t4thfavor
Well-Known Member
My rubber tube retainers pulled right through the holes before I gave up on trying to install it with the drop in liner. It's just not possible... I used composite deck board to fill in the gap, and I think I will remove it and use some high quality silicone to "stick" it to the bedliner and seal the gaps to the sides.I installed my OEM Ford / Truxport tonneau yesterday with pretty much the same experience as yours. It is much more sturdy than the one I had on my old Ranger and that one has held up well for many years and didn't leak.
I have Line-X on my bed so I decided to use the bulkhead rail that you avoided rather than a lot of extra foam. You probably made a good move there. That step is a real pain since a washer has to be slipped over the Rube Goldberg rubber tube nut retainers supplied. The problem is it is almost impossible to do because of the narrow working space between the bed and cab. I didn't think I was a klutz and have always been a DIYer. No way was I going to unbolt the bed to install a tonneau. Lost one washer and had to fish out another one with a magnet wand. Finally decided to tie fishing line to the washers to get them on without loosing more hardware into no-mans land. It would have been easier to use 1/4-20 bolts and nuts. I have doubts about the longevity of the rubber tube retainers if I ever have to remove the cover. Will wait a while before I cut out the fishing line just in case.
I may also need to get some foam to fill gaps if it leaks too much. There are some large openings at both ends of the bulkhead. Truxedo definitely needs to improve their sealing design. Anyway, it looks great and has the Ford Parts warranty.
I was also informed that my warranty would be void (I have the Gator SR1) if I didn't install the bulkhead seal.
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