RSI Smart Cap

Is the nut tightened enough? That should help compress the foam and seal that off. In the picture the nut doesn't look like it's tightened down much since there is very little bolt showing.

 

Forgot to mention that if you only have your wife to help you like I did, it helps to not attach the back panel (or un-attach like I had to).

Made the shell that much lighter but also less awkward to lift and place.

We placed just the front two corners on the back corners of bed and I jumped into the bed and he-manned the shell towards the cab on my back.

I'll also add that the back panel was SO much easier to then fasten as I wasn't hunched over this time placing those silly grommets.

 

I had the exact same problem. Each bolt was "good" at a very different spec. In general my philosophy is if things start to bend, it's too much. Keep in mind it's important to have even compression for things that seal otherwise you will create high and low spots. ALSO if the blocks or bolts were not cut (tap/die) right (two of my blocks were plainly not) that will throw off all of this. You'll be fighting the torque required to "force" a bolt through a f'd up thread. A good re-thread kit will solve that particular problem. Buuuut yeah still started to bend metal well prior to the RSI recommended torque spec.

 

I don't have the time for fancy YouTube videos etc but some quick feedback on my assembly and initial reviews:

The foam seal was too much for the sides to fit right w/o bending metal for the front panel to fit. It was a quick fix with a razor when the sides were loosely set and I went to trimming. I live in the PNW (lots of rain) and so far no water intrusion...at those seals.

Across the board torque specs seem to be off; look and listen for bending metal.

There are some VERY cheap welds. The old quality engineer/welder in me came out and I saw what I would consider real garbage welds. However due to the robustness of the product I doubt there will be any risk involved.

It's clear that RSi capitalized on the NRE (non-recurring engineering) gains. The cap should be a little longer. The long bed version should have "win-doors" that match the bed length and not the short bed win-doors on an awkwardly sized cap. There are a ton of other design features that, as a mech engineer, I would have designed differently.

RSI needs to fix the stupid things like the third break light issue...no excuse there. I don't GAF if you bought x thousand bad harnesses that you know are jacked. Figure it out so the customer doesn't have to. That is so that 1) the third brake light works and 2) the driver side tail light fully functions. Blows my mind.

Roof rail tracks...man I really wish the standard products would fit. I have a Yakima kit and I have to buy some weld tabs. And one of the screws to keep an end tab in, came to me rounded out.

Overall - I'm still good with the $$ for the product, I think. But I do question my decision based on what I've see people doing with Leer and ARE caps. I will say the cap is built like a tank and that makes me feel good. My dog likes to poke his head out of the windows and I like the coverage of the windoors over what I had with a Softopper.

RSi - you could have really done so much better. What you have is a good product, but with minimal effort it could have been great.

 

agreed! I’m also very disappointed at the complete lack of watertightness. The more I think about it the more I realize that positive pressure vent is a stupid idea unless u live in a Desert. Let’s cut a hole in the roof and expect it not to leak. I looked it over. Looks like it’s removable I think I’ll come up with some sort of plug for it because it’s completely useless every car wash you have a lake in your bed. I reached out to RSI they said block the ends with butyl tap.....doesn’t do a thing. Again it’s a poor design. Also the windows leak from poor seals. I still need to file a warranty claim on this.

 

The more I read the more I'm headed towed a softtopper for now. Thanks for all the feedback and opinions soni can get what fits my needs!

 

While I haven't taken mine through a car wash I'm not having the same water intrusion issues.

I'm in SoCal and since it's dry 90% of the year here I'm not as worried. The positive pressure vent is more helpful based on the dust when we're in the back country.

 

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Those were my thoughts too but then I got to thinking other than driving on dirt roads at speed I dont see where it would ever be useful since your not going to off-road at 30mph+ to create any meaningful positive pressure. It’s a nice option but it should be that an option not standard. Hopefully they come up with a plug for it. It’s probably my least favorite thing about the whole cap.

 

I've gone through the car wash and it's pollen season. The positive pressure vent definitely leaked, but ONLY during the car wash. We've had some pretty heavy rainfall and no water has made it through. I also don't have any problems with windows leaking. The only leak from the cap itself is one of the roof rack screws, which I am hoping @chuam is right about.

You're probably right. I just went back around all of the bolts with a new torque wrench so I'll find out next time it rains.. Probably within the next week.

 

I ordered my RSI several weeks ago, haven’t heard one update on delivery.

how long did many of you have to wait for delivery? It did say 10-20 days and it’s been just over the ladder.

still looking forward to putting on my truck but def a little nervous with some of the comments. It was a tough call between the rsi and a snugtop gs but I wanted something “different” so went rsi.

 

Thank you for this information. Exactly what i was just looking for.

 

did you have to do any chopping and welding of any parts? Or did you use the square welding nuts to slide into the channels?

 

How do I fill out a warranty claim on the stoplight harness and interior release latches?

 

My OCD has caused me to still dwell on my bending rails. Looked at how RSI attaches to other vehicles and noticed that the Gladiator has a similar bed side rail system to the Tacoma but comes w/ a different clamp.

I'll try and reach out to RSI about testing out these clamps as they appear to grab more of the metal and farther in as opposed to our bolts that pull down due to being closer to bed center.

 

I tend not to like hardtops, but that's really nice!

 

Inventory Update:

The Evo Sport for the 5ft bed has seen a tremendous amount of demand, so much so RSI simply cannot get these caps here fast enough to keep up. The next available batch of these caps is now 9/30/21. As of today, we are taking $100 pre-order deposits on these caps to secure you spot in line. Deposits are refundable should you change your mind. The $100 deposit will be credited towards final balance with final balance collected a few weeks prior to shipment.


Evo Sport (with side windows) 5ft bed - Backordered. $100 pre-order deposit, shipping ETA 9/30/21
Evo Sport (with side windows) 6ft bed - Backordered. ETA late June early July
Evo A (solid side gullwing panels) 5ft bed - Backordered. ETA late June
Evo A (solid side gullwing panels) 6ft bed - We have just a handful in stock, ready for shipment


We've done our best to keep our website updated with ETA's and lead times. Questions? Shoot us a PM or give us a call. Always happy to help.

Link ---->>>> OFFROADALLIANCE.COM

 

Bedrail clamps.

I measured twice and places those think rubber blocks right at the clamp locations. When we lower the cap into place, we had to pull the rubber seal's edge to avoid pinching.

The toque was just about 100-inch pounds (108?). I have a little inch pound beam torque wrench. It felt like it took forever to snug down, but a little at a time, moving back and forth.
The rail is straight; the cap is snug.

It's off as there are 8 blocks; the two extra go to the end of the bed, near the tailgate.

 

Thanks Tom - I've see pics of the long bed version and it seems like the rails aren't being affected like the short bed ones.

 

I agree. I just spent the past couple hours reading and finally catching up on this whole thread to learn more about this topper because I was interested in one after seeing it in person at a local dealer. I might just order a new softopper or get the used mismatched topper that I was originally looking at from my local dealer. Might look into it again if there's an improved version in the future.

 

When i installed my smartcap i can see the bed rails bend a little in 2 locations. I will probably buy a pair of bed stiffeners and modify it to go reach the mounting locations of the smartcap mounts. I will also do the same with front area so that i will have 4 corners secured and it will not shift. I also live in cali so i am pretty cautious of theft and any additional determent will help.