Aftermarket Tonneau Covers?

[Br4hm4]

I just installed the Oedro tri-fold. All in all I like the fit and the cost of only $181 I was very happy with the quality and fit. The only thing I really wish it came with was aluminum clamps instead of the plastic. Not sure what the future holds for my JT, but all in all I am very happy with the purchase.

Sponsored

 

[JTJITSU]

Got the AGI LiteRider cover with the JCR full rack.

I going this route next year for the roof/vehicle top tent. I would like to keep the hard 3 piece t-cover on with it though. I might fabricate a type of exo-frame around the bed to hold up the rack, off the sides of the bed. Has anyone seen if this idea has already been done?

 

[TRI-JAB]

There's a reason this thing is as expensive as it is. You get what you pay for with this.

Mind if I ask what you paid for it?

 

[rmenley]

Hey all! I just picked up my gladiator a couple weeks ago. I'm looking at the best cover to put on the back. It came with the Mopar soft cover which I hate (so if anybody wants one cheap just let me know)! Anyhow, I want one that I can lock stuff in the bed with, but that I can also store stuff on the top of. So far, I've only found two that seem to fit those qualifications - the USA truck covers rolling thing (don't remember the name) and the Diamondback. Are there any others that I don't know of that I should be looking at. I like the idea of the Diamonback the most, but would be happier if I could fold it all the way out of the way instead of just having to take the whole thing off for moving bigger things.

I would be happy to take that tonneau cover off your hands if you're willing to sell!

 

[macgyvr]

probably my fitment having the cover too far forward to the cab, but my closing clamps just brush the bed lights, it’s not too big of an issue. Now if I have to adjust the cover back towards the tailgate, yeah, then the clamps have a problem.

eveything else seems great though, love the look and it seems well made, such a better option than the dealer installed Mopar cover that I was told would only cost $1k

A few posts up I posted the pic of where I moved the clamps so they don't get into the bed lights...

mac 'just some self tappers' gyvr

 

[saintpauljeff]

A few posts up I posted the pic of where I moved the clamps so they don't get into the bed lights...

mac 'just some self tappers' gyvr

we'll see if I need any sort of adjustment, right now everything seems fine, not planning on moving the clamps for the moment

 

[kd1yt]

Why waste your money on purchasing parts to secure the Diamondback to the bed when Diamondback comes with everything needed? Call them and they will explain to you how the cover secures to the bed even if your Gladiator did not come with rails.

Since when did anything having to do with a Jeep turn into anything resembling "it's foolish to do anything other than buy it off the shelf and use as-is, or else not do it at all - manufacturers' products can never be improved and need not be modified?"

Because my truck didn't come with rails and the cost of the L-Track rail material is about a quarter of the price of OE trail rails- and I do want to get some rails, and saw that other members here on the forum have successfully used the L-Track. Because the L-Track is rated for commercial use for loads that demand a lot more strength than I expect the OE trail rails can handle. Because the threaded fittings for the L-Track that can make a base for a very strong mount for the Diamondback cost a small handful of dollars. Because there's also a nice variety of other fittings to fit the L-Track, in a wider variety than the OE trail rails.

If you're not 'getting' how that small an amount of overlap on the OE clamps is a lot more prone to working loose and suddenly ending up very loose, than something more substantial, I'm probably not going to succeed in explaining it to you. My point is that even though the Diamondback cover is exceptionally well made, this mounting arrangement for this application looks like a makeshift repurposing of some generic "truck cap" clamps that don't fit the application very well (and these four clamps in a narrow area in the middle are the only fully-fixed point of attachment). A couple of months ago I wrote Diamondback and got the installation instructions for both the version for no trail rails and the version for trail rails, but this is the first time I've seen a photo of the assembly as-installed. If I'm going to invest in a $2K cover on a $40K truck, and I see that the mount isn't as sturdy as I'd like it to be, and I can very easily make a sturdier mount (and I want to buy some sort of rails anyways and have choices of how I do it), I'm going to choose to make the sturdier mount. My version of my own preferred extra peace of mind that my Diamondback isn't ever going to come loose at some unexpected time and place that's a hassle or in which it could damage the Diamondback, the truck, or something underneath or secured on top of the Diamondback.

