charwest
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- char & tony
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2020
- Threads
- 42
- Messages
- 335
- Reaction score
- 727
- Location
- On the road
- Vehicle(s)
- 2019 Ranger XL FX4 Supercab
- Occupation
- Healthcare
- Thread starter
- #1
Howdy folks. newbie here. we bought a new ARE topper and had dealer install today. now that its home im looking around and im a little surprised about a couple things. wanted the experienced folks' advice here.
1) is this seated correctly? from a glance, i would have guessed it should have sat about a centimeter further forward. the leading edge seems to sit just a tad to the rear of where i would have expected it to produce a clean line. not sure that matters much.
the rear seems to sit a tad further back than what would make a clean line. that one matters to me because at the corners it leaves more of a gap than i would like. it will be cludgy to seal these corners with rubber trim etc and while the rear center of the topper liftgate meets the top center of the tailgate, i suspect the topper liftgate would likely flex a little and allow a better fit across the entire top if the entire topper was a little forward, and would avoid those gaps at either side.
2) i guess i was a little taken aback at the workmanship. we splurged on ARE because of almost universal reviews that it was a 'higher quality' topper. but this one looks like it was put together by a teenager that didnt care about his work. almost 50% of the screws holding the aluminum track that lines the side windows have bent the tracks (like they couldnt afford a driver with a clutch) and some are stripped, there are lots of scratches in the aluminum track on the inside where the black paint has been chipped or scratched off the track. and the C-clamps are bulky and are each about 4 inches away from another clamp site with a hole in the rail that makes it look like it was previously mounted on a different truck for a while.
this was new. to our specifications. is this normal? from what i can tell, none of these will ultimately affect the function of the topper, but its disappointing in a new pricey item, and i dont know if less than perfectionist workmanship suggests we are going to be struggling with leaks and failures further down the line.
im interested in folks' experience here. especially as it will take me some time to seal the many gaps and holes, and doing that will make shifting it around a pain in the butt.
1) is this seated correctly? from a glance, i would have guessed it should have sat about a centimeter further forward. the leading edge seems to sit just a tad to the rear of where i would have expected it to produce a clean line. not sure that matters much.
the rear seems to sit a tad further back than what would make a clean line. that one matters to me because at the corners it leaves more of a gap than i would like. it will be cludgy to seal these corners with rubber trim etc and while the rear center of the topper liftgate meets the top center of the tailgate, i suspect the topper liftgate would likely flex a little and allow a better fit across the entire top if the entire topper was a little forward, and would avoid those gaps at either side.
2) i guess i was a little taken aback at the workmanship. we splurged on ARE because of almost universal reviews that it was a 'higher quality' topper. but this one looks like it was put together by a teenager that didnt care about his work. almost 50% of the screws holding the aluminum track that lines the side windows have bent the tracks (like they couldnt afford a driver with a clutch) and some are stripped, there are lots of scratches in the aluminum track on the inside where the black paint has been chipped or scratched off the track. and the C-clamps are bulky and are each about 4 inches away from another clamp site with a hole in the rail that makes it look like it was previously mounted on a different truck for a while.
this was new. to our specifications. is this normal? from what i can tell, none of these will ultimately affect the function of the topper, but its disappointing in a new pricey item, and i dont know if less than perfectionist workmanship suggests we are going to be struggling with leaks and failures further down the line.
im interested in folks' experience here. especially as it will take me some time to seal the many gaps and holes, and doing that will make shifting it around a pain in the butt.
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