Leer shell slowly wiggling backwards and rubbing paint off truck

Has anyone else had this problem? I drive on a lot of dirt roads and it seems like my shell is constantly, but verrryyy slowly, loosening and wiggling back. It's not a big deal to shift it forward and retighten the bolts but I noticed that at the front of the shell where the bed ends at the cab of the truck it's worn off an inch worth of paint on both sides. I don't really want to tighten the bolts any tighter than I have been (basically hand tight choked up on a socket wrench) because i don't want to break the fiber glass. Any solutions? Lock tight the bolts? Pad the edges of the shell? Also if anyone has a good link or video for repairing paint that has completely rubbed down to bare metal, that'd be rad.

Thanks

 

Drill a hole in the bed rails on both sides of the threaded block that the topper bolts go through. Prolly only need to do 2 of the 4. Then pass a bolt through each hole, at each end of the threaded block and secure with a nylock nut. That will keep the blocks from moving in either direction and therefore your topper.

 

Sounds good! Pretty sure i know what you're saying, but do you happen to have a thread with pic or video handy?

 

Or rip down a piece of wood to lay inside of the bed rail channel between the front of the bed and the front threaded blocks your topper bolts go through.

 

I dont have any pics, you're experiencing one of the few problems I dont have with my Leer, lol

Basically anything you can do to make those threaded blocks stationary should do the trick

 

the shell moves backwards towards the tailgate so im not sure that would work.

No worries, ill do some googling. Appreciate the input

 

Did you find a solution? We're having the same problem

 

I did not but I also haven't done a ton of research. Just finished some other projects so I'll waste time at work this week figuring it out

 

I'm not sure what style or how many clamps you're using, but I couldn't for the life of me get my shell to stay put with the four generic clamps that came with my shell.

I ended up switching to these:

$49 API Clamps (6 Pack) Silver Compatible with Toyota Tacoma - 2005 & Newer - Mounting Channel Track Truck Topper Cap, Camper Shell

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K2L6FYP/

They've been completely flawless since I put them on - shell has stayed put thru some very rowdy Class IV roads as well as some hard start/stop driving and STRONG wind.

They're cam-style clamps that are designed specifically for our bedrails. You will likely need to get some longer bolts, though - I needed about 1" longer than what they came with to account for the thickness of my cap. It was about $5.00 and one easy trip to the hardware store to get them.

 

I would change the type of padding you have between the shell and bed rails. My first Toyota truck ('86 pickup) had a shell on for 20 years. Never once did I tighten the bolts nor did it slide.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7TY9WjVSJo&t=997s

This dude around the 10 minute mark shows how he did it. Bolted straight through.

 

Thanks. I wonder if you did this yourself and not a dealer would it void the warranty?

 

Doing it by yourself would void the warranty. If you take it to the dealer and they do it, the warranty won't be voided

 

yea that's what i figured. dang, wish there was a dealer within a couple hundred miles of me ha

 

Do you have just the fiberglass of the cap sitting on the plastic bedrails?

I have had 1" wide x 1/4" thick foam padding attached to the underside of the cap. This makes it not slide very well on the plastic bed rails. I installed them for water proofing, but noticed when trying to install the cap that it was hard to slide it on the bed.

 

Looks like it's sitting on a type of weather stripping. Also attached pic of paint damage. I ended up cleaning damage, painting with paint pen, and putting a couple layers of 3m vinyl over where it was rubbing. Maybe more of a bandaid fix than actually fixing the issue. Might line the whole edge of the shell with weather rtripping or foam or something and just make sure the bolts are snug once a month. And maybe stop bombing down washboard roads..

 

Mine does the same thing ( Travel allot of forestry and oil lease roads. I put the rail in the front of the bed that came on earlier versions and added two clamps. This seems to help but I still have some movement. I plan on bolting like the guy in the video did and not concerned with the warranty. I wish they would make more support where the bolts go through as I get concerned when tightening and cracking the fibreglass. The spec Leer told me for how tight was basically hand tight.

 

I added two (one per side) extra clamps and it solved my shifty shell problem dead in it's tracks.

 

This is exactly the problem. Recent Leer caps have 4 bolts that thread into blocks in the truck's side accessory rails. These aren't really "clamps" and just, visually, it looks like a weak system. They don't have as much clamping force as C clamps.

I have a Leer cap on my 2000 Ford Ranger, and I've had it on there for 21 years with no problems. But it's attached with no less than 10 of the traditional C clamps (5 on a side). (The reason for the extra clamps is that they also hold down a huge Kargo Master ladder rack.)

I just got my 2021 Tacoma, and I'm having a Leer cap put on it next week. I'm going to have them put on 4 extra C clamps (besides the standard bolts), including 2 on the head rail that I'm adding to the truck.

Extra clamps are cheap insurance.

 

I ended up ordering these just haven't put them on yet. Thanks for the recommendation. I also ordered some foam weather stripping with adhesive backing and gona put it on the edge of the shell so it doesn't touch the truck when it vibrates on dirt roads.