OEM hard tri-fold tonneau leaks badly

[Cg1856]

Has anyone tried the one from Rough Country.

https://www.roughcountry.com/product/ford-flip-up-bed-cover-49254500

thanks

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[HoiToid]

I'll try again

Those pics are by the author of the Reddit post and not from me and I agree the text placement is unfortunate.
Not seeing your pic in the thread, so I'll try to describe.
What I discovered when fixing mine was the OEM installer had cut the rubber seal across the top of the front of the bed a bit too short, which allowed water to drop into the bed around the ends of the seal from the flat area just behind the back window. The multi-ribbed seal was replaced and is a more correct length, so water is now directed properly to the bed side caps or drain channel provided in the hard cover rails.
I packed the side rail gaps with putty just like the author of the Reddit post, but only under the frame of the cover, so as not to be unsightly.

EDIT: Also re-plumbed my cover rail drain tubes to the front corners of the bed. The OEM installer had routed them through a hole in the side of the bed, so now they go through the holes in the front bottom corners which is more direct.

Steve

Still trying to get the pic to upload

 

[stevj]

@HoiToid
Where your yellow line is should already have filler material from the factory to fill the joint seam. I did not add anything to that, but yours may be different.
Look again at the first picture in the Reddit post and you'll see the gap to fill just above the text in the picture at the end of that piece of putty. If you look at the second picture in the Reddit post, you'll see the author's gap has been totally filled. I only filled the portion of gap that was under the rail of the bed cover.
The items circled in green are pieces the author added to better seal the forward corners against water intrusion. I did not need to use any extra pieces like that. It's soft foam like the multi-ribbed seal across the front, but thinner.

Steve

 

[BlueMav43]

Just got my Lariat Hybrid 4/3. Drove home in hard driving rain 25 miles. Only a little water on bed at the left rear by tailgate. Considering the amount of rain, I an ok with that. My drains are close to front on both sides, but drain tube is nearly straight. No water in front at all.

 

[HoiToid]

@HoiToid
Where your yellow line is should already have filler material from the factory to fill the joint seam. I did not add anything to that, but yours may be different.
Look again at the first picture in the Reddit post and you'll see the gap to fill just above the text in the picture at the end of that piece of putty. If you look at the second picture in the Reddit post, you'll see the author's gap has been totally filled. I only filled the portion of gap that was under the rail of the bed cover.
The items circled in green are pieces the author added to better seal the forward corners against water intrusion. I did not need to use any extra pieces like that. It's soft foam like the multi-ribbed seal across the front, but thinner.

Steve

In the 3rd Reddit pic, it appears the silicon putty has been tucked in the joint up to the base of the window where painted body meets the black plastic trim( circled in Yellow). Maybe I'm not seeing it correctly. But this makes me wonder where the water drains in this "moat" that get formed at base of rear window when the putty and weatherstripping are applied. Concerned that it will over time try to leak thru window's bottom seal into cab behind backseat. Am I being too paranoid?

 

[stevj]

The article's author has clearly added putty to that area in order to make the water flow past it and up to the bedrail cap, where it can flow harmlessly and drain off to the rear of the vehicle. Perhaps it was a low spot or a depression, and he added putty to make a smoother transition and to force water around the ends of the rubber seal.
Are you being too paranoid? Nope. Maybe overthinking it a bit.
If you decide to make this modification on your Maverick, once you get things apart and see it better, you'll know how to proceed.

Steve

 

[HoiToid]

The article's author has clearly added putty to that area in order to make the water flow past it and up to the bedrail cap, where it can flow harmlessly and drain off to the rear of the vehicle. Perhaps it was a low spot or a depression, and he added putty to make a smoother transition and to force water around the ends of the rubber seal.
Are you being too paranoid? Nope. Maybe overthinking it a bit.
If you decide to make this modification on your Maverick, once you get things apart and see it better, you'll know how to proceed.

Steve

I too packed the side rail gaps with the black putty as you did only under the frame of the cover; seems to have sealed that leak spot; and allows some water to escape over side of bed. My cover doesn't have drain tubes though. I've had the cover off several times trying to solve the leak issue at front corners. Even used a flashlight laying on tonneau at front corners at night, then crawling into the bed and seeing the light coming in from the flashlight . My concern is the approximately 3/8" deep trough across the front bedrail between tonneau and back window that is going to trap water after I finally get the leaks stopped with putty and weatherstripping, thus giving the water no escape route passage to the side rail so it can travel along the tonneau edges to shed off towards tail gate. I think it's a Unibody design flaw.
Thanks for your replies, I appreciate it

 

[stevj]

@HoiToid
"My cover doesn't have drain tubes though"

That statement sent me to take pictures because you should have drains if you have the same style hard cover.
Drain tube connection is at the front of both cover rails.
These are pics of the passenger side.
1. The drain port.

2. Drain tube installed.

Hope this helps.

Steve

 

[HoiToid]

Thanks, but mine is a soft tri-fold, no drain tubes. I guess I made a bad decision. My other tonneau is a soft tri-fold TonnoPro on a 22 year old Ranger (not Unibody construction like Mavericks). It performs perfectly, no leaks, no flopping at highway speeds. I guess when this Extang SFX soft Tri-fold bites the dust, I'll get a hard tri-fold.

 

[HoiToid]

Hey Steve, how does water get into drain tubes? Can you send a pic of the topside corners? Thanks

 

[stevj]

Oh. I read " OEM tri-fold hard tonneau" and figured it was that.
Kinda dark and pouring rain just now, so I'll post a picture tomorrow of the tonneau side rail with built-in drain channel.

Meanwhile, watch these. They show the drain and stuff.



Steve

 

[stevj]

@HoiToid
As promised, here are a couple pictures of my cover rail drain channel.
1st pic is at the tailgate end.
Any water that gets past the upper seal runs into the drain channel following the orange line.
As an aside, I also ran a bead of butyl rubber sealant between pickup bed and cover rail. You can see it just peeking out inside the red circle. That's so water won't get into the bed from under the rail.

2nd pic shows the depth of the drain channel that runs the length of the rail. I stuck a key in it for scale. The yellow rectangle is the drain channel going toward the front of the bed.
There's an outflow at the tailgate end of the drain channel that I may have to redirect. Waiting for a daytime rainstorm to test.

Steve

 

[HoiToid]

Thanks Steve, I'm still a little confused about what the cover looks like just behind cab & what happens to the water that gets trapped in the Gully formed at front of tonneau and base of window since the black plastic trim on each corner is higher than the metal of the bed.
I am trying to attach a pic but the " attach files" icon won't cooperate

 

[HoiToid]

. Here's the pic, the Green dotted line shows where the black plastic trim meets the metal of the front of bed under back window in the Yellow oval area

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