Tonneau Cover, what am I missing?????

[blubaja03]

Hey,<br><br>    Yeah, the early soft covers are ass.  I made a bracket out  of 1 inch wide steel, the width of the bed. I bolted it into the holes in the cover brackets that attach to the bed already.  I don't have any pics, but I will make a rough drawing for you.  <br><br>   I'm sorry I don't have exact measurements. All my work was dome roughly at my school.<br>Pink is the new steel beam.  Yellow is where to bolt it into.<br><br>1. Remove (save)the bolts in the middle of the bedrails.(the bracktes holding the cover to the bed)(you might need longer bolts)You can bolt it in all bolt locations if you wish, but this is just for what I did.<br>2.The beam is the width of the inside of the bedrails but note, you should make it a little bit longer so it will be bowed upward and not just a flat beam, rendering it useless <br>3. Beam is cut. Bend beam slightly. Line up in bed and prepare to drill holes. <br>4. Drill holes.  <br>5. Bolt in, you might need longer bolts.<br><br>   Sorry if the instructions sound retarted.  It's the best I could do without proper measurements :-/  Good luck.<br><br>Frank X.<br><br>

[blubaja03]

[cyphergirl]

Ah, got it.  When you described it via AIM, I thought that you had just made brackets to hold the '03 bow.  I may have my husband engineer somethign up and then post it here for comment.<br><br>Basically, just something to screw onto the side of the bed, for the existing bow to rest on.

[mbaksic]

Thanks Frank, that would work great. I will have to make it removable somehow, for those times that I haul something bigger. Maybe I can make a special attachment so I can just pop it out. Many thanks for the info, and thanks again for the pics of the bow, Patti.   Mike

[blubaja03]

Hey,<br><br>   Now that I think of it.  I should have made it detachable(without unbolting it)  I know...I'm going to reengineer the beam.  I'll make an opening from the holes to the sides of the beam, then make a catch, so it can lock.   ;D<br><br>Frank X.<br><br>

[mbaksic]

Thats what I was thinking of. Slot in the bar, or a shoulder bolt so you can remove it fast and easy.  Mike

[Texas S]

hey Cyphergirl;<br><br>This is probably a stupid question, but have you tried unbuckling the bow, flipping it, and then re-buckling it?  Is it possible it keeps popping because it's mounted upside down?

[cyphergirl]

When I unclip it and clip it the right way, the bow (over the course of a week or so), flips on the nylon, so that it becomes clipped upside down again.<br><br>Eventually, the bow flipping on the strap wears away at the strap and cuts straight through it.  I've been through three of them and have pretty much given up.  At least leaving it clipped wrong keeps it from cutting through the strap (ie: it's wrong, but it's at least intact.  I just make sure that it holds the cover tight when a heavy rain is coming.

[bajabob]

hey Mike I met a fellow owner today that had converted his soft cover to a hard lid. It used the original baja plastic front end but had a fabric covered hard section behind it. I have asked him to post info and pics of it on this site. Hopefully he does because it looked really good.

Bob

[mbaksic]

Thanks for the heads up, Bob. I can't wait to see the pics. Anything like that would be alot nicer than the crap I have now. Mike