My opinion - I'd get the LEER.
ANd remember, my opinion is worth what you paid for it.....

 

Hey do they have to remove my plastic bed wall covers before installation so that they can get a smooth clean match up? Or do they just set the cap right on top of the plastic protectors?

Brian, any reasoning as to why you prefer the Leer.

I'll tell you what. I was thinking about this last night. And I saw a couple of trucks with really nice tops on them and the nice tops made the trucks look just like the old full size Chevy Blazers or a Bronco. I don't want to turn my truck into an SUV. I want it to look like a truck. So, if Leer's caps are more utilitarian in looks than that's what I prefer I think. The Snugtop is nice but my truck will look like an expedition with that top on it, and I don't want that look. Plus, all those rounded corners take away from the overall interior space.

Ah, but I'm not getting anything right away, i want to make sure I truly really want my truck to have that look. A few cons I was thinking. I wont be able to load stuff from the side, anything i do load into the back will be a pain since you can't stand up inside the cab, there will now be a size limit to what I can put in there, I can't lay in the bed of the truck at the beah in the summer or put chairs in my bed and watch drive in movies. So there are some set backs. The tonno cover is nice cause i can have it completely off and stored behind my seat in under 2 minutes. pretty convenient. So i'm still not sure I want to make a big permanent change to my truck like this. I'm still undecided.

Tom

 

Tom,
Having the flareside bed, I don't think you would look an SUV. I miss my 95 Flareside. I love those beds.

I use a soft cover exactly for the reasons you mentioned. You can take them off quickly and by yourself. I priced the Leonard I mentioned yesterday and talked myself out of it because I knew a time would come when I would need it off quickly and not have any help. The soft cover works better for me, although I do like the looks of the fiberglass shells.

Rich

 

yeah, the fiberglass tonno covers i never understood, unless you were selling electronic equipment out of the bed or something. If you needed to put a tv or dresser or help a friend with a broken down motorcycle out on the fly, you'd be stuck. Better off with a Subaru Outback. The hard tonno covers, although they do look nice, basically castrate your truck into a completely useless 2 seater. Might as well get a mustang or a vette, you'd probably have more storage space. I come across situations quite frequently where I need to take my soft Extang cover off to haul stuff spur of the moment.

That's one reason why It's such a tough decision on even the cap, cause there aren't many times but there ARE times when I toss stuff higher than my roof top spur-of-the-moment. And if I had the cap on the truck, i'm be stuck in the muck like a duck !

Tom

 

Tell me about it! J/K

I like my hard tonneau because it's turned my bed into a trunk, and the times where I do need my truck as a truck, well, it's too far and few in between. Did I say that right?

If i've got to haul something higher than my bedsides, I can always leave the Tonneau up, and stuff things in there. If it's something along the lines of a refrigerator, well I have to take that off before doing so. It's not often that i have to haul something that huge spur of the moment. It's actually....never. But about a million times i've stuffed things in my bed, popped the tonneau up, and driven off. I've hauled dressers, couches, garbage to the landfill, you name it. All with my top either shut or up.

If it's raining, and I've got my laptop and other things with me, and me and my girlfriend are using my truck, I can just throw it in my 'trunk'. You can do that with a soft roll up tonneau too, but I just prefer the look of the fiberglass tonneau. It's color-matched, and much more sleek. The soft ones, like leather or whatnot, are a billion times lighter, and easier to work with. But they're not so sturdy, and can be ripped or broken in the event of a break in. I can stand on top of my tonneau.

And tom, yes i've seen the smooth shells make the truck look like an expy. But that doesnt mean you should go with the boxier shells. That will make your truck look like 'bill's' 87 toyota pickup with the shell, that everyone rode in when they wanted to sneak off campus in high school. You catch my drift, right?

Check out my gallery, I've got some pics of my tonneau, both shut and wide open. You'll get a glimpse of the cargo space you can get from it. You can still go to the drive thru with it, just don't try to put more than 2 chairs in there. Maybe haul a fridge out by the tailgate without removing the top. Camping? Sleep in it! Might feel like a sardine though....

 

Oh, and there probably isn't a need to remove the plastic bed caps. those have access at each corner to the bed stakes, i think that's what they are called. Plus, removing them is like a 75% chance of breaking them. Whenever you remove them, typically you have to replace them. That's what I've learned at the body shops when I have brought my truck in. I was once broadsided on my own street. By a 12 year old boy, on his BMX bicycle.

 

Ah, see? These are all the answers that are helping me make up my mind. All this is a great help. I don't think we've ever had a thread that discussed toppers before and these comments are GREAT.

True. It's not every day that I need the full ultimate use of the maximum capacity of my truck bed. Actually it is very seldom. But that's one of the reasons I bought the truck, for those "what if" or "just in case" situations. Like the old saying goes, everyone should know someone who owns a truck and a boat. Because, unless you use your truck for work, you're pretty much not going to use the bed a whole lot. In fact, my vinyl Tonno cover seldom comes off. Maybe once a month to haul tires or some furniture.

But, 99.9% of these items aren't higher than the roof of my truck, so I'd still be able to haul them with the cap.

Funny you should mention the name Bill and the 87 toyota. I used to have a friend in PA named Bill and he had an old Datsun pickup with an aluminum white cap on it Funny coincidence.

But, If you look at the pictures above, I don't think the Leer looks like a hick piece of junk. I think it looks very high quality but just has a more construction type look to it than a designers type look.

I really need to look at them in person. The internet just doesn't tell me enough. Especially when it comes to sturdiness and thickness of the fiberglass, how well they mount and so forth. I do alot of offroading and I don't want to whack a big bump that twists the bed a bit and have all the windows on the thing shatter along with parts of the fiberglass. It's got to be able to withstand offroading and must be flexible.

