with that mounting area.

In our case, we had to cut and modify portions of our MOLLE panels to create enough clearance to safely mount the WOLFBOX bed rails.

The good news is that the two products can still work together. Having MOLLE panels or other bed-mounted accessories doesn't automatically mean you can't run the SmartSlide. You may simply need to get a little creative and make some modifications depending on how your existing accessories attach to the truck.

We'd definitely recommend looking closely at how any existing bed accessories mount before beginning the SmartSlide installation. A little planning beforehand can save quite a bit of time once everything is apart.

A Few Things to Be Aware Of

No product is completely perfect, and after actually living with the SmartSlide on our truck, we've found a couple of quirks worth mentioning. We don't necessarily consider these deal breakers or even outright negatives, but they are things we'd want customers to know about.

The first involves the closing position of the cover.

On our truck, if we fully close the SmartSlide before closing the tailgate, the cover extends just a hair too far. It's a very small amount, but it's enough to make closing the tailgate significantly more difficult.

We've calibrated the cover multiple times and still seem to have this slight offset. Our solution has been simple: close the tailgate first and then close the SmartSlide. When we do that, the cover closes down safely and securely. Once everything is closed, we can also open and close the tailgate normally without an issue.

However, once the SmartSlide itself is opened again, that slight positioning issue returns when trying to close the cover before the tailgate. It's almost as if the closed position needs a very small calibration adjustment each time.

Again, this hasn't stopped us from using or enjoying the cover. We've simply gotten into the habit of closing the tailgate first and then powering the cover closed.

Security vs. Convenience

The other interesting characteristic we've noticed involves the SmartSlide's locking system.

Security is obviously a major benefit of an electric hard cover. When the SmartSlide is locked, someone can't simply walk up to the truck, press the rail-mounted button, and open your bed. That's exactly what you want if you have tools, recovery equipment, camping gear, luggage, or anything valuable stored back there.

The tradeoff is convenience.

If the cover hasn't been unlocked with the key fob for a certain amount of time, the buttons on the rails will no longer operate it. If you walk up to the back of the truck without the fob in your pocket, you may find yourself walking back to the cab, grabbing the remote, unlocking the cover, and then returning to the bed to open it.

It's one of those features that is both great and slightly frustrating at the same time.

We absolutely like having the security of a locked cover. Our preference, though, would be to have the ability to manually choose whether the cover remains locked or unlocked. If we're working around the truck all day, we'd love to leave it unlocked and freely use the rail buttons whenever we want. When we're done or leaving the truck unattended, we could then lock the system with the fob.

It's not a major complaint, but it's something we've noticed through real-world use that you probably wouldn't think about just by looking at a feature list.

WOLFBOX HyperFlow X On-Board Air Compressor

The second WOLFBOX product we added was the HyperFlow X On-Board Air Compressor, and this is another product where the construction immediately stands out. It's a stout compressor and feels like something designed to take some abuse.

The HyperFlow X is a 12-volt twin-motor compressor capable of producing 3.7 CFM at 40 PSI with a maximum pressure of 150 PSI. At just over 20 pounds, this isn't a tiny emergency inflator. It uses anodized aluminum cylinders and an enclosed air filter, and the overall construction has a much more heavy-duty feel.

One of its biggest advantages is the 100% duty cycle. WOLFBOX rates it for more than two hours of continuous operation at 40 PSI and 77 degrees. That's an important spec for truck and off-road use because airing up multiple larger tires can put a lot more demand on a compressor than simply topping off one tire.

The HyperFlow X also incorporates thermal protection and an over-pressure valve to help protect the compressor during demanding use.

In actual use, we've been very impressed with it. It moves a lot of air, feels like a quality piece of equipment, and is simple to operate.

Installing the HyperFlow X

The electrical side of the install is fairly easy, with the biggest challenge simply being how you choose to route the wiring from the bed toward the front of the truck. There are several ways to approach it.

For our setup, we cut the connector off, ran the wires through existing holes in the truck bed, and then soldered everything back together before connecting it to the truck battery and our D-Switch.

Our permanent compressor installation is still a work in progress. WOLFBOX is working on a mounting solution, but it wasn't available when we did our install. For now, ours stays inside a box that we secure with our TMat. When we need air, we pull the compressor out, hook it up, and put it to work.

It's not the final setup we have planned, but the compressor itself has worked extremely well. Once we're able to get it permanently mounted, it should make the entire system even more convenient.

Our Take So Far

Both products have been great additions to our Summer Bed Utilization setup, but for different reasons.

The SmartSlide makes the bed more secure and convenient while adding powered operation, lighting, weather protection, accessory mounting capability, and a much cleaner overall look. There are a few quirks we've discovered through actual use, but none have outweighed what we like about the cover.

The HyperFlow X gives us a serious source of onboard air that we can keep with the truck and use whenever we need it. The twin-motor design, 150 PSI capability, 100% duty cycle, and overall construction make it feel much more substantial than your typical portable tire inflator.

More importantly, neither product feels cheaply built. The SmartSlide is heavy, but that weight makes sense when you see the construction. The HyperFlow X is the same way. These feel like products designed to actually be used.

WOLFBOX continues to make a name for itself in the automotive accessory world, and products like these show that they're serious about expanding beyond the products people may traditionally associate with the brand. They continue to put some thought into features, build quality, and how these products are actually going to be used on a truck.

Although we are still working out the logistics to try and offer the WOLFBOX SmartSlide Electric Retractable Bed Cover and HyperFlow X On-Board Air Compressor here in the near future, we do know we will certainly be carrying some of their other products to offer to customers here very soon. Having installed and used them ourselves on our shop truck gives us a much better understanding of what these products offer, what to expect during installation, and some of the little things you only learn after actually putting them to use.

So far, we've been impressed.

Products discussed in this article were provided by WolfBox for our shop trucks. All product design and offerings are all owed to WolfBox for this testing and media. We thank them for their support and are looking forward to offering their line up very soon.

*We will have some media uploaded before too long on the compressor. Due to not having a mount for it we have not grabbed full media yet.