Camper shell adhered to the bed...

So when I bought my Tacoma, it came with a Leer camper shell. I've been wanting to take the shell off to be able to move larger things and thought it would be an easy process. I took off the 4 clamps holding the shell on and proceeded to lift the shell to remove it. Turns out, it appears the original owner decided to somehow adhere the shell to the bedrails. Anyone know of an easy and effective way to remove/cut the seal? I dont care about retaining the seal on the shell at this point, because I can always just get some new stuff at home depot. Your suggestions are appreciated.

 

Same thing happened on an 03 Sierra I had with a Leer Topper. Turned out it was never taken off (cause of the shitty CA rules for camper shells) and it was just stuck REALLY good. I got in the bed and had to put my back against the roof and "squat" the thing loose. It always came off easy after that. I think Leer uses some pretty squishy gasket material that tends to do that after long periods of time. Same with my brothers Leer.....

 

Damn, maybe I'll try to give it some more force this weekend. I was pushing pretty hard and it was just lifting the back end of the truck.

 

winch it off

 

When i was adjusting mine by myself i would lay down in my bed and put my feet on the top off the topper and leg press it up. I bet you could break the seal that way.

 

You could try fishing line, kind of like you are taking off emblems.

 

Naah... It's way more manly and fun to push on it till it goes flying off... Makes you feel like the hulk

 

^^haha!

 

Do you guys take the shell completely off by your selfs or do you have a few people help?

 

I just took mine off too and it was the same thing. I left it in the sun for a couple of hours and then did the squatting thing and it came right off.

 

I was gonna say if you have a heat gun just heat up where it touches the bed and squat that bitch off the bed......

 

I have a heat gun...I can try heating it up, but none of the seal is exposed, so I dont know how well it would work.

 

na you gonna need at least two ppl these things are 100+lbs. I had three to put mine on and was allright. Two would be hard, one would be your a beast!!!

 

I have a pulley system in my garage that allows me to take mine off and on by myself in 20 minutes. Its a must have!

 

3 people to move a camper shell?? They're not that heavy, just bulky. It's fairly easy with 2 people, one on either side. I suppose you could have a 3rd spotting if you really wanted to be safe...

 

Ya if its exposed it helps a lot but heat guns can get pretty damn warm so id try and aim it at the rear corner by the tail gate for 10-20 seconds and try and lift it. Like other people said though it'll be much easier with some buddies helping.

 

X2 me and my tiny ass girl friend can take mine off and put it back on. I was lucky with my shell because I had the dumb drop in bed liner it didn't really stick so i just pushed up on it from inside the bed and broke the seal.