Access Limited Tonneau (Lots of Pics)

Installed my Access Tonneau today. I bought it from Truck Alterations tuesday late afternoon and it arrived this morning (Saturday).

It was pretty easy to install and took about 2 hours, including adding the "Trail seal" weatherstripping around the tailgate, and taking pictures along the way.

I know this has been written up before but I thought I would add another just because I wanted to.

Access Limited, 2010 tacoma short bed:


Nice Packaging. Heavy weight heat sealed plastic bags hold the parts. Notice above the box sealed with straps (unlike my running boards, which were hanging halfway out of the box because the tape ripped during shipping, but that's another install and a different vendor, so on with this one...)


Hardware included. Stainless would have been a nice touch, but for now I'll just keep an eye out for rust and change it later if I have to.


The first thing you have to do is remove the side cargo manaement system rails, for this you will need a Torx T-30 bit.


If you're careless, as I was, you might end up stripping one of the bolts while trying to remove it, if this happens there is just enough room for you to break the bolt loose with a standard pair of vise grips.


The longer bolts that come with the tonneau don't use the same Torx bit, they instead use a 5/32" Hex bit.


Heres the basic order for attaching the rails: Bolt with washer goes through the factory CMS rail, then through the tonneau rail, then the supplied spacer to your original mounting holes for the cargo rails. It would probably be helpful if you had a friend hold things for you, but since I was alone I found it easiest to start with one end, thread it in loosely and then do the opposite end before adding the middle bolts. Tighten them after you get all the bolts in.


Here's a couple of the rails after attachment:



Here's a pic to show how the cleat fits after installing the tonneau rails. they still work and there is room to tighten and loosen the cleat to move it, but you have to slide it on from the end of the rail rather than using the "push and turn" method of inserting a cleat. No big deal though, as you can just leave them on the rail for when you need them.


After installing both rails, set the tonneau near the cab with the front bar flipped up toward you (tonneau right side up, but front bar flipped upside down). In the picture you can see the silver nut that you bolt the tensioner to.


Thread the bolt that attaches the tensioner into the nut but don't tighten, repeat on the passenger side.


next flip the front bar with attached tensioners rightside up and slide it forward into position. once it is in place you can slide the tensioners out to line up the hole for the bolt that mounts the tensioner to the rail. install this bolt (both sides), then you can center the tonneau left to right and tighten the other tensioner mounting bolts in the front bar that you loosely threaded in a few steps back. (sorry for the lack of detailed photos during this part)


At this point you are almost done, now you just have to roll out the tonneau and check whether you have too much or not enough tension dialed in. The tonneau should be taught, without any sag and should thump like a drum when tapped. If it is too loose or too tight, roll it up and adjust the tensioners. took me 3 tries to get it just right. Also one of my tensioners was mis-threaded and stripped when I tried to adjust it, I will be contacting Access (Agri-cover) to see if I can get it replaced, but in the mean time I have a regular nut in it's place to keep things working.


Here are some shots of the cover on the truck.





For the trail seal I chose to go a slightly different way from the reccomended mounting position. here are a couple detail shots. It fits pretty snugly and looks like it will keep most of the water out. I will follow up with a reply the next time it rains...

Mounted the bottom piece upside down it seemed to be the best fit due to the location of the tape that sticks the gasket on. nice snug fit when the gate is closed too.



This is the part that took a lot of pondering. it looks as though the rails end in such a place that they will dump all of the water shed from the cover down the inside of the tailgate, I ran the gasket all the way up to the bottom of the rail to try to keep that from happening. I also have some left over gasket from the front seal, if what I have done doesn't work right I might have to use some of this to help shed the water away from the inside of the bed.






Overall my first impression of the tonneau is very good. The install was pretty straight forward and the quality seems good. To be nit-picky I think having a metal insert (for the thread) inside the tension adjustment knob would be a plus, as it would have prevented my stripping issue. Hopefully I won't have any problems getting that replaced. Stainless hardware would also be good, but I can't complain for the price of this thing, and that is something easily upgraded if I really had to have it.


Thanks for checking out my thread! I'll keep this updated as I get some use out of it.

 

Nice write up.I had one on my 08.nice design

 

Nice write up, I'll be doing this sooner or later...

 

To follow up on a couple things...

I emailed agri-cover regarding the stripped tensioner, they replied the same day stating that they would mail out a new one. No questions asked. It arrived within a week and was actually a set of both sides, so now I have a spare for the passenger side as well.

