TopperEZLift

I've been down to the teens in snowstorms without issue as well as PNW rain. Hardly a cavet that should make/break someones purchase especially when configured thoughtfully, but to each their own.

 

Whatever. Your post #55 said water gets through, hence everything I’ve posted since. To me that’s unacceptable. Having to keep two people and their gear from touching it or landing in a puddle inside negates the value.

 

I'll have to elaborate with photos of my bed at some point to help illustrate how that is not possible with my setup

edit: found one. As you can see, there is a gap that goes around the platform. Even if a small amount of water were to enter via the velcro, in the event of a massive downpour while also being parked extremely unlevel, it would not (and does not) touch the bedding at all. Maybe if you lived in the Amazon I could see it being an issue.

 

Seems like a solidly made product just figure if tacomas are #1 buyer that they would have a specific kit for it so everytging works exactly as it should. It would represent the company well and speak to us taco owners/buyers better.

 

Did you maybe not get the Tacoma mounts? That happened with my Initial order as well.

 

Their customer service has been good just dissappointed a bit with some attention to detail things with their instructions as I mentioned with the tacoma instructions and not including a wiring extension. I feel like for $2500 bucks i shouldnt have to wonder where stuff is. Thats why i paid more for a complete package rather than just ordering and sourcing parts on my own. Im sure its a quality product at least.

 

Getting ready for BCOL, too, eh??? That's why I ordered mine and stayed up till 3 AM installing it.

For the rain/leak topic, I had same concern but then I watched one of their video shorts of them taking their own vehicles out camping somewhere in MN. The video showed it raining cats and dogs and they used it as an oppty to talk about leaks. Todd in video said you just need to lower the topper a little to create a break in the canvas and that'll be enough, that is, in the massive downpours. Just thought I'd share.
YMMV

 

Following along with interest. I'm shopping for a truck right now in MN and it needs to be a capable camping rig for 2 people and 2 dogs. I think the TopperEZLift seems like an ideal design. There are pros/cons to ground tent, RTT, trailer, old school camper, etc. Still in the research phase so thanks everyone for the info.

How functional is the bed of the truck for ya know…doing truck things? Sounds like the tent material is all removable but am I going to worry about damaging the other components if I need to haul some lumber?

 

I wouldn't be worried at all, plus it will be a hell of a lot easier to load the lumber with the topperlift if you have a truck cap on. The actuators are the only components you have to leave in the truck. They are about as durable as it gets, the company TopperLift sources from uses the same actuators in agricultural and medical applications so they are safe to leave out and do truck things with. Tod, the topperlift owner has taken his cap off and left the bed open in rain for weeks and he even got a load of class five in his truck bed with the actuators in place and has had no problems.

Topperlift will be at the MN State Fair with probably four different vehicles if you want to check them out then. Alternatively, message me and I can meet you down at the shop in Mendota to see the different options or meet you somewhere and you can check out mine. (I have the contractor package in the old material but it will give you an idea). I live in Cottage Grove currently and will be moving to the Portland area in August.

Good luck on the truck search! I searched for about 8 months before I found mine with everything I wanted (DCLB, Price Point, Mileage etc.).

 

Thank you kindly @425. I am up in cabin country (Crosslake) so it would take some planning to get down there, but I may take you up on that at some point. I just sold my car so now my search is on in earnest. I think a second gen DCLB might be perfect…

 

I will probably be up in the Pequot Lakes area July 27-31. Maybe I could find a few minutes to meet and show you while I’m up there.

 

That would be great! I'm just a few minutes from Pequot. I'll shoot you a PM with my info.

 

I have 6ft bed and actuators are mounted as close to wheel well as possible in bed. After mounting I learned this is less than ideal (ask your shell manufacturer how solid your shell is built on the rails specifically) but I made it work (had some fab work done that cost $35) it was more important to me to reduce mu footprint and keep full access to my bed boxes. My actuators aren't as wide as my wheel well and with my airbedz in the box it works great. The tent/canvass portion is removeable and plyable so I dont see how it cramps your storage too much. Im having a custom over canopy rack built to mount outside the shell and up the side and roof etc. The whole thing has to be able to lift and therefore be mounted to the actuators (all 4 combined can lift up to 900lbs) so I figure 250 for topper and rack (maybe 300 tops) gives you 550-600 rooftop storage. With just thule tracks and rack you should only carry 250-350 so I'll take the extra 200-300 lbs of gear.

 

I've hauled in my bed and the actuators are fine.

 

My vontrol box ram wont lower anybody experience this? Thoughts on whats wrong? Wires crossed etc.....

 

Seems like a great solution.

I don't want a RTT for weight, areo and parking reasons. Sleeping in a ground tent is not really my thing and I don't want the hassle of lugging a trailer around (CA limits trailers to 55mph and the two right lanes).

This sounds like a great solution that based on this thread, just needs a little bit of fine tuning to be perfect.

 

If it went up but wont come down it is not the wires- it means one of the lifts is not parallel to the others and is binding - get a friend and try to push in on the one that is sticking

 

Yep has to do with how level the actuators are. May happen on an incline. I made a video to explain to someone on Facebook. Just uploaded it to youtube. Hopefully this helps you out. Let me know if you have further questions.

PSA. I don't do videos so what you get is what you get.

https://youtu.be/FDDt8UnSXFo

 

All 4 actuators go up together just fine, the control box actuator won't come down. All 4 actuators are disconnected from the topper at this point to prevent them contacting the topper window. I'll check for level and square but they were working just fine and I can't think of any reason they would have moved.

 

Here are photos from both sides, measured 2 different ways.