Tonneau Cover clamp torque

[Mav4fun]

Just installed the Ford/Truxedo soft roll up cover. The install went well and pleased with the fit. In the instructions it says to torque the clamps to 7 ft. Lbs. I tightened the clamps pretty tight and have compressed the gaskets quite a bit (can see it squeezing out from under the rails). The rails certainly aren't going anywhere. It looks like I may be around 4 - 5 ft. lbs. It seems that I would have to absolutely crush the gasket to finally get to the 7 ft. lbs requirement. However I'm afraid if I continue that I may end up bending the rails and not get an even compression of the gaskets.
I was wondering what most people did when they installed their covers. Did you go by the spec or just tighten till it seemed reasonable tight?

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[Old Young Man]

I tightened mine fairly snug, gave it a few weeks then re-tightened. 7 ft lbs is not a lot of torque.

 

[Mav4fun]

I tightened mine fairly snug, gave it a few weeks then re-tightened. 7 ft lbs is not a lot of torque.

Thanks for replying. Kind thinking of rechecking in a couple of weeks like you suggested. I know 7 ft lbs isn't a lot of torque but is taking a lot of compressing the foam to get there! Maybe it will reach the torque easier/quicker after the foam has had a chance to take a set.

 

[Gray Goose]

I have a hard tri-fold, but thought I'd share a suggestion that might be useful. I added a rubber thread cap to the clamp. It reduces the chance of loosening itself.

Before & After

 

[North Coast Joe]

I have the same cover, and only took them to 4#. That was 1400 miles ago, and no problem. I too, think there would be considerable distortion caused to torque them that high.

 

[Mav4fun]

I have the same cover, and only took them to 4#. That was 1400 miles ago, and no problem. I too, think there would be considerable distortion caused to torque them that high.

Yeah I'll probably recheck a few miles down the road just to make sure, but wonder how many people even actually tighten via torque wrench. (Want to avoid the "Just one turn more...." syndrome!)
Thanks everyone for the feedback. New to the forum, but have gained a lot of valuable info already.

 

[bikemendel]

I am by no means a tonneau cover expert. I put them on and off trucks at the dealership I worked at all the time but Ive never used clamps like this before.

I bought the Tyger tonneau cover off Amazon because I’m cheap, but I think I got what I paid for. The clamps they include seem like durable blocks of aluminum but in order for them to actually hold the cover down you have to tighten the screws so hard that they look like they’re bending inside the blocks. There wasn’t a video for the Maverick at the time but the Tacoma video was identical. So I followed that video, but they never mentioned clamping force. So now after months of it being on, from the outside it looks like it’s warping the bed rail covers. And at this point because they've been clamped, I can’t loosen them at all because even a quarter turn looser and the clamps rattle around. I think between my lack of knowledge and their lack of quality hardware, my rail covers might have to be replaced if I buy a different tonneau cover :/

 

[Hot Runr Guy]

Yeah I'll probably recheck a few miles down the road just to make sure, but wonder how many people even actually tighten via torque wrench.

Well,. some of us were born with "calibrated" wrists & elbows. Hahahaha!

Honestly, if down in the < 10 ft/lbs range, a 1/4" drive inch/pound torque wrench may be easier to use.

HRG

 

[Ringo]

on the 1/4 inch wrench. Got to take care on the aluminum.

 

[Tiger Dude]

I used a torque wrench, 7 pounds isn't much at all.

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