I'm not trying to trash Diamondback, or anyone who chooses to use the clamps supplied by Diamondback. I just think your question is ignorant and rude.

 

[Reasons]

Since when did anything having to do with a Jeep turn into anything resembling "it's foolish to do anything other than buy it off the shelf and use as-is, or else not do it at all - manufacturers' products can never be improved and need not be modified?"

Because my truck didn't come with rails and the cost of the L-Track rail material is about a quarter of the price of OE trail rails- and I do want to get some rails, and saw that other members here on the forum have successfully used the L-Track. Because the L-Track is rated for commercial use for loads that demand a lot more strength than I expect the OE trail rails can handle. Because the threaded fittings for the L-Track that can make a base for a very strong mount for the Diamondback cost a small handful of dollars. Because there's also a nice variety of other fittings to fit the L-Track, in a wider variety than the OE trail rails.

If you're not 'getting' how that small an amount of overlap on the OE clamps is a lot more prone to working loose and suddenly ending up very loose, than something more substantial, I'm probably not going to succeed in explaining it to you. My point is that even though the Diamondback cover is exceptionally well made, this mounting arrangement for this application looks like a makeshift repurposing of some generic "truck cap" clamps that don't fit the application very well (and these four clamps in a narrow area in the middle are the only fully-fixed point of attachment). A couple of months ago I wrote Diamondback and got the installation instructions for both the version for no trail rails and the version for trail rails, but this is the first time I've seen a photo of the assembly as-installed. If I'm going to invest in a $2K cover on a $40K truck, and I see that the mount isn't as sturdy as I'd like it to be, and I can very easily make a sturdier mount (and I want to buy some sort of rails anyways and have choices of how I do it), I'm going to choose to make the sturdier mount. My version of my own preferred extra peace of mind that my Diamondback isn't ever going to come loose at some unexpected time and place that's a hassle or in which it could damage the Diamondback, the truck, or something underneath or secured on top of the Diamondback.

I'm not trying to trash Diamondback, or anyone who chooses to use the clamps supplied by Diamondback. I just think your question is ignorant and rude.

"Ignorant and Rude"? How old are you? You are overly sensitive and and frankly... a pompous ass and who lacks reading comprehension.

You make a lot of assumptions. Go out there and make yourself happy. However, A simple phone call to Diamondback would have answered your questions and they back their products. Ignorant = Contempt prior to investigation, sounds like you girl.

 

[eaglerugby04]

Since when did anything having to do with a Jeep turn into anything resembling "it's foolish to do anything other than buy it off the shelf and use as-is, or else not do it at all - manufacturers' products can never be improved and need not be modified?"

Because my truck didn't come with rails and the cost of the L-Track rail material is about a quarter of the price of OE trail rails- and I do want to get some rails, and saw that other members here on the forum have successfully used the L-Track. Because the L-Track is rated for commercial use for loads that demand a lot more strength than I expect the OE trail rails can handle. Because the threaded fittings for the L-Track that can make a base for a very strong mount for the Diamondback cost a small handful of dollars. Because there's also a nice variety of other fittings to fit the L-Track, in a wider variety than the OE trail rails.

