Tonneau cover a must?

[Jukebox Nero]

View attachment 1492 View attachment 1493 View attachment 1494 View attachment 1495 View attachment 1496

I've actually been trying to figure out how much bed space a hard roll up would block when retracted and had assumed around half a foot for it. If you'd guess a retractable would only eat up 6", how much are you guessing one would lose with the hard roll up?

If you look at this hard roll-up cover, you can get an idea of how much would be eaten up. Granted, there is no spindle with the manual roll-up, but it would probably be close to the same for a retractable. But even losing that much space inside the bed would be too much for me.

Also, it would interfere with some of the Flexbed functionality if you decided to create a bike mount like they outlined, with the front wheels being placed next to the cabin. Some might not mind losing 5.3 of their 33.3 cubes of space, but not for me. I'll stick with the manual roll-up hard cover.

Sponsored

 

[JASmith]

2009 Ram truck owner here, absolutely I would not live without a tonneau cover.

Transporting something and you want to stop at a restaurant? No biggie, if it fits under the cover, and most stuff does, its secure.

Transporting something and you don't want it to get wet or dirty? Voila.

The tonneau also keeps the bed dry and dirt free, which is nice because sometimes you're putting stuff in there like people's bags from the airport that you don't want full of sand and mud or whatever was in there before. A lot easier to just spray it out once and put the tonneau over it than have to remember to spray it shortly before.

They can improve fuel economy by a mpg at high speed.

The real question is what kind of tonneau works best for you. Right now I have a trifold, so it occupies no space and when completely folded back merely blocks the rear view out the glass which is no big deal.

tl;dr: The question is not if to tonneau, but what style tonneau to get, Daniel San.

 

[JASmith]

Over time, Tonneau covers will also fade and degrade in the sun. But I suppose that it's easier to replace a cover than it is to replace a bed liner when it deteriorates. I'm not getting a cover because I figure that the truck will start looking old about the time the bed begins to fade, and I can live with that.

Some relatively inexpensive ones have lifetime warranties. My hard tri-fold tonneau is now 12 years old and the black paint is slightly faded, otherwise still works like new. An easy fix would be to just spray paint over it again. Only thing I don't like about it is how heavy it is.

 

[JASmith]

Certainly but are you willing to lose a half foot of an already short 4.5ft bed? I’m not.

Pretty sure they said you could roll back the tonneau, and then reasonably quickly unbolt it so you could throw it on the floor in the back seat if needed.

 

[NotAnonymous]

If you look at this hard roll-up cover, you can get an idea of how much would be eaten up. Granted, there is no spindle with the manual roll-up, but it would probably be close to the same for a retractable. But even losing that much space inside the bed would be too much for me.

Also, it would interfere with some of the Flexbed functionality if you decided to create a bike mount like they outlined, with the front wheels being placed next to the cabin. Some might not mind losing 5.3 of their 33.3 cubes of space, but not for me. I'll stick with the manual roll-up hard cover.

So that my novice self understands, your last sentence (sticking with manual roll-up hard cover) is NOT referring to what's in these Velocity Blue pics?

 

[motoretro]

I have a Extang folding TriFecta on my current truck and love it. It's very durable, easy to open or remove altogether. I priced one for Ranger 5' box, since it's unavailable for Maverick at this point, $420.00

 

[Jukebox Nero]

So that my novice self understands, your last sentence (sticking with manual roll-up hard cover) is NOT referring to what's in these Velocity Blue pics?

Thanks for asking. That is the manual roll-up. I was referring to the retractable one the Santa Cruz has, as well as some after market manufacturers make. Those have a little housing where it rolls up into a section near the cabin. That is what would take up the bed space I wouldn't want to lose.

 

[NotAnonymous]

Thanks for asking. That is the manual roll-up. I was referring to the retractable one the Santa Cruz has, as well as some after market manufacturers make. Those have a little housing where it rolls up into a section near the cabin. That is what would take up the bed space I wouldn't want to lose.

