Roll-N-Lock M-Series Tonneau

A little over ten years ago I was introduced to the Roll-N-Lock tonneau for the first time at my dad's shop and I've wanted one ever since. It really doesn't seem to be a very common cover from what I've seen and good luck finding it on a Tacoma. At any rate, I just wanted to put together a quick review for those that have questions on this cover.

Main Unit

Roll-N-Lock's instructions are straight forward. I used the following for my double cab short bed but the rest can be found here. The additional pictures I'm attaching should only be used to support that document.

The box is rather large and even though it clearly states not to stack, my box was damaged during freight



Note the shiny part on the back of the main housing unit. There was a massive dent on the back of the unit where it lies up against the truck. In all honesty, I received the unit on Friday and didn't notice this until I arrived at home. From what I could tell, there didn't appear to be any mechanical problems with the housing and the dent would be facing the front of the bed too. Since nothing could be done until Monday, I proceeded with the installation, like any other man with a new toy would have done ...



For the most part, installation is rather easy. Roll-N-Lock makes great use of our rail system and those sheet metal cargo nuts really speeds things up.



Line up the bulk head adapter



Drop in the housing unit



Hopefully these shots of the track brackets is a little more clear than instructions provided. There are three of these on each side and they're clearly labeled for placement. Although they look the same, they are not - each sides has two bracket rails with shims / spacers glued onto the back on them. This is the only problem that I ran into and it did cause issues for me when it finally came time to shut the tail gate. In the end, I had to remove all of shims for the tailgate to shut correctly.




We're skipping over the instructions more towards the end, but this is the crucial part I was previously mentioning. Once rails are installed and the tailgate cover has been drilled, it's time to test out the tailgate. Carefully close your unit. Ensure all of the lines are squared up, as mentioned in "Step 4C Photo 20 of the installation guide, which looks to be an older version of the product. Here are two shots off my truck.

This is the drivers side end of the tailgate. Note bottom right of the 'rail' is at a very clean 90 degree angle with the top of the 'tailgate'.



This is the pasangers side view. Same thing going on here. You really want these to be as clean as possible for the lock to work correctly and last.



Once I installed the unit and removed the plastic protective cover, I discovered a major cosmetic flow on the housing lid. It's really hard to appreciate this dent from a photo



From this angle though, it's a little more clear



Another view on the dent inside the housing



Lighter for scale



Roll-N-Lock shipped me a new housing lid and I finally put it on over the weekend. Very happy with their customer service.

Cargo Manager

The cargo manager is a sliding divider to be used in conjunction with the Roll-N-Lock system. Honestly, I was on the fence with this one but it seemed like such an awesome idea. We all hate shit sliding around in the back of our bed ... anyone with a truck has run into this problem. Most of the time it acts a secure place for my laptop but here's a nice demonstration of a grocery run. When you need full use of the bed, the unit comes out fairly easy.




Conclusion

In the end, you have functional addition to your truck that rivals any other Tonneau venders on the market. Would I recommend this product to someone else? Yes. Does it look good? Yes. Am I happy with the purchase? Fuck yes!

 

very nice! I have an access lorado roll up cover that I love, however my future father-in-law almost put a hole in it this past weekend while we were all camping...I was looking at these before i ended up with the access lorado roll up cover, sometimes I'm sad I didnt go with the roll n lock. If you dont mind me asking...where did you get it from and how much did you pay? Thanks!

Oh and about how much bed space do you lose at the front of your bed because of that box. That was one of the reasons i decided against it, well, that and the price lol

 

I purchased it online. From what I can tell, they do not sell direct to customers and use resellers. You save a few hundred dollars buying it online vs any my local dealers that I found, although it might be worth while calling around shops near you. Price is steep, no question there but you get what you pay for ..

Roll N Lock Cargo Manager
Part#: -CM507
Quantity: 1
Price : $269.00
Options: Does Not Work With E Series
2010 Toyota Tacoma Fits Double Cab Short Bed (59.5 Inches)

Roll-N-Lock M-Series Tonneau Cover
Part#: -LG507M
Quantity: 1
Price : $1142.00
2010 Toyota Tacoma Fits Double Cab Short Bed (59.5 Inches) (Note 1)

Total: $1411.00
Discount: $0.00
Shipping: $0.00
Tax: $0.00
Grand Total: $1411.00 <-- shipped

 

I've got one on my truck. It's a must have if you carry tools and such in the back. It's so nice to be able to shut it and lock my ladder and tools in the bed. I like the low profile look and the fact it rolls up making it very easy to haul large items in the bed.

 

Anyone have a rollnlock with the bed extender? From looking at the rollnlock site, it says that the bed extender isn't compatible with it. My dealer says it'll work though...

 

I just read up on the installation of the bed extended at the following location:

http://www.toyotapart.com/2005-2010_TACOMA_BED_EXTENDER_PT329-35050_REV._A_--PT329-35050.pdf

Cannot see compatibility issue with the Roll-N-Lock system. Guessing they're saying this to get you to buy their cargo manager. Just so long as the extender is least one inch under the bed rails, it shouldn't be a problem but it wouldn't hurt to call Roll-N-Lock directly to ask them why. They were very nice in my dealings.

 

Thanks. I'll give them a call to see what they say. I just picked up my 2012 over the weekend and had the dealer install the Roll-N-Lock. Loving both the truck and the Roll-N-Lock so far...

