Leer Shell Fit/Flex Issue

Have a 2011 Tacoma and bought a brand new Leer mid-rise camper shell 2 years ago. About 6 months ago I noticed that the lock wouldn't really lock because the lever inside the shell was only contacting a very small portion of the edge inside the shell. less than a 1/4in so you could jerk it open without much effort.

I removed the shell over the weekend to move some stuff and when I put it back on I realized why the problem with the lock. The sidewalls of the shell have flexed outward and there is a signifigant gap between the back glass and shell. If you can imagine the back glass should mate up with the weather stripping and shape of the shell pretty nice but as you start from the top of the back glass on both sides the gap gets progressively larger and opens up beyond the weather stripping and enough to leave an open gap between the sides of the shell and back glass.

The latch inside is barely contacting anything to lock it up now and I can't figure out what is going on. I tried moving the shell around, pushing it together, loosening, tightening, etc. Nothing closes the gap. I have the back set up for camping and sleep back there all the time so a tight fit that won't leak is important and why I bought a brand new shell.

Any ideas? or anyone have this problem before? I can't even imagine a realistic fix and on a 2 year old shell I'm kind of disappointed.

and the shell has only been off the truck twice so it's not getting torqued on all the time getting removed and put on constantly

Thanks,
Nick

 

not really.. only thing I have in the bed is a sleeping platform that sits inside the bed. nothing else on the rails or protruding up. I may give LEER a call just to see what they have to say on Monday

Thanks

I wonder it could be heat related the way carbon fiber can be molded somewhat when heated up. It is a black shell and gets ridiculously hot here in the summer 100+ maybe?

 

No, it sits in there with a little play side to sidebut definitely no pressure or tight spots. Yeah it's fiberglass. I was thinking it may react similar to carbon when heated. Although a carbon fiber camper shell would be pretty cool and ridiculously expensive

 

You can't just pull the sides in and retighten ?

 

yeah, I tried holding it in place and tightening it down but the little nuts and bolts aren't enough to keep it pulled in snug.

Thanks for the replies. I'm going to stop by a LEER dealer this week and see what they say.

 

Interesting , I was able to pull mine tighter and fasten it

I have a LEER 100RCC

 

The only thing I can think of is to remove the rear window then the sides would have flexibility. Then when you have the sides set reinstall the rear window. The rear window frame should be doing a better job of holding the sides in.

 

The bedsides might be seperating due to his sleeping platform

The open ended rear window frame doesn't have much chance of holding the bed together , no ?

 

My question would be is there a noticable gap between the bedside and the canopy because obviously it would be quite difficult to push in the bedsides without loosening some bolts to do so. Is the bed actually pushing the canopy sides out or are the sides away from the bed?

 

Actually the bedsides will flex and that is limited by the tailgate , however it is more likely that the canopy has spread out seperate from the bedrail caps as you suggested

It was suggested to my by the company that supplied my canopy to re-tighten the bolts periodically