If the fiberglass is too rigid, it very well may crack if twisted. If the fiberglass is more "plasticy"-like, then it may flex better and therefore withstand cracking better.

It basicall comes down to either the Leer 100R for 1000.00 installed, or the A.R.E Z Series for 1600.00 installed. The SnugTop was way too much (although very very nice) and the Century has very ugly windows on it. The Leonard doesn't make a cap for the Flairside and there are no dealers in my area. So next weekend I'm going to pit the Leer against the ARE and see if the ARE is worth 600 bucks more. Also, by then I'll probably have a good idea as to whether I really want one of these for my truck or not.

I need to see more of them on the road and look at a couple in parking lots and stuff to actually be able to visualize what my truck would look like with one on it and whether I'll like it or not.

It's too big an expense to take a chance on whether I'll like it or not and they can't be returned because they are special ordered painted to match your vehicle. So I need to make a really good decision here.

BTW, I'll be sleeping under my vinyl tonno cover saturday night. actually alot of room under there because it's bowed up in the middle. Plenty of room for two people, although a bit stuffy.

Tom

 

This might be a bit off the wall, and goofy, but what about one of those tents that you pitch on the bed of your truck? When you go camping, pitch the tent. Off-Roading? you probably want to leave the tent in the box, at home. You only use it when you need it. Since it's a tent, you can just bunch it up and store it away. Something that hideous isn't going to be driven around with, so no worries there. You can still get the bedrug, or hell, get an air matress.

Actually, I think that's a great idea...

it's easily removeable and stored, and it's way bigger than any camper shell. It'll take you just as long to setup as a normal tent. probably quicker, you have your tie downs and bed stakes, no worrying about staking it into the ground. it won't weigh you down and decrease your already awesomely high MPG, because it's temporary (or should i say TENTorary) and not semi-permanently affixed to your bed. it's about a 1/10th of the price too, dude. Like $150 roughly

the downside, it looks goofy, and its not hard like fiberglass, but neither is a standard tent.

Theres about a million different types of tents, with canopies, gazebos, the whole nine here:
http://www.tentsontrucks.com/

heres some reviews on it diff. tents:
http://4wheeldrive.about.com/cs/tent...trucktents.htm

just type in 'truck tent' into your search engine, thats where I got these two.

Hope this helps,

Rman

Dude i was just looking at them a little more, I don't camp much, but I want one anyways!!!!

 

Rman, actually my friend has one from trucktentz and it IS really cool. But it does not in any way assemble quickly. But it is great for camping regardless and very big inside. Only problem with that is if you set up a campsite (meaning setting your tent up and stuff) and then need to drive your truck, you can't. You have to take the tent off first. So if your going to go camping and just leave your truck there and not move it, it's great. But then you can't lock it up or anything. So you have to take everything out and put it in your cab.

Hey, the bed tentz are cool, but they are a pain in the butt, trust me i would have bought my own along time ago if I didn't see how much of a pain they were with my friends. Better off leaving the tonno cover on and putting the tent on the ground. This way, you can keep all your stuff still locked up under your tonno.

And the ground tents dont even need assembly. you just take them outa the bag and throw them. They pop right up into a tent automatically. Then just stake it down.

Having the hard top on the truck was more for just camping. it was for locking away stuff securely, and for always having a cool place to hang out in when I'm someplace with my truck. Like, i can always just keep some sleeping stuff back there in a bag for anytime i want to crash in my truck. Also, mount lights in it and portable stereo in it and have like a portable gas grill in there as well. It would be just a cool place to hang out in anytime I was anyplace cool with my truck, which I am alot. especially with the keys so close and stuff.

That's what i'm still undecided about, what the ACTUAL use of having one would be and would that be worth spending 1000 bucks on. is it worth spending 1000 bucks on something to put on my truck that will be really cool to hang out in and sleep in and make like a portable home but still look cool? Maybe, or maybe not? The question could be answered both ways.

I need more thinking power!!!!! Work brain work!!! I'm cracking the wip!!!

 

Those tents are something. I've never seen those, I don't think.

If you had your Flowmaster exhaust running straight out the back, you would have heat for cold weather camping.

 

Yeah and think how fast i'd fall asleep!!!!

Ok, I just got back from driving over to look at the ARE's. Man they are way way nicer than the Leers. Hands down, no competition. The Leers are cheapo and all the hinges and windows are bolted directly to the fiberglass with no metal railing on the inside to prevent cracking. Even brand new, the hinges felt like they were going to pop off. The ARE's are very strong and beafy.

However!!!!! After actually looking at many trucks with the tops on them and so forth, I've come to a conclusion.

I'm not getting one!! The fun to expense ratio is just not there. It would be fun to have one, but it would make my lifted truck look freakin' huge and it's simply not worth 1600.00.

I'd pay 500.00, but that's all I think they are worth. 1600.00 is just too much money for a silly cap that I would only use on occassion.

So, I'm not getting one, but instead am going to go to outdoor world and get one of those automatic pop up tents that just go "Boing" when you pull them out of the bag. Probably cost 100 bucks but that's far less than 1600.00.

Thanks everyone for helping me decide. This was a great thread.

Tom

 

Maybe look for a used shell later on if you start wanting one again.

 

I tried that though it's hard to find one for the Stepside bed. Fleetside is easy, there's tons of them. But I couldn't find any for the stepside.

 

That's too bad. I've mentioned before that my hard tonneau runs for about $750. Found it in the paper for $350. Talked the guy down to $250. Pretty damn good deal if you ask me!!!

Anyone want to buy it for $350??