Pros and Cons of a Hard Topper?

That’s true if you only plan on hauling air most of the time. 200 lbs is 1/5th of your max payload. Throw a couple hundred more pounds in there on a regular basis or even more weight when loading for a trip and you’re going to be a little saggy.

It can be done and be just fine. But if you’re spending $1500-$3000 on a topper you might as well put a couple hundred into the suspension to gain some load hauling performance back.

 

Naw. Throw your gear in there and go.

 

Got tens of thousands of miles on mine through all sorts of stuff. Just go.

 

Let me rephrase. I felt that from the factory my rear suspension was a little soft when using my truck to do things other than “just go”. I didn’t like the nose high feeling when towing and/or hauling. So when I added the shell and pretty much started out every task or trip with almost an inch of sag before even loading I didn’t like it. So I chose to correct it and now the truck feels much more composed.

Keep in mind us long beds are hauling around an extra foot of bed and shell on the same suspension. And maybe I tend to just bring more shit because of the extra room.

 

As I mentioned earlier, Windoors are about $450 per. They are nice. I would buy again. I use them all the time to get stuff in and out of the truck.

It is a buy once/cry once item.

 

I have the topper, recovery gear (including 25ft of grade 70 chain), hi-lift, 55qt bear proof cooler (heavy) full of ice and water, box o tools, and a dry goods box that live back there all the time. All of that is probably 400-500lbs. I have 77,000+ miles on the truck. It sits pretty level and rides fine. I drive crappy roads in Louisiana.

While I'll eventually upgrade the suspension, it seems to work fine.

 

Not the prettiest but like mine much more than the leer I had.

 

Pretty much my stuff camping related. Mountain passes, washboard trails, river crossings, trails, salt flats, trails, shopping malls, trails, highways, trails, raining, dry. No rock climbing as I would rather use two feet. No snow cause I hate the cold. Other than the day where 45 mile winds where I could see the hood deflect and the front end felt like lifting, this truck has been fantastic stock.

 

If I ever have the money for a hardshell, this is exactly what I want. They aren't really that much more expensive than a decked our LEER or ARE.

For now, the softopper works great, but I don't plan on running it forever.

 

Another pro for topper. Ran a flexible solar panel on topper roof for two months on the road. Feed the wires/connectors through the topper front slider window to my battery pack. Switching device (my own two hands) for the refrigerator between the battery pack and modified 400W anytime kept the fridge and battery pack running. Drove through pouring rain with no water intrusion into the bed and cold beer awaiting any dispersed camping site.

 

Con: adds 25 years to the perceived age of who ever owns the truck.

 

+1

I had two windoors installed on my ARE and they are invaluable. I absolutely love them. The only problem is that on a DCSB the sliding vented windows aren't available because the glass is too small.

 

Here's an option for the best of all worlds

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ynamic-bed-cage-tonnaue-cover-version.582736/

 

I’m in the same boat as you, running my softopper rn but man an alu cab would be the ideal setup. Might as well fork over the extra cash for the durability compared to a regular fiberglass shell

 

It's a Leer 100XQ 2800 with extra s*%#