Lomax Hard Tri Fold Tonneau

You’re learning how to make the Lomax better, looks good Dave! Where did you get those corner brackets? Asking for a friend who may have just ordered a Lomax Pro

 

Also thank you very much for the advice.

I had these in my plastic bin labeled "corner brackets" but I believe they were either from Amazon or Home Depot. They aren't special nor stainless so I'm thinking I might try something like these:

I don't know for certain that this helps with impact from above and I didn't do any actual testing to confirm this is worth anyone else's time, nor am I a mechanical engineer. It was also fairly significant work to get the nuts on inside those hard to reach spots, I used a pick tool and some patience since stainless doesn't take to a magnet. Intuitively, though, adding strength at the corners doesn't seem like it'd cause trouble.

 

Follow up question, isn’t it still possible to use the OEM tie downs if positioned where the feet of the panels won’t contact them? I have some alternate low profile slide in tie downs in mind if the OEMs don’t work well.

 

Yes, definitely. My corner brackets pushed my feet further aft which exacerbated the hump and made it clear to me what was wrong. Using corner brackets without the triangular portion would allow feet positioned full foreword and likely clear the OEM tie downs like my driver side was doing previously. I’m not sure what path I’ll take.

EDIT: I ordered the brackets I linked previously, will try them out and see if that allows the feet to get further forward. Also, I think the feet can be secured with a single self tapping metal screw to keep them from sliding back. It looks like the factory sort of crimped the edge to lock them in place. On my cover there was/is significant variation in positioning between driver side and passenger side on these parts. It seems like they don't use a template and they don't have their parts pre-marked for location.

 

This is perfect!! I’ve been research a bed cover with the exact same end game in mind. I want to install bed racks above the cover...

... so can I do that with this system?

Your truck looks great & appreciate the plug so we can all hit up LUCAS KYLE and get it done

 

Tnutz.com may have something that can work as well. I'm considering adding a brace in the middle of the rear panel. I'm constantly setting stuff on the closed cover with the tailgate open. It barely flexes as is but it would make me feel better.

 

Should I see the weather stripping?

 

Edit: no, I didn't realize what thread I was in. I'm tired

 

I guess mine sticks out a little bit in that spot.

 

Hmm mind sticks out way more than yours. I couldn’t really get it to not stick out.

 

I did put weather seal a little low, placing in on the vertical flat of the bed rails without getting into the curve of the rail. Also make sure your rear most brackets are oriented correctly, I put them on wrong at first.

 

yeah I think the rear brackets are probably the only possible thing anyone can get wrong. And I managed to get one of two wrong myself. Worth a quick double check.

 

I love IKEA instructions. I literally just put together 5 things from IKEA together last night. Sorry it got dark as soon as I think I am finished. I am just questioning if it is on correctly

 

Well I think they are on right. I know I had them on right then tested the rail and was like no, changed them then discovered I had them right the first time...if they are on correct now. HA

 

Let me go take more pictures, something is off but I can't tell what.

Edit for pics:



Whole rail was between 13/64ths and 15/64ths from the texture on the bed rail cap.

 

I looked over all the photos and cross-referenced the instructions and I don't see any obvious problems other than it's "unusual" or at least unexpected that your rails have what looks like at least half a centimeter more of a gap than I'd expect to see.

Stance installation instructions

Standard installation instructions

Tacoma specific instructions

The only random idea I have is maybe they sent rails which are slightly different, perhaps for the Gladiator or something. I guess you can quickly rule that our if your side rails are not "notched at the front" per those instructions.

The mounting hardware looks correct and I think they only have one actual cover so all I'm left with speculation-wise is maybe the rails aren't the right ones for a Tacoma. They might have a stamp on them somewhere indicating the model so you could quickly call lomax and confirm.

BTW, I had to call too for mine, I received Tundra mounting hardware initially and couldn't figure out how to make it work, they quickly sorted me out and shipped the right brackets. They have a pretty good inventory system where they can see every item that went into the box, or at least it seemed that way. Probably worth a call to them on Monday if we can't get you fully sorted out before then.

 

Mine definitely has more room than that. I mean you can see the weather strip pretty good when the cover is up. The part at the end of the bed isn’t as bad. I’m going to take the cover off tomorrow and see if I can get it any closer. I may also see if it has a part number on the rails to make sure I did get the correct stuff. I don’t know I just know that didn’t seem right to me

 

Well I just took it apart to see if maybe something wrong with install and no. I cannot get it any closer. I don’t know why but it just won’t get closer

 

If the cover closes fine I wouldn't be too concerned

 

Next weekends project. Lomax Professional diamond plate for my Silver Sky Metallic Tacoma arrived this afternoon. Ordered Monday afternoon from Luke Kyle at truckalterations.com, Luke answered all my questions and gave me an excellent discount.