$140 ebay tonneau cover, 3rd gen, install

i had been looking at the truxedo or rough country variants of roll-up tonneau covers, which run about $270-500, due to knowing the brands and more favorable reviews. but my requirements are simple. i just needed something to cover the bed to keep the snow mostly out. i don't need it to stay bone dry though it'd be nice, and i'm not afraid to modify things.

my expectations were "if they actually send me any product, i'll be happy" kind of low. safe to say it exceeded those expectations.

before even opening the box, i double checked my tools, and was completely prepared for the worst, full modification of every part. it really only needed minor modifications to work properly, and i'm not currently convinced that spending an extra $130 minimum would've saved me any of the modifications made, as most are for my own preferences.


it came in a big cardboard box, no big surprises there, the UPS guy kindly didn't drop-kick it to my door, so everything was straight in and intact, though there was almost no padding in the box. the rails were shrink-wrapped together, with the hardware box tossed in for good measure. if your delivery service has a history of package abuse, this likely won't come out unscathed.

here's the included hardware. they saved costs with the tap-light by not including batteries. the rubber weatherstripping is also a nice touch, but i won't be using it in this case. past experience has also taught me to not trust the double-sided adhesive they use in these freebies past a garbage can. if i were to use it, it would applied with a generous helping of 3m molding tape.

overall, the instructions were more than i was expecting, and less than was really needed. i would have preferred to get 2x's the mounting hardware, as i don't like this being mounted off only 4 points, but it's definitely not moving anywhere.



the very first thing needing alteration was with 2 of the 4 brackets. the countersunk screws stuck proud, so they needed a little extra countersinking. these are painted steel brackets, with the rest of the hardware being cast/extruded aluminum or questionable-quality stainless hardware. if anything were to rust or fail, it would be these brackets. which is fine by me-- any competent DIY'er could easily make replacements for these out of just about anything. the cast/extruded hardware is the parts that are hard to make.



the 2nd issue, that will be addressed later, is the t-nuts that slot into the rail. i don't like the 'C' shape of them, and feel the cast nature of them is going to lead to failure later. they will be replaced with solid t-nuts later on.



they kindly included 4 flanged nuts for some reason, and the bolts seem abnormally long for the situation.



everything slotted together nicely, without resorting to swear jar donation. all the rails are marked in silver paint pen for their location



they even dabbed some thread locker on the set screws.



the next issue was the bracket spacing off the accessory rail. firstly, the hole doesn't align with the accessory rail-- it looks like they planned and built the bracket sizes before weatherstripping under the tonneau cover rails.

and next, without some sort of spacer, it would pull the tonneau crossmember support rail nearly diagonal, and the screws would've required significant cutting down to adjust.
with the conduit spacer(7/8" in front, 3/4" in back), the bolts were really about the right length. i only ended up cutting the 2 longer bolts down, and only to an equal length as the shorter 2 bolts.








overall, it worked exactly as i need. and it's cheap enough if anything happens i can easily order a replacement for the cost of any more reputable model.

i'm hoping the bowing in the rear-most crossmember will be corrected with warmth and/or time, but it still seems to seal plenty well to the tailgate.