Tonneau Cover Installation

[Merle Coggins]

I've been contemplating adding a tonneau cover to my truck for some time now. I like the idea of being able to store items out of sight when out and about, especialy if staying overnight at a hotel. Also, when I have my truck parked in the driveway through the summer my cover tends to sag into the bed when it rains and I end up with a pool in the back of the truck. I get tired of draining it out after every rain. So I figured a tonneau would help eliminate this problem.

I finally decided to bite the bullet and spend the money. I like the roll up covers. I have an Access roll up tonneau on my daily truck. TruXedo is the other brand and offers costom builds. On their web site they have a PDF document for measuring and ordering a custom cover. http://www.truxedo.com/pdf/box-detail-sheet.pdf I printed it out, measured everything up, and took it to a local truck accessory shop that sells TruXedo tonneaus. They sent it in and got me a quote of $499.00, which is about what I was expecting. I ordered it up and waited patiently. I got a call that it was in, and I was able to go pick it up yesterday after work.

This morning was still quite damp and foggy after being rainy all day yesterday. I was hoping to back the truck out of the garage and install it in the driveway, but I was able to clear enough work space around the truck that I did it in the garage. I took a few pics of the process.

Unpacked the box. 3 main pieces to install.

Clamping a side rail into position to drill holes. I drilled into the front and rear stake pockets to reduce the number of external bolts showing. I then added two on each side to support the middle.

Using a magnetic parts dish to hold up the other end, for now.

Here you can see one of the bolts in the stake pocket. This one happens to be the left front where I also have my retractable radio antenna mounted.

The two through the middle I used carraige bolts to keep it as smooth as possible on the outside. I painted the heads of all of the bolts before installing them.

Yea, I know. My truck needs a good bath. It'll happen when I can get it outside.

[Merle Coggins]

Once I got it all set and bolted up it all fits quite well.

Here it's all rolled up.

And here's it's rolled down and latched. All that's left now is to get it out in the sun (none today) so it can heat up to make the tention adjustments. Maybe then I can get some better pictures too.

[55 Fargo]

Looks good Merle, keep the wind drifting off the box, better fuel mileage, and will keep a lot of water out of their if your caught in the rain.....

[Desotodav]

Well done Merle - what a great idea!

I have been contemplating a tonneau cover for my 52 truck but have not quite worked out how I will do it yet. The back of my Oz truck is somewhat different to your truck bed/s over there.

Seeing how you have done yours now has certainly sparked some new ideas for me. I'll be sure to check out that website that you mentioned also. Thanks for posting!

Desotodav

[Young Ed]

You certainly drilled a lot less holes than the person who installed mine.

[TheMoose]

That looks sharp & I like the "Low" fit.

My bed is just too purdy to cover up though!

[Todd B]

Merle,

The cover looks great, I see you too have not road the bike yet this year.

August 18 I am still planning on the Luau on our hill. Hopefully I can see your cover then.

[Jeff Balazs]

Merle;

That is a really nice installation. Will have to look into to doing something like this when I get it to that stage. First class!

I understand you are a motorcyclist. Here are some pictures of my vintage off-road bikes that will be transported to the desert in my Pilothouse.

Can't wait!

Jeff

[Merle Coggins]

Desotodav... How are the Ute beds configured? the tonneau came with some self taping screws and instructions for mounting on a GM stepside bed. I guess they just use those screws to attach the rails to the bed.

Ed... That type of tonneau was popular back in the day. I certainly wasn't interested in punching that many holes in my truck.

Todd... You noticed big yellow in the corner, aye? I got the truck out today and cruised around a bit. Now that it is out of the garage I can get my bike out finally. I hope to get some spring maintenance done this afternoon so it's ready to go.

Jeff... Nice bikes. I try to keep my riding on the roads, although I did do a little adventure touring once. The road I was on turned into a fire lane through the forest. By the time I realized it there was no room to turn around. (Gold Wing with trailer needs a bit of space to change direction) I had to ride it out until it turned back into a real road again. It was certainly an adventure. One of your bikes would have been right at home in there.

Merle

[Young Ed]

Ed... That type of tonneau was popular back in the day. I certainly wasn't interested in punching that many holes in my truck.

I don't think I would have done it myself. It was probably done when the truck was painted red which was a long time ago. Guess that makes it a vintage cover.

[Jeff Balazs]

Merle;

Yes that would be an adventure. Up on the pegs riding a Gold Wing Trials bike......now that would be something. My 49 AJS at around 325# is a handful in anything but bone dry conditions....I can only imagine what your bike would be like if it started breaking loose.

Young Ed;

I love your truck. Those fenders are amazing. Way cool!

Jeff

[Desotodav]

My Oz/Canadian truck bed has metal rails bolted down to the side tops. It also had slide supports for side rails. I'm now thinking (after seeing your set-up Merle) that I could make a plate to slip under the metal top rails that protrudes about 1 inch which I could attach Velcro to. I could use the slide supports to make cross-braces to keep the tonneau tight.

We did have trucks with tonneau clips drilled into the sides of trucks here in Oz but I'd like to try and avoid that with the blue 52 truck.

Desotodav

[Don Coatney]

Merle;

Great job! If and when I buy a Pilothouse I will send for you to do such a cover!

[Dennis_MN]

http://www.dodgepilothouseclub.org/know/bed/bed.htm

Here is a link to an old version posted on another set of pages.

I remembered seeing this in the past so I spent a little time hunting for it.

[Merle Coggins]

I remembered seeing that one too, Dennis. That one is a hard cover. While they look nice I think the roll up ones are more user friendly. Of course that's my opinion. I certainly don't want to knock GTK's truck. It looks very nice.

Merle