Gotcha - thx!

 

[JsnMrd]

If you look at this hard roll-up cover, you can get an idea of how much would be eaten up. Granted, there is no spindle with the manual roll-up, but it would probably be close to the same for a retractable. But even losing that much space inside the bed would be too much for me.

Also, it would interfere with some of the Flexbed functionality if you decided to create a bike mount like they outlined, with the front wheels being placed next to the cabin. Some might not mind losing 5.3 of their 33.3 cubes of space, but not for me. I'll stick with the manual roll-up hard cover.

These pics are actually the ones I'm referencing to. I'm more concern about rear window visibility when it's rolled up. As far taking up bed real estate, I feel like it won't make a huge impact unless you're hauling something tall that sticks out past the height of the bed.

 

[Art_Vandelay]

I've actually been trying to figure out how much bed space a hard roll up would block when retracted and had assumed around half a foot for it. If you'd guess a retractable would only eat up 6", how much are you guessing one would lose with the hard roll up?

Probably the same but the retractable covers have a box that sits inside the bed that the cover feeds into. The manual roll up hard cover sits on top of the bed as seen in the pics of that velocity blue maverick. I’d much rather have the interior of the bed free and lose some space on top than lose space inside the bed. Honestly I would probably get a soft rolling cover unless you live in an area that experiences a lot of car break-ins or vandalism. You really have to think about what you’re going to put in your bed on a regular basis. If the bed is just going to act as a big trunk 99% of the time and you’re going to potentially have valuables in there like camping gear or firearms go ahead and get a hard rolling tonneau for the protection. If you just want to keep the bed clean and free of debris when you aren’t using it then save your money and get a soft rolling version.

 

[JsnMrd]

2009 Ram truck owner here, absolutely I would not live without a tonneau cover.

Transporting something and you want to stop at a restaurant? No biggie, if it fits under the cover, and most stuff does, its secure.

Transporting something and you don't want it to get wet or dirty? Voila.

The tonneau also keeps the bed dry and dirt free, which is nice because sometimes you're putting stuff in there like people's bags from the airport that you don't want full of sand and mud or whatever was in there before. A lot easier to just spray it out once and put the tonneau over it than have to remember to spray it shortly before.

They can improve fuel economy by a mpg at high speed.

The real question is what kind of tonneau works best for you. Right now I have a trifold, so it occupies no space and when completely folded back merely blocks the rear view out the glass which is no big deal.

tl;dr: The question is not if to tonneau, but what style tonneau to get, Daniel San.

You bring up a valid point regarding stopping at a restaurant. Pretty common for family trips. Hhmm now I'm back to square one.

Is there such thing as a low profile tonneau cover? Does the soft cover warrant the price? I know it won't stop someone from slicing through it but the idea is that it's out of sight.

How about the Cybertruck tonneau cover concept? Seems like no housing on top. Instead, it looks like it retracts under the bed.

 

[JsnMrd]

This is the Santa Cruz tonneau cover. I didn't notice it first but that seems to be a significant amount of room it takes up. Assuming the hard roll up takes up the same amount, will you still be able to use the bed to mount a bike rack like how they advertise?

 

[Gary in NJ]

A “must”? No. Extremely convenient? Yes.

 

[JsnMrd]

Does anyone know how much weight can the hard roll up support versus the tri fold? I mean if we're compromising space, might as well get more out of it. Other ones advertise their hard cover to be able to support an average adult

 

[Art_Vandelay]

This is the Santa Cruz tonneau cover. I didn't notice it first but that seems to be a significant amount of room it takes up. Assuming the hard roll up takes up the same amount, will you still be able to use the bed to mount a bike rack like how they advertise?

Retractable tonneau covers always take up a bunch of space. The cover has to go somewhere right? I would like to see how easy the Santa cruz’s rolling mechanism is To access. If it were to break or something gets jammed inside I would hate my life if I couldn’t easily gain access to the hardware inside.

Sponsored