Installed Elevate Racks with Ford hard trifold tonneau…. One issue to report

[Hammer]

Last week I installed Elevate Rack and Rails ( from Realtruck ) and Ford hard tri-fold tonneau. Install took a few hours but not extremely difficult. I’m very happy with the fit and finish with only minor water leakage during rain test. I plan to add some additional weather seal to make it full water tight.
The only downside I encountered so far is that the tonneau will not completely fold against the cab when the racks are in the lowest setting. The tonneau is blocked by the crossbars. I expect I will mainly use the lowest crossbar setting and so if I happen to need the full bed access, I will need to either unbolt the cross bars to lift them high enough to clear the tonneau, or unbolt the rear towers and slide toward the tailgate to clear. It’s a minor annoyance that I don’t expect to come into play often based on my bed usage habits, but I still like this setup and wouldn’t change it had I known in advance. I attached pictures below of the rack in high and low setting height plus the tonneau blockage issue.

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[clavicus]

Last week I installed Elevate Rack and Rails ( from Realtruck ) and Ford hard tri-fold tonneau. Install took a few hours but not extremely difficult. I’m very happy with the fit and finish with only minor water leakage during rain test. I plan to add some additional weather seal to make it full water tight.
The only downside I encountered so far is that the tonneau will not completely fold against the cab when the racks are in the lowest setting. The tonneau is blocked by the crossbars. I expect I will mainly use the lowest crossbar setting and so if I happen to need the full bed access, I will need to either unbolt the cross bars to lift them high enough to clear the tonneau, or unbolt the rear towers and slide toward the tailgate to clear. It’s a minor annoyance that I don’t expect to come into play often based on my bed usage habits, but I still like this setup and wouldn’t change it had I known in advance. I attached pictures below of the rack in high and low setting height plus the tonneau blockage issue.

Are they finally back in stock?!

They had the rails in stock but not the rack when I bought my X15 rollup cover from them in February. Alex Pendleton said he wasn’t sure if the rack would be sold separately from the rails so I held off until I could be sure to get them together.

 

[clavicus]

Do you think there is a way to cut each component to create a height level below the cab? I’m not sure how the height settings work, are there detents or something?

 

[KenC]

Dang it! So close! Maybe you can just bungee the tonneau to the rack or something.

 

[Hammer]

Are they finally back in stock?!

They had the rails in stock but not the rack when I bought my X15 rollup cover from them in February. Alex Pendleton said he wasn’t sure if the rack would be sold separately from the rails so I held off until I could be sure to get them together.

Yes they are now back in stock. Apparently there was some type of redesign done on the racks and they were not available for awhile but they are now back in production and being sold

 

[Hammer]

Do you think there is a way to cut each component to create a height level below the cab? I’m not sure how the height settings work, are there detents or something?

I think it could possibly be done by cutting the length of each tower post and then drilling new bolt holes. See pic below

 

[Hammer]

Dang it! So close! Maybe you can just bungee the tonneau to the rack or something.

That would work although it would still reduce the amount of open bed area.

 

[Micheal]

Last week I installed Elevate Rack and Rails ( from Realtruck ) and Ford hard tri-fold tonneau. Install took a few hours but not extremely difficult. I’m very happy with the fit and finish with only minor water leakage during rain test. I plan to add some additional weather seal to make it full water tight.
The only downside I encountered so far is that the tonneau will not completely fold against the cab when the racks are in the lowest setting. The tonneau is blocked by the crossbars. I expect I will mainly use the lowest crossbar setting and so if I happen to need the full bed access, I will need to either unbolt the cross bars to lift them high enough to clear the tonneau, or unbolt the rear towers and slide toward the tailgate to clear. It’s a minor annoyance that I don’t expect to come into play often based on my bed usage habits, but I still like this setup and wouldn’t change it had I known in advance. I attached pictures below of the rack in high and low setting height plus the tonneau blockage issue.

You can easily drill a couple of holes at a height that will allow tri-fold to fit. The vertical bars are slimply slide-in and could get any number of heights if wanted. I'd actually like to cut the bars so that they sit lower, below cab height, but I have a rolll-up, so no restrictions. I may look into finding some "pins" that I can pop out easily and change height without a wrench.

 

[Hammer]

You can easily drill a couple of holes at a height that will allow tri-fold to fit. The vertical bars are slimply slide-in and could get any number of heights if wanted. I'd actually like to cut the bars so that they sit lower, below cab height, but I have a rolll-up, so no restrictions. I may look into finding some "pins" that I can pop out easily and change height without a wrench.

Yeah, I’ve seen that mod posted in other thread and it looks like a good solution. I will likely go that route at some point. I like your suggestion about lockout pins for easy height adjustment. Please post if you find a good option for that.

 

[SkeeterB]

I have the undercover trifold. I just moved the struts to keep tonneau up against the rail.

 

[TheSEARCH]

So do all hard covers work with these elevate bars? Or just certain ones.

 

[Hot Runr Guy]

So do all hard covers work with these elevate bars? Or just certain ones.

Does your hard cover have the rails, or do you need to add a set?

HRG

 

[TheSEARCH]

Does your hard cover have the rails, or do you need to add a set?

HRG

I myself don't have the Maverick yet. On order. But I wanted to know if any hard cover will work with the Elevate bar setup or just certain brand hard covers. Whether that is a hard roll up or tri folder.

 

[clavicus]

I myself don't have the Maverick yet. On order. But I wanted to know if any hard cover will work with the Elevate bar setup or just certain brand hard covers. Whether that is a hard roll up or tri folder.

Theres a compatibility page that shows which models are supported, the idea is that the rail channel part is installed first on the bed rail, then the cover channels go against that. Soif another brand installs the same way there’s a chance it’ll work but I couldnt say.

https://truxedo.com/images/Elevate_Rack_System_Booklet_Jan22.pdf

 

[Hammer]

I have the undercover trifold. I just moved the struts to keep tonneau up against the rail.

The simple and easy solutions often evade my brain . I will definitely try that option. Thanks for the tip!

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