About Dee Zee
Dee Zee has designed and manufactured aluminum and steel truck accessories out of Des Moines, Iowa since 1977, when founders Denny Elwell and Zane Smith introduced a dozen custom-fit running board applications at that year's SEMA show. The Ron Shivers family acquired the company in 2008 and still owns it today, making Dee Zee a second-generation family-owned manufacturer that runs eight production facilities across the Des Moines metro area, all within about 20 minutes of each other. The lineup has grown from running boards into tool boxes, tailgate assists, bed mats, headache racks, and transfer tanks, most of it built from diamond-tread aluminum and sold with a limited lifetime warranty.
On RevRated, the Dee Zee DZ85005 Nyracord Universal Heavyweight Utility Bed Mat and the Dee Zee DZ8370B Red Label Gull Wing Tool Box both appear among our top picks in independent testing for their categories. The bed mat's cord-reinforced rubber compound is the toughest universal-mat material we've tested it against, and the gull-wing tool box's dual-lid design and .056-to-.058-inch aluminum construction reflect the parts-support depth that comes from more than 40 years of continuous production in the same product line.
Brand website: deezee.com
What Dee Zee makes
Dee Zee's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Truck bed tool boxes
crossover, chest, and gull-wing dual-lid styles in diamond-tread aluminum or steel -- the Red Label gull wing is featured on RevRated — featured on RevRated
Universal and molded bed mats
Nyracord cord-reinforced rubber universal mats and vehicle-molded carpet-top mats -- the Nyracord mat is featured on RevRated — featured on RevRated
Running boards and nerf bars
diamond-tread aluminum running boards, polished or black powder coat
Tailgate assist
hydraulic hardware kits that control tailgate drop speed instead of a free-fall slam
Transfer tanks
auxiliary fuel transfer tanks for trucks and work fleets
Headache racks
cab-protection truck racks for full-size pickups
Why we recognized Dee Zee
The RevRated Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. Dee Zee earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, run on real vehicles, and judged on merit.
Dee Zee products we rated highly
Dee Zee DZ85005 Universal Heavyweight Utility Bed Mat, 4' x 8'
Nyracord cord-reinforced rubber is the toughest consumer bed mat material we tested -- the embedded cord matrix resists tearing under rebar, gravel, sharp scrap metal, or dropped concrete blocks the way conventional rubber mats split within a season of hard use. About 50 pounds of self-weight anchors the mat to the bed floor with no straps or adhesive, and the truly universal 4-by-8-foot blank fits any pickup, trailer, cargo van, or equipment bed with material left over to trim. The Nyracord compound also holds up across a -30F to 130F range, backed by a manufacturer product guarantee and 641 verified Amazon reviews at 4.6 stars.
Read the 7 Best Truck Bed Liners of 2026 guide →
Dee Zee DZ8370B Red Label Gull Wing Tool Box
The gull-wing dual-lid design opens both sides of the box simultaneously, giving solo workers access from either side of the truck without walking around -- the most ergonomic crossover geometry in our roundup for anyone who switches sides during a job. Red Label construction uses .056-to-.058-inch aluminum, a real step up from .045-inch budget-tier boxes, so the lids do not flex under hand pressure and the body resists denting from dropped tools. The foam-filled lid adds rigidity and a thermal break that cuts down on interior condensation, and Dee Zee's 40-plus years of continuous production back it with the deepest replacement-parts ecosystem in the category -- gas struts, locks, gaskets, and lids are all available direct from the manufacturer.
Read the 7 Best Truck Bed Tool Boxes of 2026 guide →What earned Dee Zee the recognition
- Two Dee Zee products, a universal bed mat and a gull-wing tool box, both stand among RevRated's top picks in our independent truck-accessory testing.
- The DZ85005 bed mat's Nyracord cord-reinforced rubber is the toughest universal-mat material we tested it against, engineered to resist tearing under rebar, gravel, and sharp scrap metal rather than just impact.
- The DZ8370B Red Label tool box uses .056-to-.058-inch aluminum construction, a genuine step up from .045-inch budget-tier boxes, with a foam-filled lid that adds rigidity and reduces condensation.
- More than 40 years of continuous production in Des Moines, Iowa gives Dee Zee the deepest direct-from-manufacturer replacement-parts ecosystem in the tool box category -- gas struts, locks, gaskets, and lids are all available when original parts eventually wear out.
- A second-generation, family-owned manufacturer -- the Ron Shivers family has owned Dee Zee since 2008 -- running eight production facilities in the Des Moines metro area since the company's 1977 founding.