When putting a soft Tonneau cover back on is this okay and normal?

W

Weegie

Active Member
My '22 came with a soft foldable Tonneau cover and it wasn't until today that I decided to take it off to see how I liked it without it, turns out I like it a lot and will keep it off when hauling firewood rounds so it isn't in the way when folded down. When I went to put it back on, I thought it would just line up if the threded bolts were in the frames and tightened down, but as I was closing it I saw it was over too far on the driver's side, so I loosened it back up, shifted it to the right, closed it before I torqued it down tight and it was a lot better, it might be about 1/4" over on the driver's side more than the passenger side but it seals up fine. I am assuming that this is okay, and trying to get it to be equal on both sides would probably take many tries and drive me more nuts than I already am, so is this "close enough" good enough and are there any tips to get it lined up properly? I know there is play in those threaded bolts which causes it to move more easily.

Thank you!
 
Is this an actual tacoma cover, or some aftermarket? My 2020 factory trifold tonneau cover uses one bolt on the passenger front side of the cover to secure it in place....it's a heavy cover. You really can't screw it up when taking it off, and putting it back on.
 
It came with the truck from the factory. There is a bolt on the driver side and one on the passenger side that fit into a metal piece with a hole in it attached to the side of the bed. The bolts aren't rigid, they can be slid back and forth in the track they are in so there is some play in it.
 
I'll look at the manual again tomorrow to see if it says a brand name. It's a soft cover that you can fold over twice when it stays on the truck. There also are two metal wires, one on each side, that you clip onto a bolt coming out of the side of the bed to help keep it in place.

I'm assuming since there is play in it just get it close to being even on each side would be okay, just so one side isn't way over more than the other side. Like I said when it didn't line up good I just loosened each side and shifted it over to the right side, closed it again, saw it looked pretty even and tightened it down all the way. I am surprised there is play in it, I thought it would be rigid so you just lined it up in the holes and tightened it back down but these things can slide in the tracks which is strange. Trying to get it exactly even would probably make me nuts!
 
Your truck sounds like it has a very similar tonneau cover as on my truck, it's just that these 2 wires, and bolts you mention doesn't make any sense to me vs my cover. As far as the cover it only says tacoma on the top of the cover rear.....no brand listed who made it. Maybe your truck being a 22, toyota used a different vendor for their covers. When I ordered my truck, I requested it have a tonneau cover among 2 other tech packages. The cover comes off, and sits back exactly when needed to be put back on. Seals out water well to.
 
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tacojoel said:
Your truck sounds like it has a very similar tonneau cover as on my truck, it's just that these 2 wires, and bolts you mention doesn't make any sense to me vs my cover. As far as the cover it only says tacoma on the top of the cover rear.....no brand listed who made it. Maybe your truck being a 22, toyota used a different vendor for their covers. When I ordered my truck, I requested it have a tonneau cover among 2 other tech packages. The cover comes off, and sits back exactly when needed to be put back on. Seals out water well to.
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I played around with this again today, the manual that came with it just says "Toyota Tonneau cover" and at the bottom of the page it says 3100200-30 and under that says "part number". It just says to put it back on and tighten the bolts and attach those two wire "clips". It has no name on the cover itself.

I loosened it up and pushed it more forward towards the cab, I saw that on a video last night. I tried to align it where it was from the factory based on the "dirt marks" left lol, but when I did that the back end was off. I played around with it, got the back end parts to be somewhat the same on each side and tightened it up and let it go, it would drive anyone absolutely nuts to try to get all 4 corners equal and it wasn't that way from factory so I'm sure this will seal and be good. It's like trying to hang a door on your house, these 3 corners are lined up but this one isn't so you adjust something now that one is in line but these two aren't etc. I'm sure it'll never be perfect and this is "good enough".
 
Thats gotta be a different cover than what toyota was installing on their previous year tacoma's. They must be using a new vendor to get their covers from, and it doesn't sound like its all that easy to remove, and put back proper like their older ones. Maybe someone else here will have an answer to what you're experiencing.
 
tacojoel said:
Thats gotta be a different cover than what toyota was installing on their tacoma's. They must be using a new vendor to get their covers from, and it doesn't sound like its all that easy to remove, and put back proper like their older ones. Maybe someone else here will have an answer to what you're experiencing.
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I looked online and used that model number and the videos I see make me believe that it is made by "Rough Country", but none of the videos that I see them installing them are the bolt setups the same as this one, and none of them have those wire clips to be put on. But the material looks the same and looks very similar so I assume it is from that company.

And several of them just put it on, push it up towards the cab, eyeball the back and when they feel it looks close enough they tighten everything down, so I guess there is no way to get it exactly the same each time, but as long as it is close I feel it's good to go.

I'll ask the dealer where I bought the truck about it and see if they know anything about it. And also the clamps in the back of the cover are tight as all heck to pull down and clamp into the bed railing, really have to pull down hard on them and put them under and let them spring load into place, REALLY tight!!
 