 

Oh, I would go with the sliding cargo manager - it's very helpful but really depends on what you plan on doing with the best.

 

I know this thread is super old but just wanted to add in my $.02

Installed a Roll-N-Lock on my access cab today; more accurately re-installed it after starting the install last night.

My only advice besides what is listed above is to follow all of the steps in the EXACT order listed on the instructions. I had a friend helping me yesterday and we did a couple of the tightening sequences in parallel to save time. Big Mistake. The rails weren't loaded properly and the cover didn't retract on its own. Loosened everything this morning and retightened it in the exact sequence in the installation guide and the cover now works perfect.

*Note* The PDF version of the installation guide that I had didn't mention that the track brackets should be tightened from the rear to the front; though a youtube video I found did. This seemed to help a lot to maintain the proper track alignment.

 

and just to add one more thing. my cover was working perfectly then for some reason started moving super slow and binding a lot. i was freaking out about the alignment probably triple checked everything before i thought to look at the tracks.

note to self: rubber has a high coefficient of friction and the tracks showed where there was excessive dragging. i wiped on a little of the vinyl protectant that came with the RnL and immediately, everything was back to normal. sometimes a little common sense and reading the "troubleshooting" section of the RnL site are all that you need. . .

 

I just purchased my first Taco a month ago. its an 06. It came with the Roll n lock cover. And, so far Im likeing it. I had to uninstall it for worrk but i ended up re-installing it without Instructions. I really did not have too many problems thanks to you - tube. Anyway, i recommend to anyone thnking about making the purchase.

 

Now that you have owned the cover for a while, how well did the vinyl last? Does it fade, or wear out?

 

The vinyl held up just fine. With that being said, after four years use, other parts did not fair so well. The black metal box faded to a dull white black. Not horrible but very noticeable for me. Some of the rubber internals began to shrink as well, which resulted in end caps popping off and being lost. Eighth picture from the bottom of my original post shows this end cap lined up with the tailgate. OEM replaced it for me free of charge (free shipping as well). I never bothered after it happened again but I'm confident they would have replaced the rubber liner and end caps again free of charge.

My 2010 was recently totaled and I picked up a 2015. This time I went with the G4 Elite. Main reasons were I wanted use of the bed cleats, which is not possible on the Roll-N-Lock. This has already come in handy twice in six weeks. I also liked the idea accessing my bed near the cab. I'm about six weeks in with the G4. There are pros and cons to both. Mostly I miss the cargo manager but I did pick up a bed extender, which helps secure my laptop to the end of the tail gate area (main requirement was putting work bags out of sight while parked). Haven't used the cab access as of yet and don't see myself doing it without some sort of cargo management at the front. With that being said, the Roll-N-Lock is definitely more secure vs the G4. Now knowing how the G4 is installed, I could definitely circumvent it's security. Think of it as more of a deterrent (out of sight out of mind).

If security is your number one concern, I would definitely bite the bullet and pay a little more coin for the Roll-N-Lock, w/cargo manager. There is no competition on the market. If you like bed cleats and a little less but still somewhat secure place for holding cargo, you can pick up a G4 for 1/2 the cost.

Unclear which unit I would pick up next round ....

 

Thanks! After some thought I am going to buy the G4 Elite. Does anyone know if there is a coupon for a discount on it? I tried using the TacomaWorld14FAC code and its not valid.

 

Solid product

 

Does anyone know how much weight can be put on top of the cover?

 

http://rollnlock.com/support/frequently-asked-questions

The Roll-N-Lock tonneau cover will withstand a concentrated load of about 120 pounds. In other words, standing on the cover could cause visible damage. However, damaging the cover with even twice the amount of force referred to does not mean that a forced entry can be achieved. The result would simply be deformation of the cover body. A distributed load, such as snow, is easily managed.

 

here is a pic of mine recently purchased from @DixonCreekDrifter
I have to do a little more tweaking with the shims to get it settled right but i think it's a solid unit. I'm glad i went with a roll-up vs. a fold-up

 

Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in on the Roll-N-Lock Tonneau cover. After considerable research, I chose the Roll-N-Lock M Series for my truck. At the time RNL was offering a $150 rebate, which helped in my decision. Overall I love the cover, but had some issues with shipping. See first poster, who had the picture of a damaged box. I had the same. In fact, they had to send me three covers before I finally got one that was only slightly damaged. That's right, the third one was not perfect either, but I used parts from the other two, and then finally had a cover that I was satisfied with. It was a real pain, but in the end I like the product and would recommend it to others. I purchased the cover fromAutoAnything, and they were great about sending replacements. I talked with the folks at RNL too, and they were great at answering any questions.

More thoughts.
* Look on-line for installation videos. The instructions they send with the cover are outdated.
* After initial installation, quite a bit of water got into the truck bed (around the bulkhead), and after speaking with the folks at RNL, they confirmed the cover won't keep 100% of the water out. They did send me a long rubber gasket that attaches to the cover along the bulkhead. See pic below. I just installed it, so don't know how well it works, but looks like it'll help a lot in keeping water out.

Final thought is RNL REALLY needs to figure out a better way of shipping. I asked them to send via FEDX rather than UPS, but they stuck with UPS even on the third try.

 

I know this is an old thread. Thanks OP for the write up and pictures! As I am thinking about getting one of these. It looks great! How much water gets in? I know these are not water tite. Also, after getting it all lined up did you have any other issues with the it?