Let's See Some Softoppers

My square tubing frames are angled a little, but not enough for me to worry about. When I first clamped them down they were way off because I had already put the folding bars on the pivot pins.

 

I'm kind of surprised the tolerance is so big that mine can even be as far off as they are.

 

Caught a little sunshine with mine today

 

Those of you who did softopper and bed rack... What order did you put weather stripping? Anything below the bed rack brackets? Or bed rack brackets directly against the bed side then weatherstrip on top of that?

@powder1134 I forgot what we talked about

 

after months of trying to find a used one in my area i finally bit the bullet and ordered a new one tonight which means by the time it gets delivered i'll find a used one. Bitching aside i'm really really excited to finally have one headed my way.

 

Sorry for the delay. I'm got it worked out, but it was bed bars first on the bed side rails, then the topper side rails with the extra thick weather strip.

 

Here’s mine! This is my second truck with a Softopper and I love everything except the silver rails. They look goofy when the Softopper is removed.

 

I've been thinking about getting some square steel tube and making my own rails that will be more solid. I'm assuming the Softopper rails split in half for shipping. I would like to make my own one piece rails and powdercoat them black.

 

I second this. Wish they were black.

 

The black frame and rails is one advantage of the Bestop, but I'm not sold on the shape. It looks weird from some angles and I haven't seen one in person yet to decide if I like it or not.

 

I almost bought a Bestop. The black frame was admittedly at the top of the reason list. Definitely happy with the Softopper in terms of everything else. I've had mine for over 6 years now. Originally purchased it to keep the snow out of the bed in winter and figured I'd have the bed open in summer. In hindsight, I've never run it in safari mode and haven't had it off at all since install. Summer season I do remove the back window which seems to work for me for access 90% of the time. Softopper seems to fit best to the lines of the truck, easy to open up wherever, and is just as sound as when new. I've never washed it, the window flips open in winter without cracking. And I only see the silver frame when I'm inside the bed. Very satisfied customer here.

 

Good idea about going single piece tubing for strength. I'd like to do that too.
But I'd keep them round to protect the topper fabric from hard edges. No loss in strength for this light-weight application.

I have seen photos of these silver tubes painted black. It looked great and I heard it worked well. But don't know for how long it stayed painted.


(My rig is BR with Tan topper too. Been running it since '17.)

 

I assumed they split them for the same reason. However it could also be because your bed flexes and that gives them a bit of wiggle room. They switched the design from square insert tube to round which I found curious and to be a potential design flaw but after redoing my install for a third time and really cranking the clamps down everything seems to be staying put. I assume it’s for the same reason, that or they cheaped out on mine here’s a picture

Some people have sanded theirs and painted/bed lined theirs black and it looks pretty sharp! There’s pictures on one of the softopper threads.

 

I didn't want to mess with the snaps, and an extra inch of height is good.
https://twstatic.net/attachments/img_20210613_153321855_hdr-jpg.4577507/

 

Interesting, do you take the rails on an off? OR just leave them installed that way?

 

I leave the rails on all the time.

The topper gets folded frequently, stored at the front of the bed, sometimes in the cover, mostly not.
The topper gets removed completely for work missions. Lumber/ firewood, masonry supplies etc.

The steel Angle protects the alu Softopper snap rail from damage. My plan is to add an over-the-topper ladder rack of my own design, and the steel bed rails will be an integral part of that structure.

 

Riding around in safari mode.

 

I ran safari mode during a recent "Spring Ski" delight at Kirkwood. The weather was so nice, it just seemed like the thing to do. 70mph on the way up was no problem, and the shady place to doff and don the ski boots etc. was well enjoyed.

 

Anyone running a softopper with Voodoo Fab bed rails? There’s a few on the forum, but no pics or great reviews of how it seals up