Installing and removing a tonneau cover, depending on situation?

[JAsh1967]

Right now, I've got a soft-tonneau cover that just clamps onto the sides of the bed, and it's fine for its' purpose. But occasionally, I put some rather expensive stuff in the bed and sometimes, it's in there overnight so I've been wanting a "hard" roll up tonneau cover (ex: BAK Revolver) for a while now.

But we also use the Gladiator for camping and tow a camper behind it and I'm pretty sure between the tongue weight, gear in the bed, gas, and myself and the wife, we've pushed the sticker payload (and, maybe, a bit over.) So my crazy idea is, when we use the truck for camping, removing the tonneau cover to save however many pounds it adds to the truck for regular payload, just using a cargo net to keep anything in the bed, in the bed on the freeway.

Now you might be thinking, "just chuck some of the gear in the camper, geez," and that would normally be a good idea, except our camper doesn't have a lot of floor space to put gear and what we do load in, we need to watch the balance.

So, how dumb an idea IS this? I know I'd be giving up the cover when we're camping, but we don't store anything in the bed really when camping, it all comes out, so that's an acceptable trade-off for me.

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[danimal2000]

I don't know about the bak revolver, but I take mopar roll up cover off basically every camping trip and put on a soft topper. Takes maybe 40 min to swap but I've down it countless times now. If I didn't want/need the topper, personally I'd leave the tonneau cover on.

BTW I don't think gas is counted against sticker payload.

 

[Kafn8td]

I have a tri-fold, not sure why they are called that as it only folds twice. Lol.
We use a tent in the bed, which means the tri-fold has to be removed. I cinch the non foldable piece down with quick release straps instead of the thumb screws. The wife and I can remove it in about 2 mins. We typically set it under the tailgate, out of the way.

 

[Mud Pie]

I don't want to seem rude, but if you remove the tonneau cover "to save a few pounds", I'd be more inclined to inventory what you take camping; it seems you take everything including the kitchen sink...

I'm a former backpacker, there have been times when the only thing in my vehicle is that backpack....with everything I need in it. Nothing more, nothing less. If I want to get "fancy", I toss my 3 room Coleman tent in the pile.

 

[BourbonRunner]

I'm not a fan of any of the soft-material tonneaus for security purposes. Too easy to cut, even if it claims "slash" resistance. Sure, a hard tonneau can be broken into but takes longer than a soft one. My only gripe with the trifold is when it's all the way up it blocks my rearview. I have never considered a retractable because they intrude too much into the bed. I wouldn't be able to mount my ActionTrax on the back molle panel with one in place.

If you find yourself carrying oversized gear regularly you might want to consider a Chinesium aluminum cap off AliExpress for similar money to the BakFlip. You might gain a small margin in fuel economy as a result.

 

[JAsh1967]

I don't want to seem rude, but if you remove the tonneau cover "to save a few pounds", I'd be more inclined to inventory what you take camping; it seems you take everything including the kitchen sink...

I'm a former backpacker, there have been times when the only thing in my vehicle is that backpack....with everything I need in it. Nothing more, nothing less. If I want to get "fancy", I toss my 3 room Coleman tent in the pile.

Well, I mean, *technically* our camper DOES have a kitchen sink, so you're not wrong!

But, you're also completely correct, we realize and keep trying to pare back all the "stuff" we take with us camping, and a lot of it is of the "if we don't bring it, we'll need it, but we bring it, and we don't need it" sort of thing. There's several things we're going to leave home on our next camping trip, the one that might end up being the biggest problem (or the best thing to leave) is the "honey tank" to dump our waste tanks into and tow down to the dump station, so far in 4 years of having the camper...
We've used it twice, not counting dumping at home so we could get it to a toilet...

 

[JAsh1967]

I'm not a fan of any of the soft-material tonneaus for security purposes. Too easy to cut, even if it claims "slash" resistance. Sure, a hard tonneau can be broken into but takes longer than a soft one. My only gripe with the trifold is when it's all the way up it blocks my rearview. I have never considered a retractable because they intrude too much into the bed. I wouldn't be able to mount my ActionTrax on the back molle panel with one in place.

If you find yourself carrying oversized gear regularly you might want to consider a Chinesium aluminum cap off AliExpress for similar money to the BakFlip. You might gain a small margin in fuel economy as a result.

Most all of the gear we put in the bed, we keep low enough that the soft cover only barely (if at all) has to "stretch" to close over it. I figure if we switch to a hard cover (not a tri-fold, I do NOT like my view out the back being blocked,) we'll have to be a bit more "judicious" in what goes in the bed and how...

