canopy vs insert bedliner advice

Greetings ~ short time lurker, first time poster.

I am in the process of changing trucks and am looking for some advice on what's best for fitting a Leer canopy on an Xtracab.

My current truck ('02) has an over-the-rail plastic insert. The new truck ('04) has an under the rail plastic insert and a Leer canopy. I've not had a canopy in the past and am not familiar with the best way to fit them.

Does the Leer seat better to the bedrails with a gasket? Or would it be worth swapping the liners, so the canopy was sitting on top of the over-the-rail liner, with a gasket?

 

Welcome To TW..I can’t help with that but somebody will know.

 

cheers, thanks!

 

Although I don’t have a plastic bed liner or insert like you say, i do have a topper that I take off every spring and back on in the fall. I always replace the seal with some cheap 1/2” by 1/4” rubber bulb type seal from Amazon. Never have issues where the topper meats the truck bed for leaks. Usually just around the tailgate areas.

 

Thanks Rhodes. I like the idea of a fresh seal every year, good chance to inspect everything and keep it tight. I like your build and the rack over canopy set up.

 

Silver truck has the insert which could be swapped into black truck. But it would be a pita.

Black truck has an interesting failure at the weld for the left rear panel, just above the tail light. Can't see any large impact signs, which has me guessing it's a fatigue failure from the canopy. There's a dent in that panel, but seems like it wouldn't be enough to cause a failure at the tail light.

Is this a common failure point?

This is what got me thinking of making the insert swap.

But after thinking about it over the weekend, I think I'm going to leave the liners where they are. There are a couple other body items that need some love. Planning to take off the cap and remove the insert to see what's going on, and get an estimate from a body shop close to us. Not trying to restore it, just want to fix the damage and mend some paint issues on the roof.

Would like to use this as a weekend explorer rig and am thinking of going with no insert and a spray-in liner instead, which would cover the bed rails. And probably a bed mat over that. Then do the annual seal replacement/inspection for the cap.

 

I have the under the rail liner with a leer cap. I pulled the foam tape seal (lol... seal) and used this instead -

$33 ESI Super Cap Seal 23 FT (1 1/2" Width x 1/2" Height x 23' Length) EPDM Rubber for Caps 200 lbs or less

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C7VU9BA/

Solid seal, no leaks and still in great shape.

There are definitely people on here that have mounted their cap on top of an 'over the rail' liner. It's all in what you want and which look you prefer.

Take a look here, I'm sure you can find examples of both as well as some creative cap ideas -
https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/tonneau-covers-caps-and-shells.198/

Might also consider using a bedliner spray and then the EPDM seal on the cap. Could skip the drop-in liner idea. A bedmat is a cool way to go as well.

Have fun with the cap. Lots of modding potential.

 

For sealing the tailgate area, this works well, not perfect but goes a long way to keeping dirt/dust/moisture out.

$28 ESI Ultimate Tailgate Seal with Taper Seal 10ft for use with Truck Caps and Tonneau Covers

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IPQWXZQ/


As to this... have no idea except definitely not good. Need to maybe spray it with some rust reformer and a top layer