Soft Tonneau

I don't think you have much options on that cold temperature shrinkage. To me any soft tonneau cover will shrink, pretty much any fabric will shrink. I've been through 3 different types/brands of soft tonneau covers and they all shrunk...(with each cover more expensive than the last) I think you're limited in terms of soft tonneaus unless you get the motorized retractable tonneau cover, but then you're getting close to what it costs for a hard cover.

Do you intend to store anything that you wouldn't want stolen? I'm curious as to the reason for a soft cover instead of a hard one.

One season in & I am having good luck on my 05 Taco with a Truxedo Low pro ( rails and all). It has springloaded lenght tentioners and "floating" velcro type side fasteners. Alot of thought went into this system.good quality fabric.Not cheap ~$450

Kevin T

I was just wondering about the OP's choice, because any soft cover is easily sliced open, and there goes the tools, fishing tackle, whatever.

I've had a matching fiberglass topper/cap on 2 different PUs for years. I just decieded to go the better looking low softcover route this time. I used to haul band gear weekly to gigs. so PA amps whatever my PU was perfect for the job. I play less now with less gear and I no longer have my kids around to help remove the heavy cap on the odd occation I need to load firewood wood/ lumber etc.. If someone wants to steal stuff bad enuf they can break any add on lock latch/window easily. If my stuff sits awhile in a bad area (Almost never ) I put the Most valuable stuff in the access cab ( love those 2 doors) . It's not as convenient as the cap for the music but overall I like my Truxedo Low pro choise so far .

Kevin T

I agree with kevin. With soft covers, or for that matter any convertibles and wranglers, you always have that threat of someone ripping through the back to get at your stuff. But in reality I just use it for 3 things: to cover my hideous looking bed with all it's scratches and dents, to help sorta with gas mileage, and keep my gear dry while driving in the rain. In reality anyone who wants at my stuff don't have to slice anything, they just have to pop open my tailgate. Now I think the best choice for the original post would be one of those tonneau covers that you can lift like a hard top, but still be able to roll up that fabric anytime you want. Kinda best of both worlds when you don't have a locking rear tailgate.

The solution I want is a cap suspended over the truck in my garage, so I can remove the hard Versacover and lower the cap into place when I have to carry bulky musical equipment. This would involve pullies and reinforcing my rafters. I'm putting this at number 847 on my list of stuff to do. :-)

I've tried an Access brand cover and an Extang RT cover because I wanted the rollup feature. This combats the cold issue fairly well (so I've seen -Jeff

FYI, the Versacover (hard top) requires no drilling. Easy to remove without help. You must shop more impulsively than I do. If something at HD leaps into the shopping cart, it's usually a hand tool, or 18 packages of screws that I figure I'll need someday. :-) You must be getting impulsive with lawn tractors or refrigerators if you're worried about surprises that require removing a hard top.

I also have the Truxedo Lo Pro on my 2002 Taco. I went for an oil change the other day and picked up a lock for the tail gate. (about 29.95) Had it installed and stopped worrying about someone just opening the tailgate to get my stuff. I reccomend the Truxedo Lo Pro as an attractive bed cover for your truck. Shines up nice with some ArmourAll but takes a few days to work the wrinkles out. Like another poster said, if they want your stuff bad enough, they'll get it, cover or no cover.

"I've seen that the Truxedo has a Toyota rail option that looks like it might work. Evidently Access and Extang hadn't figured this out yet! Does your truck have these rail caps? If you do then I assume that Truxedo has truly resolved the cap thickness issue. Please let me know.

On a side note, I'm not worried about security. I just want to keep the

occasionsal bag of dog food, cement, etc. from getting wet on those rainy days as well as keeping snow out of the bed and improving some on the gas mileage. I'm not thrilled with a hard cover because I'm not sure when or where I will need to remove it. Where would I put a hard top when I'm at the Home Depot? I don't want a cover that requires drilling the truck either. Thanks for all the posts.."

-Jeff

Yes Truxedo has the rail caps issues woked out. But the 1st version I got did'nt fit right towards the tailgate and drove me nuts trying to make it fit. Get this! The side rail mounts are not parrallel all the way to the tailgate! They do a ~10degree taper narowing at the end. I had to call & get different side mounting hardware They (Support ) were very good / knowledable of the problem and shipped replacements free in a couple days days to NJ.

Just had 16 inches of heavy snow on it... saved my PA gear ;)

Kevin T