Truxdeo Lo Pro Tonneau Cover

By Dave R. (FTE user Racerguy)

The previous owner of my truck was a roofing contractor. The truck got used pretty hard and the box condition showed it. He had installed a headache rack and box rails. To install the rail he had to cut off part of the factory box caps. The box didn’t look very good.

I use the truck to tow my race car and my tools and spare parts for the car go into the box. I don’t like leaving anything in an open box even though it’s usually safe where I am. Looking for some way to make my truck look better and have it more secure I noticed that in the forums on FTE that quite a few people said how impressed they were with the Truxedo brand tonneau covers. I decided to go with the Lo Pro cover because I thought it looked the best and looked like it would be out the way the most when I didn’t need it. The cover arrived here in northern Canada in about 10 days. I’m sure that it would be quicker to most other places.

UPS wasn’t particularly nice to the carton in shipping but inside the parts all looked ok other than one broken hook for holding the rolled up cover. A quick email to Truxedo got another hook coming to replace it.

I enlisted my friend Guy to help with the install. It could be done easily enough by yourself but it was nice having an extra person to help. Here he is doing his best Price Is Right girl impression…..

Inside the box were the instructions which were easy to follow…

…and the hardware kit which surprisingly consisted of very few parts.

The first thing to install was the side rails. Looking at the pictures in the instructions it was easy to determine which was the right and left. Simply hold the rail to the inside of the box rail and install the aluminum clamps.

Next you set the rolled up cover and front header onto the rails and front box bulkhead. The rubber weather seal on the front of the cover looked good.

You then slide the header guides into place and tighten the 2 bolts.

Now it’s time to roll out the cover.

I was impressed to see the 3 cross bars that are attached to the inside of the cover. They help to keep the cover tight and keep it from collecting water when it rains. Years ago I had an old style tonneau cover and it was more like a swimming pool after a good rain. Unlike some other covers the bars roll up with the cover. A couple days ago I saw another brand of cover that had the bars attached to the box so when you’d roll up the cover you’d have to remove and store the bars separately.

At the rear of the cover is another header panel similar to the one at the front.

It rotates into the header stops on the ends of the side rails. Once it’s latched down there is a toggle that keeps the cover from being opened. To open the cover you pull the toggle handle to unlatch it. With the tailgate closed and locked you can’t access the toggle. Nice and secure.

The whole installation took less than 30 minutes.

I sure like the fact that there is no exposed hardware to rust or to have to clean.

Truxedo says that the cover can hold about 300 lbs so Guy had to ham it up and lay on it.

It didn’t seem like the cover even moved at all when he did.

The Truxedo sure cleaned up the looks of the box.

I also like the way it doesn’t stick up much above the box which I think wouldn’t look very good.

I haven’t driven the truck too far yet but so far, on the highway, it looks like the gas mileage has improved about 1.5 mpg, according the overhead trip meter.

Not too often that an accessory that makes the truck look better may actually pay for itself but this looks like it will.

All in all I’d recommend the Truxedo Lo Pro to anyone looking to improve the security and looks of their truck.