Reducing dust in the truck bed

I believe it is 3/4 inch Frost King.

 

Might try closing yourself inside to see where the light comes in?

 

This is what I did to reduce dust and water intrusion. GFC finally releases the new Topper

Pop bed rail caps off. Apply some rubber adhesive flex-seal to the top of the bedrails covering the holes and the two large holes on the inside of the bed by the tailgate. Poke some small starter holes in the flex-seal. Remount the bed rail caps. Keep in mind, the gap at the tailgate and the arear around the cubby storage will still do their part to let water and dust in and out. Have realistic expectations. Enjoy.

 

Even with a topper to keep the rain and dust out, all soft goods go in secondary containers when camping. Unless you have sealed it enough to create a hyperbaric chamber, it will always have dust. Ive been on roads where dust has defeated the reinforced seals in my pop-up camper. I've learned to expect it.

Modding the truck to seal it is pointless, don't waste your time with it. There will always be that one road that defeats it, and every road will work to degrade it. Get a set of good bins. Keep your crap organized, dry, and dust free. A good bin doubles as a camp table/prep station/step stool. They keep your stuff clean and neat when stacked in the garage on the weekdays you arent camping. Plus, they impress the hell out of your buddies that show up with a rumpled, wadded mess of dirty gear in their truck bed. It makes you look like you know what you are doing. Keep your crap organized and compartmentalized, and you won't have to worry about dust.

 

At least you're trying to help but don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

I use bins. But I have a plug-in fridge and diesel heater back there that I don't feel like tarping up each time. Also I am loaded up to the brim back there so two of the bins it's easier to just transport with no lid because they are stacking some smaller trays etc and overflowing.

It sounds like spending <$50 I can make this from an annoying issue into a very minor issue. We all get dust in our sealed cabs too because... ventilation. It's not like I'm expecting to reduce it 100%, that's obviously impossible.

 

With my canopy i used adhesive back weather strip foam on a few gaps around the tail gate but some dust still gets in. Next area to seal off from dust... the cubby storage box's.

 

This. I regularly camp down a REALLY dusty road my <-$20 seal job helped a ton.

 

I've got a diamondback with my RTT on top of it. The diamondback kit has a piece that lifts the front bed rail up so it's even with the sides, then you have a good gap to fill in with silicone. I also filled the drain holes at the front with silicone. I used gorilla glue tape around the storage bins, a weatherstripping kit around the tailgate as well as a rock block kit which is a thick piece of rubber that covers the gap between the tailgate and bottom of the bed (can't remove the tailgate any more without cutting it). After that, I had a friend close me in the bed as he shined a light around the outside looking for holes. I still missed a couple, which I think I'm going to leave open.

After all that, it is pretty well sealed but not perfect. Some dust still gets in the back after enough dirt road miles (probably the holes I left open or others I haven't found) and if it rains hard enough, a little water may get in at the diamondback seal. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. It is plenty clean to keep non-sealed containers or loose, insensitive things back there. Let me know if you want specific pictures of anything.

 

Tailgate Seal Kits – extrudedsolutions

 

So is it just me or do they have one for every POS on the road except Tacomas?

 

@TacoGlenn

Oh, I see now. They have an odd way of saying "it will fit" I guess, by specifying what it WON'T fit

 

If you have a front slider window keeping it open seems to create enough positive pressure to help.

 

You can try to turn your pickup into a SUV or you can buy a SUV. Your choice. Pickup beds are not designed to keep the elements out.

Ronny Dahl has some thoughts on dust and a Toyota Hilux in Australia. I don’t remember exactly which videos, but this one might be a good teaser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZSL61bl5R8

You can also replace your bed with something more aligned with your goals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWvKFuEwoQI

 

True. Sorta. Also, some members are just tedious. And we all have different personalities and tolerances. But in this thread, wow. True colors have been flown.

But back on topic, when I sealed up my 1st gen tailgate, it wasn't too hard to just find stuff at the hardware store and make it work. When I got the 2nd gen, I was like , holy shit, it is a cheese grater of BS airspace back there.

 

on topic: I had expectations of things staying drier when i first got my taco. i found crawling in the truck bed with the tonneau closed, and having a very bright light source outside the bed, helped identify problem areas. IIRC I glued some closed cell hard foam (packing material) in the area of the junction of sidewall and front wall of the bed (between walls and plastic bed??? i forget). i recall having to lift sidewall cap to get the foam in place. While moving, I think water and dust find it easy to get in there.

 

That's not a bad idea, but while you won't see light from the tops of the bedrail and bedrail caps, that area is just a large gauge colander. Water spray comes up through the wheel well area passes through those large holes, and then drips down between the caps and body to the inside of the bed. Dust will do the same.

 

it's all coming back to me now...i have a generic tonneau, and i found the unevenness of the tops of the side and front walls were a problem. i replaced a tonneau seal to account for that. i also found water (and i assume dust) was trickling in at the indentations on the sidewall cap. i solved that by using a black thin closed cell foam to make the top of the cap perfectly flat so the cover sealed well. I cut the weird shapes of the indentations and contact glued them in place. took time to cut those shapes but it seems to have been worth it 5 years later. looks a little weird when i take the cover off, little pieces of foam on the top rail, but that is rare in my case.
edit: and i do have a bin under the cover for things i want perfectly dry, thought the entire truck bed stays imperfectly dry.

 

They aren't designed to keep elements out stock??? Oh wait that's why we have things like tonneau covers and truxseal and silicone to retro fit it for that purpose. The next person that mentions SUVs to me can go pound sand. Having a much better seal in the truck bed is not only easy to attain, it's cheap as well.

 

Huh? SUVs are designed to keep the elements out. Pickup beds are not. I think we need to agree on that fact before we can have a rational conversation.

 

What part are you confused about. The point is, certain people need to stop acting like anyone that wants to do this is some ignorant dumbass. If a 4runner was rated out of the factory to tow over 6000# and wasn't tippy af then I'd consider it but as it stands having multiple people tell me SUVs can do it better isn't exactly helpful