 

[Janster]

I love the hard trifold (Bakflip).
Yes, it can block your view when completely folded up and resting against the windshield, however…. You can remove it completely. There are two knobs at the back by the cab. Remove the knobs and the whole cover comes off.
Obviously, the framework stays…..

 

[Mud Pie]

Most all of the gear we put in the bed, we keep low enough that the soft cover only barely (if at all) has to "stretch" to close over it. I figure if we switch to a hard cover (not a tri-fold, I do NOT like my view out the back being blocked,) we'll have to be a bit more "judicious" in what goes in the bed and how...

I have a hard trifold and it only flips back twice; the final panel stays fixed to the bed. It would be nice if that, too, flipped up, but it is what it is...

Like others have said, I like the hard trifold for security reasons. In my soft top Jeeps of the past, I couldn't guess how many times it got slashed and most times nothing was stolen. Just cut for the sake of cutting it.

 

[DylanM]

Info I'm finding says a hard roll-up tonneau like the BAK Revolver weighs at most 90 pounds. I personally don't see the hassle of removing and storing the tonneau really being worth that little of weight saving for the occasional camping trip, and especially not so if done more frequently.

 

[ktn]

Right now, I've got a soft-tonneau cover that just clamps onto the sides of the bed, and it's fine for its' purpose. But occasionally, I put some rather expensive stuff in the bed and sometimes, it's in there overnight so I've been wanting a "hard" roll up tonneau cover (ex: BAK Revolver) for a while now.

Check out the Worksport AL4, it does it all... and is quite water/dust tight. https://www.worksport.com/products/al4

 

[starrskream]

why not just upgrade the shocks and suspension in the back to load more and handle more? Oh wait...Cobra...so yeah hit up EE for some cash and you got this. Im 100% telling Duke cobra has some vehicles down for maintenance! YOOOO JOE!

 

[ChrisNLA]

I snake a cable lock through the stuff in my bed (usually my camping totes) - sometimes even when the stuff is under my soft bed cover.

Before I had a bed cover I did the same thing - the stuff was just stacked higher than the bed rails. Cable lock that passed through all my containers and then a cargo net over the top of it.

It would have been a real pain in the ass for someone to steal anything.

Most folks are smashing and grabbing if they're stealing.

I realize that is not practical for all circumstances.

I wouldn't be interested in playing musical bed covers, though.

 

[Mud Pie]

I have a waterproof tote and I bought one of those BOLT padlocks (the ones that self-key to your Jeep key) and use a cable to snake it through the D rings at the head of the bed. Locks the cover down and locks it to the bed at the same time.

I also have a BOLT hitch pin, love it. For my entire life I carried a knot of keys the size of your fist in my pocket like I was the Head Janitor of an entire school district. No more. I got sick of it being in my pocket to only occasionally use. Hitching up my pants because all them keys were heavy.

I put a Level Lock on my front door. Auto-locks after 3 minutes. Auto-UNLOCKS when your phone is within Bluetooth range (best feature when coming home with arms full). I can remotely unlock from anywhere in the world (WiFi connected) ie; Mother in Law coming over to feed our pets but forgot her key. I installed a wireless keypad and gave her the code to unlock the door. Phone app tells you the history of locks/unlocks and WHO did what. Awesome. No more house key on my person.

My pockets are now empty. Key fob for my Jeep is all I need.

Now I will admit, none of those things are on the cheap side. But I REALLY enjoy not having a 'biner with a crapload of keys jangling on my hip and I realized I didn't NEED to have them on me 24/7 (example: shed padlock. I only need the key when I'm at home, no need to carry it around, hang it up). To be honest, I'm not 100% sure what all them keys do; but I can't take the chance of throwing them away. So they sit in the house, waiting discovery.

 

[BourbonRunner]

@Mud Pie

I had never seen the Bolt locks- that's a phenomenal idea. How does the hitch pin stand up to road grime? I stopped buying locking pins years ago because the salt would destroy the cylinders and I'd wind up cutting it off to change hitches. Not too worried about theft on a HF triple ball but if I step up to a hitch skid I don't want that to grow legs.

I'm also with you one the minimalist approach. I have enough EDC equipment between my wallet, knife, phone, pen, pew pew and handkerchief. Any way to minimize the crap I carry is better, especially keys. I only have my office key and hood latch key on the Jeep fob and use geofencing and a keypad for the house.

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