Pickup Cap - How to Remove/Store

[Don Abele]

The idea of using the rafters in the garage is a great idea. Unfortunately it won't work and here's why.

I don't have a garage, I have a dedicated two-car sized shop - no way to move the stuff around enough to get a vehicle inside. And besides that, my truck is a dually and is eight feet wide at the wheel wells. Unless I had a two-bay sized door I couldn't get it into a normal single car sized door. And add to that the fact that the truck is over seven feet tall (to the "clearance" lights) and it really won't fit into most standard garages. So I have to find an external way to get it off.

As to what a cap is verses a camper shell, the first pic is a side view of my truck with the cap installed. The second is what I think of when someone mentions a camper for a pickup truck:

truck-side.jpg

Truck Camper.jpg

Now, why do I have one...well, there are times when I need to have the contents of the bed secure and dry (like when I'm moving my family every 2-3 years). It stays off a lot, but that means it gets stored on the utility trailer which I would prefer not to tie up like that. Even if I do store it on the trailer, I still have all that effort of getting it on and off. And no, my truck is not hospital clean - it's a truck with all the dirt, grime, and scratches that comes with utility work.

As for not taking it off at all, I like the idea and often use my utility trailer, but there are times when the truck bed works much better. In the past I loaded 10,000 pounds of concrete into the bed without a problem. My trailer wouldn't have handled that load. And the recent use was for picking up 4 yards of mulch in one shot, which I could easily do with the bed and some side extensions. The trailer would have required a lot of effort at building sides for it (it's a 30 foot flat-bed car hauler). I also have one of the bed unloader roller things which work great at getting stuff like mulch, dirt, and stones out of the bed easily.

Any more ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Be well,

Doc

[Jason Roehl]

Not only do we call them caps, but we sometimes call them "toppers" here. They're the bees knees for those of us who need to haul things (work tools), keep them dry, and HATE driving full-size vans.

As with anything else, there are compromises made. If I want a load of mulch or dirt, the topper has to come off, but I've always managed with two people, and it doesn't stay off long.

The flat cover (hard or soft) that stays below the rear window of the truck is called a "tonneau cover", pronounced 'tun-o'.

[Jason Roehl]

Don...10,000 lbs? In a one-ton? There isn't a one-ton out there rated for that load (the most on the newest trucks is somewhere between 5k and 6k lbs. There's a good chance you could break something. It's not just the static load--it's the bumps and stops. Think about how high you have to jump from to double your weight on a bathroom scale--it's not much...

[Don Abele]

Don...10,000 lbs? In a one-ton? There isn't a one-ton out there rated for that load (the most on the newest trucks is somewhere between 5k and 6k lbs. There's a good chance you could break something. It's not just the static load--it's the bumps and stops. Think about how high you have to jump from to double your weight on a bathroom scale--it's not much...

I knew someone would jump on that. My truck is a one-ton as far as the 3500 series, but that's not what it's rated at. My truck was a custom order (not mine) commerical truck. The entire rear is the 5500 series with twice as many springs (including one that is nearly a full inch thick).

Unlike a stock 3500, mine weighs 12,500 (vice the standard 8,500) and has a rated bed capacity of 8,000 pounds and hauling of 25,000. The standard 3500 is rated at 4,900 in the bed and 13,000 hauling.

The pintle hitch on the rear and fifth wheel in the bed are rated at 20,000 and the goose-neck in the bed at 25,000 (I can switch from the fifth wheel to goose-neck). When in Maine I routinely hauled construction equipment/trailers at 20,000 pounds.

Yes, 10,000 is still over the 8,000 pound limit, but we watched the springs as they loaded the concrete. When the rubber bumpers on the final helper spring touched, we stopped. The estimate from the concrete guy was 10,000 pounds. The truck drove like it was floating - the ride was so smooth (empty it makes my kidneys hurt when I hit a hard bump).

