Let's See Some Softoppers

Mine must be round tubes because it twists inward as well.

 

do you have instructions for how you mounted your hi lift?

 

Very simple. All hardware came from Lowes. Hand cut & hand drilled the alu bar. No chop-saw, no drill-press, no carbide or tungsten bits, no welding, etc..
(Any wood tool works on aluminum. Hand saw, jig saw, skil saw, and such.)

- A long carriage bolt (6" x 3/8") with two sides of the head ground down (very little) just to allow it to slip into the bed rail (don't file so much as to remove holding power).
- A washer, spacer (whatever length your jack needs. mine is 2"), another 2 washers (each side of jack), and a wing nut. (can use hex nut if you'll always have the tool handy) This long spacer is threaded and secures the carriage bolt very tightly to the bed rail.
- The other end is a bolt, washer, & t-nut holding a piece of aluminum bar (width & length is your option) to the rail, a shorter (than the 1st) carriage bolt, washer, shorter spacer, 2 washers for each side of jack again, and wing nut.
*** The alu strap/bar is to allow the jack to clear my Softopper. May not be necessary for you if it's ok for your jack to angle upwards. Just repeat the rear carriage bolt hardware then. ***

The thing with the alu bar is to force the square, just under the head of the carriage bolt, into the bar hole you drilled for it. Keeps it from turning. With that thought, don't drill an oversized hole! If you use hex nuts & bolts w/ tools, then this point is moot. I used a vise and deep socket to force the square.

The last bit, you can't see in the photo, is that I have a rubber bumper at the bottom of the bar to prevent it from contacting the fiber bed side.
Red caps just stop me from gouging myself on the bolt ends.

I used pistol child-safety cables to secure each item. They work great, but sure wish I could get them keyed the same (at an inexpensive price)!
Mounted my Trax to the front rail w/ carriage bolts & spacers & pistol cable as well.

 

Looks like you also have the long bed, so your topper came with the extra set of rail clamps. I have a feeling the combo of the square inner tube and the third rail clamp does a lot to keep it from twisting inwards. Not sure if I'm going to try calling them about it or just order an extra set of clamps for mint. I love the topper but I'm just a little concerned about all that twisting force on being applied to that one aluminum push pin and rivet holding the round inner tube...

 

I do have the lb.
But the topper didn't come with extra, I ordered the extra clamps.

That push pin would be a failure point in my estimation!

 

Do your bed rails twist inward? Are you running a third clamp in the middle of the bedrail?
I honestly kinda hope it is supply chain issues and not cost cutting. The round inner tube sure looks to be the same size as what's used for the four cross bars. I can't help imagine how much money they might save by not purchasing the smaller square tubing.

 

That's what I'm thinking is eventually going to happen.
The instructions included with my topper state the long beds now come with 6 clamps.

 

I should ask for a refund!



Joking.

 

Perfect, thanks for the detailed writeup! Should be easy enough to make and more cost effective than purchasing a Hi Lift mount.

 

Mine has held-up very well. Perfectly in that I've done some wheeling, taken some hard jolts, and put on many miles - all without any adjustments or repairs or changes.
So it is worth the effort of doing it yourself.

The trax can be mounted high or low as you desire.

 

Short box. I've only got 4 clamps total. My entire rail rolls slightly inward on both sides like so many others but not to the point that it concerns me nor is it an issue in any way. But your one half rolling in like it is definitely seems like it could be result of the round inner joint tube. Softopper has always had good customer service in the past but I haven't had any need to contact them since Bestop bought them out. Like you said, hopefully this isn't an issue of cost cutting. Might be worth a phone call.

 

Can you clarify what you mean by "force the square"? I'm not quite following what you did for the second bolt setup.

 

No worries.
The carriage bolt has a smooth dome head. No hex for a wrench, no slot for a screwdriver. So they are made with a square shoulder just under the head that grabs when the bolt is installed, to prevent it from turning while the nut is tightened.
- They are usually installed in wood, so the square grabs without any pre-installation prep. (They're called "carriage bolts" because they were developed for use in wooden horse drawn carriages.)
- But our installation into an aluminum strap requires this extra step.

So you need to "force this square shoulder" into the round hole that was drilled in the aluminum strap/bar. Square peg, round hole scenario. Do that so the bolt does not turn when you tighten the wing nut against the hi-lift.

I forced the square by using my vise and a deep-well socket: bolt through alu strap hole, bolt threads go inside the socket, whole assembly gets pinched in the vise until the square is stuck firmly in the strap. One vise jaw puts pressure on the bolt head and the socket lets the other vise jaw put opposing pressure on just the strap (not the bottom of the bolt).

 

The sections are about 3 ft long and are held together with a cotter pin clip. I store them in my pelican case on top of the roof rack along with the tarp. The tarp goes all the way to the cab (Entirely over the softopper) So I'm 100% dry if it rains. Works very well.

 

I'm picking up what you're putting down now. Thanks!

 

I made this today. Thanks for the idea really pretty cool! Can you do a write up on this! Ha! Just kidding easy peezy! Thanks!

 

I finally caved in today and drilled / installed the snap screws to stop the flapping on the freeway. Curious to see how it holds up. Was thinking I’d have to drill into the bed, but it was the metal bar that screws in the bed. Anyone happen to know if you can buy a replacement for this and how much it is. Just curious if I ever convert to a hard top and don’t need the snaps anymore.

 

For real made these today. Thanks for the idea. My Glue pvc in the basement was like 2 years old and wasn't good anymore. So to secured the top caps I simply installed a self tapping screw on the side. It beats paying $12.29 at homedepot (inflation is crazy) for the pvc glue pack.

 

Yeah you can buy the part, but dunno why you would. If you don't use the ST just leave those snaps installed on the bar, they aren't in the way. Or remove them; the bar is aluminum so no worries about rust.

 

Nice!

I used them over the weekend while camping in the bed. Worked great.

Edit: That being said, I'm likely going ro replace the paracord with the thread-in eyelet hook, so that it doesn't hang above/below the PVC.