Bottom line, great customer service.

Also I was in a terrential downpour the other day, looks like just a little trickle of water came in from each of the front corners, which I think i might be able to eliminate entirely with a little silicone.

So far really happy with this purchase.

 

I have the same cover, and got it from the same place. I've had it for a little over a year now. It still works great, but I'm about maxed out on the tension, so I think it will eventually start getting loose, but that's probably a problem with any soft cover. I'd buy it again!

Nice pics, BTW.

 

Used this thread along with the official Agri-Cover video on YouTube for the install (didn't even use the instruction manual). Was perfect!

The weather stripping kinda left a little bit to be desired, but at least it's something that can be picked up at a hardware store for cheap.

I don't know if Agri-Cover made the custom cuts or TruckAlterations did, but in order to enable the use of the rail system they drill holes in the vertical bar that is normally used to clamp to the truck bed. I definitely like the bolt method better, I've never been a big fan of clamps. Plus, with the bolts, there is no lining up - as long as you're able to apply even torque to each bolt, both rails line up perfectly. And, the bolts are virtually hidden. Maybe it's me, but it seems that 6-8 clamps would probably stick out quite a bit.

 

Glad I found this thread. I am very interested in the Access cover my self. Looks great. Do you mind if I ask how much it is running? Looked it up somewhere and was not sure about pricing from long bed vs short and which style. It seems Access has different versions.

 

The best prices I found were through the tacomaworld pricing at truckalterations.com

http://www.truckalterations.com/html/tacomaworld.html

 

Thanks. They do look like the best prices. Do you know the difference between the Limited and the Loredo?

 

TA is the absolute best place to get a cover for your Taco, don't waste your time looking elsewhere.

And it looks like the Lorado is a slim low-profile version that shaves a half inch from the Limited cover.

I didn't think the Limited was all that big so I'm not sure what you gain from getting a low-profile cover, but I can easily imagine enough people preferring that.

BTW, here's the comparison chart on AgriCover's site: http://www.agricover.com/index.php/products/category/C52/#Low

And here's the TW pricing page: http://www.truckalterations.com/html/tacomaworld.html

 

Didn't see this earlier, but the 385 I paid for mine, which is a longbox on an Access cab, is the same price for long vs. short. TruckAlterations gives you a spot to EXPLICITLY tell what type of truck you have so there's no miffing it.

 

I did mine solo and I'd highly recommend greasing the crap out of the new bolts before you put them in. It makes it so much easier to get everything lined up and tightened down evenly when you've got the weight of the original rail resting on those bolts (when you're getting all the bolts in half-way to get the alignment right before tightening them down)

I also got mine from Truck Alterations, definitely recommend them.

 

Well I just found a local dealer that is asking $389 $25 for install, and of course tax. So will I be charged tax from Truck Alterations? I'm in Georgia and I see they are in NC. If I can avoid the sales tax then that will be the way to go. But if not, is it worth the extra $29 to have it installed? It doesn't look that hard to do.

 

If you're someone that installs things yourself fairly regularly, there's no need to pay anyone $29 to install this - it's incredibly easy even by yourself. If you can, I'd definitely recommend a power drill to speed things up, but I see no need to pay someone to install it for you.

You'll need a Torx 30 bit (factory Toyota bolts) and a 5/32 hex bit (new bolts for the cover), as well as two wrenches for the bolts that attach the tensioners to the cover, and the cover to the bed (cant remember the size, I think a 14MM worked but I'd bet it's actually standard) but once you have those you are set.

 

If you are looking at the Access Limited beware that the same may happen to you. The connector for the P side just broke off the first time I used it. I have submitted a warranty defect and today waiting for a response. Besides that it is a nice cover.

 

I don't know if I've ever heard of that happening before (like I said in the other thread), so not sure if it's necessarily a common problem with the Limiteds. It's a risk you take with just about any product, I think, but one that's really low. Unfortunately for you, TS, it happened. Have you gotten a hold of TA yet?

 

Yes, Luke directed me to Access.com and I submitted a warranty claim. Did you look at your connection to see if it is close to the edge of the plastic like mine was? It just broke right off when i pulled it the first time.

BTW I posted here mainly because I thought this was the right place for viewing it and plan to update when I get it fixed.

 

TacoSport, I had a waranty claim as well due to a stripped tensioner knob. I contacted access/agri-cover about it and they had a new part on my doorstep within a week. Much better service than I have had with other companies. I would still reccomend this cover 100%.