(BTW, the quick story about the truck...it was customed ordered by a fella in Maine who didn't want the 5500 series cab-type truck, so had them beef a 3500 up. He ordered it with all the bells and whistles, including the interior. He dropped 20K down as a deposit and when it came in, he refused to pay the balance off. So the dealership sold it off. The list price was $82,500 (in 2000) and I paid $38,000 for it after they gave me $10K for my Ford F-350!)

Be well,

Doc

[Don Abele]

Jason, here you go...I had to look for the photo.

This is a photo of how I got the first batch of concrete. The tank sitting in the bed holds just over a yard of concrete. They estimated the mix weighed about 5,000 pounds per yard (it was a thicker/heavier mix than normal). This tankload didn't even make the second set of springs engage (there are three sets total).

2007-05-25-02.jpg

Since this load didn't really stress the suspension, when I needed more, I had them load their bigger tank into the bed which holds over two yards. I didn't get a full two yards from them because of the weight of the tank (he said it was about 1,000 pounds just for the tank). As I said, I was watching the springs very closely as they slowly poured the mix in.

Be well,

Doc

[Jim Becker]

Honestly, Don, they really are not intended to be removed and reinstalled with any frequency. Once mine went on the Tundra back when I had it, I never contemplated taking it off, either. That said, perhaps some kind of block and tackle inside a garage with some web strapping as a harness would work for this task.

[Doug Sewell]

I grew up in Ohio and it was always called a cap. When I moved to Georgia they are call a camper shell. I've lived in GA for twenty years now and I still call it a cap. People look at me kinda funny but they figure its just because I'm a Yankee. Throw a bed in it and I may consider it a camper but it still looks like a cap to me. A camper shell would have to be tall enough to stand up in, IMHO.

[Jason Roehl]

So, Don, are you done with that truck yet? You should reward yourself with a new one...

That's a one-of-a-kind ride you got there. Very nice.

And, yeah, if I knew the payload was rated for 8k, I'd probably have 10k in there sooner or later...

I know what you mean about the kidneys. I started plowing for a friend this past winter in a '90ish International single-axle dump truck. I made the mistake of going over a speed bump (not while plowing) empty. Ouch. It sounded like I had dropped the truck off a 50-foot cliff.

[Don Abele]

So, Don, are you done with that truck yet? You should reward yourself with a new one......

LOL...not even close. I bought it new in 2000 and it doesn't even have 50K miles on it yet. Of course I've spent 70% of the last nine years deployed, so the truck sits a lot. When diesel hit $4 a gallon in Massachusetts (it maxed out at over $5), I bought a commuter car for driving to work so the truck is driven even less now (less than 1K miles in the last year). But I wouldn't think of EVER being without it.

...I know what you mean about the kidneys. I started plowing for a friend this past winter in a '90ish International single-axle dump truck. I made the mistake of going over a speed bump (not while plowing) empty. Ouch. It sounded like I had dropped the truck off a 50-foot cliff.

Believe it or not, I actually take this beast off-roading a lot. Impossible (OK, well nearly impossible) to get this thing stuck. But boy the ruts wreak havoc on my body when you hit them at speed (like that speed bump of yours).

As I said, when I was in Maine I hauled construction equipment for a friend during the summer and plowed for him in the winter (it helped pay the truck off). What was incredible was hooking that 10' winged plow to the front and finishing off parking lots in no time. Of course, driving down the road was a bit of a challenge, even with it angled it took up the whole lane (and often more).

Be well,

Doc

[Charlie McGuire]

As far as usefuleness goes, they have plusses and minuses. I keep one on my truck because I want to keep stuff dry on trips. For a hunting trip, I can keep gear dry and still haul dead critters and critter parts around. Not as "pleasant" doing that with an SUV.

I can also haul drywall and wood on wet days. And I routinely load yard waste and debris to haul to the dump.

The things a topper gets in the way of are hauling mulch, dirt, gravel, etc.