At the risk of annoying Fatfenders, I have some "progress" to report. I completed the hard tonneau for my 56. The pictures are in my gallery album "Custom Hard Tonneau".

 

Randy,
Your cover looks great !!! I was lookin for Ideas how to build one, of course thats down the road a bit for me, concidering how I don't even have my box complete yet. How much would you say you have invested in alum. and did you make anything for water drainage so not to seap into the box ? gutter ?
Mike

 

Randy,
I agree, that is a fantastic job! I would be interested in some of the details also. Like mt54 I am a long ways from worrying about bed stuff but I like to have something to think about when I get frustrated on the progress (or lack there of) that I am making on the front end.

Thanks

Bobby

 

Mike -

I probably have about $75 total in material. It could have been less had I used a thinner face sheet, but originally I was considering a painted finish and wanted a stiff upper skin. Later, I decided to go with a vinyl covering, so the .090 thick upper skin is overkill. The most expensive parts were the face sheets. I used 1 inch thick foam sheets to separate the upper and lower skin (will add picture to gallery later). That stiffened the upper skin a lot, so .040-.050 would have been plenty. It could be a lighter structure overall. The most expense was $150 to have a local upholstery shop pad and cover it.

Drainage is provided by the support rails along the top of the bedsides, which have a narrow strip of rubber as a gasket that contacts the lower tonneau skin. That flows water toward the front of the bed where it can drain out of the bed thru two 1/2" holes at the front of the floor. The setup is not water tight, but will direct the water out leaving the contents dry. JetJock told me his tonneau uses a U-shaped support rail that acts as a gutter and a drain that routes the water down thru the post socket. Sounded pretty cool.

The tonneau is locked in the closed position via pins that project out of the tonneau back rail and engage the gate. Open the gate, then you can open the tonneau. The gate is solenoid-operated, so everything is secure.

 

Randy,
Thanks for the info. That sounds great, I like the idea of the u shape gutter.
I'll be filing this one away for a little latter for sure
Mike

 

Randy
Nice job! What would you estimate the entire assembly weighs?
Scott

 

SCD -

The whole thing weighs about 75 pounds. A little too much, actually. If I did it again, I would use only the foam between the sheets (no angle iron) and the tubing would be .040 wall. The face sheets would be .040 or .050 thick aluminum. The whole thing should come in around 40 pounds or so.

I would not use 1/2" square tubing to reduce the weight. I know a guy who did that. Looked fine. Really light. AND...it folded in half the first time he closed it.

It did take a while to select the gas shocks. A local parts store let me rummage thru their stock to find the end style and compression strength I liked. I guessed pretty good. But, if I made one lighter, I would select a lighter strut.

 

Randy,

Thanks for the great info. Of course its probably a curse, NOW I have to try and plan a bed cover along with all the other ideas I have.....

LOL, great job and thanks again for the great info

Bobby

 

Randy

You are doing good things to the old girl. Looks great!
Tell the family hello

Bill

 

Hi, Randy,
Your new tonneau cover looks GREAT! All the mods you are making to your bed are really coming together.

Looks sharp. Wayne

 

Very nice job. I like the hydraulic shocks to help lift it. May consider making one on my truck.

 

mighty fine! randy mighty fine!
cant wait to see it in person
keith

 

Looks great RJ!! I hope you are bringing it to the Supernats. I can't wait to see those bed mods up close. Later Steve

 

Randy,

The cover looks great. You should consider writing a tech article on how to make it and the materials needed...

Vern

 

Randy
Was that your truck that I saw on the 57 Freeway about 5:00 last night? I could not get close enough to see the new cover.
Scott