 

I found out the same thing last Friday. I put the waaranty claim in and the same day I got a couple emails saying the new part had shipped. These guys are good!

 

Great Thread, bought access limited from Truck Alterations great price your thread was a great help with install. Thanks
Denny A AtTE=Pharmakon;2607988]Installed my Access Tonneau today. I bought it from Truck Alterations tuesday late afternoon and it arrived this morning (Saturday).

It was pretty easy to install and took about 2 hours, including adding the "Trail seal" weatherstripping around the tailgate, and taking pictures along the way.

I know this has been written up before but I thought I would add another just because I wanted to.

Access Limited, 2010 tacoma short bed:


Nice Packaging. Heavy weight heat sealed plastic bags hold the parts. Notice above the box sealed with straps (unlike my running boards, which were hanging halfway out of the box because the tape ripped during shipping, but that's another install and a different vendor, so on with this one...)


Hardware included. Stainless would have been a nice touch, but for now I'll just keep an eye out for rust and change it later if I have to.


The first thing you have to do is remove the side cargo manaement system rails, for this you will need a Torx T-30 bit.


If you're careless, as I was, you might end up stripping one of the bolts while trying to remove it, if this happens there is just enough room for you to break the bolt loose with a standard pair of vise grips.


The longer bolts that come with the tonneau don't use the same Torx bit, they instead use a 5/32" Hex bit.


Heres the basic order for attaching the rails: Bolt with washer goes through the factory CMS rail, then through the tonneau rail, then the supplied spacer to your original mounting holes for the cargo rails. It would probably be helpful if you had a friend hold things for you, but since I was alone I found it easiest to start with one end, thread it in loosely and then do the opposite end before adding the middle bolts. Tighten them after you get all the bolts in.


Here's a couple of the rails after attachment:



Here's a pic to show how the cleat fits after installing the tonneau rails. they still work and there is room to tighten and loosen the cleat to move it, but you have to slide it on from the end of the rail rather than using the "push and turn" method of inserting a cleat. No big deal though, as you can just leave them on the rail for when you need them.


After installing both rails, set the tonneau near the cab with the front bar flipped up toward you (tonneau right side up, but front bar flipped upside down). In the picture you can see the silver nut that you bolt the tensioner to.


Thread the bolt that attaches the tensioner into the nut but don't tighten, repeat on the passenger side.


next flip the front bar with attached tensioners rightside up and slide it forward into position. once it is in place you can slide the tensioners out to line up the hole for the bolt that mounts the tensioner to the rail. install this bolt (both sides), then you can center the tonneau left to right and tighten the other tensioner mounting bolts in the front bar that you loosely threaded in a few steps back. (sorry for the lack of detailed photos during this part)


At this point you are almost done, now you just have to roll out the tonneau and check whether you have too much or not enough tension dialed in. The tonneau should be taught, without any sag and should thump like a drum when tapped. If it is too loose or too tight, roll it up and adjust the tensioners. took me 3 tries to get it just right. Also one of my tensioners was mis-threaded and stripped when I tried to adjust it, I will be contacting Access (Agri-cover) to see if I can get it replaced, but in the mean time I have a regular nut in it's place to keep things working.


Here are some shots of the cover on the truck.





For the trail seal I chose to go a slightly different way from the reccomended mounting position. here are a couple detail shots. It fits pretty snugly and looks like it will keep most of the water out. I will follow up with a reply the next time it rains...

Mounted the bottom piece upside down it seemed to be the best fit due to the location of the tape that sticks the gasket on. nice snug fit when the gate is closed too.



This is the part that took a lot of pondering. it looks as though the rails end in such a place that they will dump all of the water shed from the cover down the inside of the tailgate, I ran the gasket all the way up to the bottom of the rail to try to keep that from happening. I also have some left over gasket from the front seal, if what I have done doesn't work right I might have to use some of this to help shed the water away from the inside of the bed.






Overall my first impression of the tonneau is very good. The install was pretty straight forward and the quality seems good. To be nit-picky I think having a metal insert (for the thread) inside the tension adjustment knob would be a plus, as it would have prevented my stripping issue. Hopefully I won't have any problems getting that replaced. Stainless hardware would also be good, but I can't complain for the price of this thing, and that is something easily upgraded if I really had to have it.


Thanks for checking out my thread! I'll keep this updated as I get some use out of it.[/QUOTE]