Are any of you having issues with dirt/dust filling up the bed under your tonneaus ? I have an ARE hard top on a 2005 F-250 short bed. Yes, I installed the rubber gasket around the tail gate....very little improvement. Yes, I live on a gravel road....so maybe some of you wouldn't experience what I'm dealing with. It appears to be mostly coming in over the rear wheel wells....where you can actually see MUD dripping down on wet days ! In 2005 I know the wheel well guards were eliminated....hopefully returned on the newer models ...and may be the whole issue....but if it isn't , I'm not sure I want to waste money on another hard top if this is a permanent problem . I have an F-150 coming this week....maybe this isn't true on that model ?

 

I will let ya know in a couple of months. Mine will be on in two weeks. I drive very dusty roads.

Rick

 

Oh, another note, I have had several trucks over the years. All of them ended up with a shell, ( topper, camper shell, ) what ever they call them in your area. And I was never able to seal out the dust totally. When I lived in Idaho, it wasn't too bad. But here in Southern Nevada, we are the dust capital of the U.S. It is almost impossible to keep dust out of even, the cab of your truck, let alone the bed under a shell or tonneau. Like I said, it will be a bit before I can post my experience with the tonneau. But I will let ya know!

Happy Ford Trucking!

 

I went down to pick up my new tonneau today. They brought it out all clean and the color looked great. But me being in the building trades for years, I saw a flaw right of the bat. I have a 5.5 bed, and the tonneau was a 6.5. Darn now I have to wait another two weeks. But the price came down a hundred bucks for my wait! Dang I kinda needed it next weekend, but oh well!

 

That may be one reason See Mors said they wanted me to bring my truck in before they'd order the top ...I had tried to order it early so I wouldn't have to wait. They said they'd had enough with wrong trucks coming in or people making a mistake about the actual color . No doubt the " short bed" is getting confusing with the 5.5 vs 6.5 . We're in Victor , NY tonight....pick up my KR tomorrow morning !!

 

never had a dust issue on gravel roads


victor ny, what dealer are you buying from? the one jeff worked for?

 

Jake00: Yes, I bought my truck from Van Bortel Ford where the famous Jeff used to work. I had hoped to finally meet him, but he had left when I finally decided it was worth the 500 mile drive. I'm happy to report that I feel I got the best deal ( after fighting with 5 local Ford dealers ) plus several hefty rebates to sweeten the pot....and the experience was pleasant, smooth, quick and without errors.
I did decide to go with the hard top one more time....with this 150...but I would never do it on a 250 again. It's not that the dust will kill you....but I was just disappointed it was too dirty to use like a normal auto-trunk for " clean " things.

 

Lately I have been visiting truck salvage yards around NJ, MD, VA area looking for semi truck wheels and tires. You can guess how the salvage yard inner roads are; I collect a ton of dust between the inner rubber seals and top of the cover. I have to admit that all the dust stays put and nothing gets inside the bed though. But I have noted a leaky stop in front right end where dust and water is getting in, not significant but enough to bother me. Note sure how to fix this.

BTW I have ARE on Long bed dually ( installed the cover two months ago).

 

Vijay: Not sure if this is your issue...but my installer used a glob of some black, clay like material that he placed at each front ( cab end ) corner between the cap and bed rail...squishing some actually under the lip of the plastic rail trim....saying it was to prevent leaking . It seems to have worked. Because I see actual drip marks running down the inside truck bed sides, out of a hole, basically above where the rear wheel would spin up wet/road dust....I'm assuming that's where the bulk of my problem lies. I also use mud flaps...wonder if that causes more to shoot up instead of out the back ?

 

Yes it works for me real well, except in front, about 1 inch!!! need to look at it.

 

Well, I will resurect this thread,

I finally recieved my century tonneau. My only observance is do not buy in Las Vegas. This city is known and getting better known for poor service. I got my tonneau after ten weeks! They ordered the wrong size the first time, and the second time it came in the wrong color. Yesterday I took possesion of my tonneau. HaaaaaaHaaaa what a joke. It had scratches all over it. I argued for 60 minutes over this with my ******* salsman, which is typical for Las Vegas. Long story short he finally cut the price down by 1/2. I got a new, scratched to hell centrury for $325. But I will spend another $200 getting the scratches out. But, $525 ain't too bad for an $800 dollar tonneau. ******* dealer lost his ***. Too Bad!

I will report on dust about on Oct. 10 or so.

Rick

 

Ok, so I went out today, with my perfect 06 F-150, and my scratched to hell BRAND new tonneau from Century (fiberglass). Here is the results.

For my job I had to drive twelve miles round trip on a gravel road. I was in a hurry so I was putting up a good dust plume. When I got home, this is what I did. I openend up the tonneau and yes there was dust present. So I had my wife shut me inside the tonneau. I saw light coming in from the front, both right and left. And a bunch of light coming in from the tailgate.

The front problem will be easily addressed. Large block foam glues in the right place will stop that area from leaking. The tail gate poses the biggest problem. At the hinge area, and the latch area small pieces of foam will have to be srategeticly glue in place to lock out the dust.

So, Mulelady, it can be done. For me I will just wipe off my suitcases, saddles, fishing or hunting gear, and if I forget to do so, anyone offended, can, well you know what!

Sorry for the drivel.

Rick

 

Got my tonneau tight last week. Now when I crawl into the bed, and have the cover shut I see no light. So today I drove out to a dry lake north of Las Vegas. It is just about as dusty as it will ever get out there. And the dust is like flour. I drove out and done what I was there to do and when I got home, I checked out the back end (bed) of my truck. Very, very light dust intrusion. Like a car in a tight garage for six months.
So again, yes you can make the back bed of your truck with a tonneau or shell pretty much, almost dust impermeable. But it takes some work.