1st Gen Tacomas With Soft Toppers

Another photo showing my fully exposed third brake light

 

I’ve read the 3rd gen sits about an 1” higher.

 

I realized after the thread popped back up I never posted that I got a soft topper soon after creating it. I have since swapped to a bed rack and RTT but I have my soft topper likely for snow wheeling season.
Mine is full height, I don't know why some to be shorter than others, My only though would be that Single Cabs have a different back winch Angle to Extended cabs, so the height might be in account of that?

 

Yeah idk, according to Softopper it's just luck of the draw. Here's their reply, "Sometimes the Softopper will sit right below the cab and sometimes it will sit right at the height of the cab."

 

Picked me one up off of Marketplace last night!

 

Looks great!

 

Very Strange, I wonder if they have 2 different cut sizes on the fabric or rack height that randomly get mixed in.

 

How well do they keep out water and dust?

 

They are by no means sealed, my was always pretty good about keeping dust out. A little dust would come in through the gaps in the tailgate on really dusty roads. I found it also kept rain out pretty well, but melting snow over a couple days would start to have a few drips around the seals of the fabric, I never bothered to seal it, I never found it enough to bother me.

 

Mine sits low also, kinda disappointed it did. I did move the center pivot pin to the highest hole. It seemed like it raised it some,or at least made me think so! I tried pushing the rails in to inside edge of the bed and gained a little too. I've since added a rear brake light and camera over rear window. I'll try to get some pics of it .

 

Man those soft toppers look good I will keep an eye out for a used one. How do they hold up?

 

Man, I work on a farm in Arkansas and it's been fine so far. Even with days of 35+winds gust ,it never acts like it's bothered by it. I run gravel roads daily and the plastic rear window isn't gonna last long but I knew that coming Into it,plus have a mesh one for spring and summer . Honestly I'll prolly get a solid one B4 too long. Visibility is my only complaint with this regular cab! Lane changes take a few hard looks to do. I've drove semi trucks for years so it's not like it's impossible just gotta be careful.

 

We got ours a couple years ago and it's been perfect. I like to keep our truck from getting heavy and if that is important it's the way to go. I have had zero issues, no water leaks and I am in Oregon, just a great option.

 

As well as a Jeep top. They are really high quality so if you clean them on occasion they hold up great. But some fading is to be expected. Otherwise...no issues.

 

I have absolutely zero issues with water or snow and I am in a rural area of Oregon. Dust is super minimal, if installed well I would expect it would be similar to a fiberglass top. I love it. And if I want to remove it I can do it quickly and store it in a small space. A heavy fiberglass topper? Not an option. And IMO they ruin a truck since they are pretty much "always on". With a Softopper you can still use your truck like a truck.

 

Yeah, in a reg cab the rear window does change your rearwards view, but I run a good rear cam that I can use while in motion if needed. But I seldom do. It just takes some getting used to not a big deal.

 

Yes sir, I also run a rear camera..where did u mount yours? I mounted mine right above rear window on softopper..get good visibility with it . I'll try to get some pictures of it.

 

Right now I just have it on the top of the license plate and it works fine but when in reverse the license plate lights blind it at night. I have been thinking of setting up a relay to fix that. It's a NATIKA cam, great FOV, I have one on the front as well.

 

For visibility I use those little circle convex mirrors on my side mirrors. I feel like they're tacky but have saved me countless times. Here's my latest since responding when this thread started. Still using the same softopper

 

Picked this up recently. Planning on installing a third brake light too so I’m open to pointers on that.