Retrax MX Pro Bed Cover - given by Truck Mods

I apologize in advance for not doing this all in one post- I'm on my cell phone.


I won this truck bed cover in a drawing provided by @TruckMods
As far as vendors go, they held a drawing for a 2,000$ cover and had it at my door in a week after I won- how could I possibly complain? That's one hell of a way to join Tacomaworld.

So, to the bed cover:
It rolls up toward the cab and outta the way and allows you to lock it in any position.

The case the cover rolls up into covers the portion of the bed closest to the cab, so I had to rip out my LED bed lights which were long overdue for removal.

Needless to say, don't bother using cheap stuff off eBay.
Replaced with four single led's that wouldn't be unserviceable with the cover box

Great lighting if I don't say so myself.

 

Install:
10:30 a.m.

Three boxes


Rip open boxes, remove shipping tubing and search for 20 minutes for the hardware depicted in instructions. Blame Retrax for not shipping you the parts you need. Angrily search garage for replacement screws.
Kick yourself when you remember the bed rail box has giant letters that read HARDWARE IN THIS END.
continue install.



Forgive Retrax for their "missing" parts and Attach passenger rail. Its two screws. Couldn't be any easier. Remember to unlatch the locking mechanism to allow the cover to slide out a bit into the rails- makes things a bit easier.


Attach drivers side rail and rear plate.
6 screws total and they even give you an Allen wrench. Make sure the rail tabs fit inside the plastic indentations not outside.


And that's pretty much it! Follow the directions and make sure the rails are parallel. Whether by accident or not, someone at the factory attached one rubber shim to each of the white plastic spacer blocks and they fit perfectly. No need for adjustment. Get a friend to lift it into the bed. My little sister helped me.

11:15 a.m.
Admire:






This cover is built very well. Every detail works- from the counter sunk screw holes and the provided weather stripping to the rubber cover over the lock lever. It fits PERFECTLY which is nearly impossible to find manufactured with our Tacoma short beds.
the best function in my opinion is THIS:

Effectively water tight bed storage.
They even provide you with drain tubes that plug into the bottom of the unit to divert water off out of the bed. Tacomas don't have any such drain holes from the factory and I opted not to drill holes to run the tubes out of.
The instructions should be revised to make this the first step rather than last because by the time you get to this point and decide you wanted to install them, you'll have to uninstall the entire unit to drill these drain holes.

Yes, you can even stand on it. It's effectively water tight and bullet proof.
I want to say it's pricy for its function, but you get what you pay for. I recently dropped 2 grand on a Tepui roof top tent and won't have to buy another for as long as I take care of it.

What I don't like has nothing to do with the product itself, but a shortbed Tacoma design. The bed is tiny to begin with, and this cover sits further back than I expected. I have oversized tires and as such, cannot store my spare in the stock location and have to store it in the bed. Add this issue to this bed cover and my bed storage rivals that of a Geo Metro.

The long bed models shouldn't have this problem with an extra foot of bed space.

 

FANTASTIC write up! Thanks so much. The matte finish looks SICK on your truck.

 

It really does!

Also,
I would strongly suggest you sell the pop & lock tailgate locks as a package with this product.
I realized today the cover locks fine but the stock tailgate doesn't have a lock. I would have gladly paid to have em both to actually secure cargo.

Another suggestion
Put a strip of foam weatherstripping on the underside of each bed rail before installing. Most won't be an issue, but my truck bed rails have small dents from my crappy RTT rack I had on and they're allowing water to come in under the rails. Most people will be fine, but the strip that comes with the bed cover is pretty thin and won't fill in any scratches or damage to stay water tight.

 

@TruckMods

 

I'm new to TW and just bought my truck this past weekend and I've been looking for a bed cover. The MX matte finish look is sweet but I can't shell out the extra $$ for it..probably end up getting the retrax one. Your post was by far the best I've seen regarding covers Have you heard any negatives about the retrax one?

 

You mean the lexan one not the aluminum ones right?

The only negative I've had with mine is as described above-
I've got a short bed and a full size 33" spare that won't fit under in the stock location
so once installed, it pushed my tire back a foot and a half and kinda killed what little bed storage I had remaining. Without that giant tire back there it wouldn't be an issue.

Otherwise , it works great! I really like how sturdy the lock mechanism is. I've had a different brand that felt cheap from day one and eventually bound up and broke the key in the lock.

 

To open the bed cover, do you have to open the tailgate?

 

Nope! Lock is on the top and it opens and closes with little to no effort.

 

If you offroad at accelerated speeds the retrax pro will shift and the sealed bearings will not be aligned properly on the track. You'll have to readjust it.

 

Did you have to remove anything from the truck to install? How does this attach to bed rails?

 

The kit comes with adapters that slide in the bed rails. I didn't have to remove anything for the install. Good luck

 

Just ordered the retrax one mx today after concluding this one would suit my needs best. I've read that you cannot use your rails after this is installed, does that mean I wouldn't even be able to use the bed cleats on the rails to tie down things? Also, if I needed to remove the cover temporarily to fit something large in my bed and then put the cover back on, would that be doable? Or is this cover essentially permanently installed?

 

Nevermind, just cancelled my order for this one. Saw some

RetraxONE Retractable Truck Bed Tonneau Cover | 10371 | fits F-150 Super Crew & Super Cab 5.5' Bed (09-14),Glossy Finish

reviews on amazon about the glossy version of it and it seems that the Retrax One may have some quality and longevity issues :/ Maybe I'll go for the RetraxPro version in the future. That one has solid reviews all around and it seems like the aluminum cover is much more durable than their lexan offering.

 

I have a question I just recently bought a Tacoma that has the same hard toneau cover the retraxone mx rails are smooth with no where to put a bed rack.

I do not want to spend the 400 bucks to buy the xr rails that are trax slotted. Can I just mod the ones I have to get to the places you would originally put the bed rack?

If anyone can point me into the right direction that would be awesome.