If you're not 'getting' how that small an amount of overlap on the OE clamps is a lot more prone to working loose and suddenly ending up very loose, than something more substantial, I'm probably not going to succeed in explaining it to you. My point is that even though the Diamondback cover is exceptionally well made, this mounting arrangement for this application looks like a makeshift repurposing of some generic "truck cap" clamps that don't fit the application very well (and these four clamps in a narrow area in the middle are the only fully-fixed point of attachment). A couple of months ago I wrote Diamondback and got the installation instructions for both the version for no trail rails and the version for trail rails, but this is the first time I've seen a photo of the assembly as-installed. If I'm going to invest in a $2K cover on a $40K truck, and I see that the mount isn't as sturdy as I'd like it to be, and I can very easily make a sturdier mount (and I want to buy some sort of rails anyways and have choices of how I do it), I'm going to choose to make the sturdier mount. My version of my own preferred extra peace of mind that my Diamondback isn't ever going to come loose at some unexpected time and place that's a hassle or in which it could damage the Diamondback, the truck, or something underneath or secured on top of the Diamondback.

I'm not trying to trash Diamondback, or anyone who chooses to use the clamps supplied by Diamondback. I just think your question is ignorant and rude.

I will say this thing has redundancies on top of redundancies. I don't expect those clips to move at all, and even if they fell out the way it locks in the rails makes me think it won't budge at all, with the exception of folding back the tailgate side panel while driving. By the way that is an awesome feature used that the other day, the cover is strong enough to keep the tall items from moving and takes seconds to disconnect the gas arms.

That being said your idea to use aftermarket rails makes complete sense, if I didn't get them as part of the package including the box and the AC outlet I would never pay mopar prices for what they are. Especially if they are better, I avoided tons of factor options i am installing myself for less, a trail cam, LED bulbs, steel bumper.

Mopar is a flat out rip off for some parts.

 

[kd1yt]

"Ignorant and Rude"? How old are you? You are overly sensitive and and frankly... a pompous ass and who lacks reading comprehension.

You make a lot of assumptions. Go out there and make yourself happy. However, A simple phone call to Diamondback would have answered your questions and they back their products. Ignorant = Contempt prior to investigation, sounds like you girl.

I took your comment needlessly personally and my reply was needlessly pedantic and indignant. Not to offer excuses but I've had the recent loss of a close family member and a lot of other additional strain in both family and work life, on multiple fronts, and I very stupidly let some of that strain into my response to this topic. I apologize.

 

[Gatorized]

I'm not entirely impressed with the clamps shown as supplied by Diamondback- it looks to me like they rely on overlap of the aluminum to keep things aligned (and not rely on twisting force on a long bolt) but it looks like very little of the aluminum actually overlaps - the area I've highlighted in yellow. It probably works but seems like it could be sturdier (all the more reason to make or adapt my own in connection with the L-Track)

Could the lower block be upside down? Looks like it could be flipped to provide a better overlap.

 

[hjdca]

I just got my Rugged Ridge Armis hard folding cover with Line-X from Amazon. It looks awesome. I love the Line-X matte look with the spray in bed liner. Unfortunately, one of the rails was bent on the end. Just bad packaging. They use a high end cardboard box that has plenty of bubble wrap, but, there should be some foam at the end of the rails, because when they stand the box up, the rails can hit the bottom of the box and bend. The Box says "made in USA" with a big USA flag printed on it, pretty cool. I really love the cover, so, I did an Amazon replacement return and hope to get one without a bent rail pretty fast. I do not want to diss Rugged Ridge, packaging errors are nothing compared to engineering errors. This will be easy for them to address quickly in their packaging.

 

[eaglerugby04]

Could the lower block be upside down? Looks like it could be flipped to provide a better overlap.

I don't think so. It came with them like that, and if you zoom in really closely you will see that it has a slight lip to it to better lock it into the side of the trail rails. It has a firm grip against the rails.

 

[Gatorized]

I don't think so. It came with them like that, and if you zoom in really closely you will see that it has a slight lip to it to better lock it into the side of the trail rails. It has a firm grip against the rails.

I did see that, but wonder if it would be difficult to grind in a grove on the opposite side and flip it over so you still get a secure grip.

 

[maxpower220]

Installed Rough Country Trifold Hard cover. Posted pictures of it and install on another thread. ebay for $649 delivered to the house.

Sponsored