Making a tonneau cover frame. Where do the bows go?

Got an old tonneau cover from a friend. it is a soft one with uses velcro to hold it on. Friend said that when it was on his truck the wind that came over the cab caused so much down force on the tonneau that it would come undone. I want to put some bows under it like some of the newer snap/rail ones have. Are these bows in spacific spots? does someone have one on a fullsize bed that they can measure the positions for me? please? is there a website with any instructions on how to build this type of thing? Any help would be great. Thanks Steve

89 c1500
Reply to
BIGSteve
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When I had one on my old truck. It had 2 bows for it. It would have had 3 if it was a long bed. It didn't have a specific spot, they could snap in at any location, but to basically just to snap them in so that it was pretty evenly spaced. It doesn't have to be perfect. Mine had the Snaps. I don't know if putting Bows on yours is just going to cure the problem. You'll still have the same downdraft. The Main purpose of the Bows is to allow Water and to some effect snow, to run off the sides and not build up in the middle of the cover so you end up with a mini Pool from the cover sagging in the middle.

Reply to
JBDragon

I have one on my short box 93 C1500. It's the snap rail type and all said above by JBDragon is correct. There are no specific spots for the bows (I have 3 on mine evenly spaced) and the downforce at speed is so much that it bends the back rail across the tailgate. Even with bows the top will likely release from the velcro.

Reply to
dougmcp

I guess I'm glad when I had my cover I had the snaps. I didn't have problems with any Bows bending in the wind. Mine were all Aluminum along with the frame that went around the bed. It was quite strong, though you would still get the cover moving up and down from all the wind force a bit. I now have a Powered Roll Top Cover. Rolls Open and close with a push of a button to any position I want it at. Has a light that I can turn on my the remote which is quite nice in the dark, and since it's a Hard cover, there's no need for Bows, or flapping Noises. Nice almost flush smooth top. It's so much nicer then that last cover. But any cover is better then Nothing. People think that a back of a truck is where their Garbage goes. (If not on the ground) It's nice to be able to just toss something in the back and not have to worry about someone seeing it and taking it. It's like a really large car trunk but better since I can Open up and really load up Large Items. Best of all I don't have to Remove the Cover and find some place to store it while I'm loading large Items.

My brother has a Ford with a Hard Cover. Went to Good Guys and bought himself a Large TV. Well He couldn't put it in his truck because of the cover being a problem. I drove there in my Silverado. Hit the Button on my cover, Loaded up his large TV into my truck. Dropped it off at his place and hit the button and closed my cover right back up.

I don't miss my Snap on Soft cover at all. At least I was able to still Open/Close the Tailgate without having to Touch the Cover or the snaps.

Reply to
JBDragon

My truck used to have a velcro soft cover that had 5 or 6 bows (?84 long bed) that I removed because I hate all forms of bed covers on a work truck. Tomorrow I?ll measure how far apart each bracket used to be if I can remember.

Reply to
Werewolf_04

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