If your cover has one of those alignment brackets, as mine does, this bracket piece mounts using a couple torx screws on the middle of the driver upper side of the bed along with 5 other brackets, and plastic trim pieces spaced throughout the bed sides, one of them for the security mounting bolt. When the cover sits over the bed it will seat right into this bracket so you can't really misalign the cover. One rather long 12mm head bolt will secure the cover from flying off. As far as I ever knew these 3rd gen tacoma's used the same cover for all of them, at least through 2022.
 
tacojoel said:
If your cover has one of those alignment brackets, as mine does, this bracket piece mounts using a couple torx screws on the middle of the driver upper side of the bed along with 5 other brackets, and plastic trim pieces spaced throughout the bed sides, one of them for the security mounting bolt. When the cover sits over the bed it will seat right into this bracket so you can't really misalign the cover. One rather long 12mm head bolt will secure the cover from flying off. As far as I ever knew these 3rd gen tacoma's used the same cover for all of them, at least through 2022.
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About a foot behind the front of the bed on both sides there is a mounting bracket in the side track that is horizontal and these are where the bolt goes through them. The bolts are in a track on the cover and can be moved side to side as far as you want, that is why there is "play" in there, I don't know why they aren't stationary but they aren't, so this is where the side to side play comes into play. About 1.5 feet back from these mounting brackets are those clips that none other covers seem to have, and about 2 feet in from the back of the bed is where there are two pull down clamps the ones that are really tough to pull down, they are in a track on the cover just like the bolts are and you can move these side to side as far as you want but there is no reason to do that, but them and the bolts you can move side to side, I wish that they were stationary so it would go back into the same spot each time but it isn't, so obviously this is different than what they had been using, or the local dealer bought it and put it on, I'll have to ask. That's the best I can describe it.
 
Thats strange it's definitely not the same cover toyota has used in these trucks for years. All I can comment with my cover, between the security bracket hole mounted on the beds front passenger side, and the U shaped alignment bracket mounted in the beds upper middle driver side....there's no way you can screwup installing the tonneau cover cockeye over an open bed. You'd have to relocate the alignment bracket, and security bolt bracket, plus other hardware that uses 2 torx bolts on each of the 6 brackets that are secured into throughout the bed.
Toyota sells these tonneau covers as a port installed option, so it'll be interesting what your dealer finds out.
 
I talked to the guys at Toyota today, the best they could do was have someone look at it who is "familiar" with these covers, he listened to what I said, looked at it and said "you did it correctly, the beds on these trucks are pretty much perfectly square but the covers probably are not", and "as long as you get it within 1/8" of each other that should be fine", I thanked him and said "I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing anything" and he said "you're fine" which is what I figured.

I then called Rough Country customer service, explained it to this guy, and he said "it doesn't sound like it's one of ours" so that blows that theory out of the water!!
 
Your guess is as good as mine who supplies toyota with their tonneau covers. I've even heard kikito made them for toyota. I'd say as long as it doesn't leak, your good.
 
I was out there playing around one more time with it, trying to see if I could even out the back part of it by the gate and I could get it pretty close to each other, but then the front left side by the cab isn't butted up against the cab. I even measured the distance that the brackets were installed at, thinking maybe there was a difference in that but they were right on with each other so it isn't that. So I figured the answer is to push the front up towards the cab as far as it will go so that seals, and as long as the difference between the end sides back by the tailgate aren't off much and the door closes and sounds good when opening that's how it has to be. I also must consider that perhaps the foam stopper pieces and trim insulation may not be square, or like this guy at Toyota said maybe the cover itself isn't square, but that's as good as I can get it, I tried enough times, and like you said if it doesn't leak that's all I can do.

Thank you for your help!!
 
And if I thought there would've been so much hassle with this I would've looked at how it was lined up from the factory before I took it off but I didn't think to do that, I didn't see any reason to!
 
There should be no reason why the cover won't install in the same location it was removed. If it was installed correctly in the first place, it goes on the same way if ever removed. It's not rocket science at least on my truck. I can take mine off, and put it back on exactly in the same place in less than 10 minutes. Its like removing a door in a home when taking the pin from the hinges. I gotta wonder if others are experiencing the same issue you are if they have that cover. I not heard any problems with covers such as mine when removing, and putting them back on. I have heard enough issues if not taking care of them when it comes to the weather. These covers need to be treated every few months using a quality tonneau protectant. My dealer started me off giving me a bottle of wolfsteins tonneau protectant...said the rest is up to you.
 
I so wish that before I took this cover off and put it back on that I would've looked at it, how it was aligned, and checked for leaks when it rained etc. but I didn't, I didn't think that I would ever take it off but I did. I just ran it through a touchless car wash, pretty high powered rinse, and when I pulled out I looked and there was water leaking in at the front corners and both sides towards the back, are these things supposed to be watertight or is that just from being under high pressure? I would be able to tell if it ever rains around here again but we've been in a drought for awhile now.

EDIT: I just Googled it and most sites say they won't be 100% waterproof in a rainstorm, and this wash was stronger than most storms we get so I guess that's it. It wasn't pouring in but it was wet.
 
I couldn't give you an answer on car wash's as I don't do them....the truck is professionally ceramic coated that never needs washing, or waxing, just hosing off if really dirty. I do get some water droplets on the driver side bed walls when you get a really heavy wind driven thunderstorm, but it's so minor, it's not worth worrying anything about, otherwise all else is perfectly dry inside. I have heard the same from others to some that their tonneau cover seals poorly. Imo, it seems to be a crap shoot. You either get a cover that seals well, or one that doesn't. I wouldn't beat yourself up over it unless its a leakage of major proportions.
 
tacojoel said:
I couldn't give you an answer on car wash's as I don't do them....the truck is professionally ceramic coated that never needs washing, or waxing, just hosing off if really dirty. I do get some water droplets on the driver side bed walls when you get a really heavy wind driven thunderstorm, but it's so minor, it's not worth worrying anything about, otherwise all else is perfectly dry inside. I have heard the same from others to some that their tonneau cover seals poorly. Imo, it seems to be a crap shoot. You either get a cover that seals well, or one that doesn't. I wouldn't beat yourself up over it unless its a leakage of major proportions.
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Thank you. Like I said I wish I had looked at things before I took the cover off but for some reason I didn't!
 
I would just make sure to treat these covers periodically with a known good tonneau protectant like wolfsteins, or 303 if planning to keep the truck many years. I swear by wolfsteins that the dealer started me off on...been nearly 5 years...the cover still looks brand new.
 
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