RLD Design Cap - Ordered!

Got a call from the freight company today. Canopy will be delivered Wednesday!

 

That’s awesome! I got good news today too. Distributor for my Alu Cabin called and said it is on the way from NJ. Should be here in a week.

It’s insane to me that Alu Cab is in South Africa, placed the order on November 18th, and it has already arrived in the U.S. and will be here in a week. Definitely no supply chain problems with them. I hope RLD can remedy their supply chain issues. They really have a great product.

 

It’s here!

 

Congrats!

 

Who did you order it from?

 

Expedition Superstore in Utah. Everything funnels through OK4wd in Jersey. I guess they are the national distributor.

Congrats Ellis. Can’t wait to see it on your truck.

 

Alright so here she is. Didn't finish the installation till well after dark. Crate arrived badly damaged (see pics) so I was worried that the shell would also be damaged. Fortunately, it was heavily wrapped in foam and plastic inside the crate so no damage (thank God!).

Took four of us to lift it up onto the truck...I think it's probably closer to 250 or 300 pounds than 200. Clamping it down is proving to be a bit challenging due to the design of the brackets making it hard to access the bolts with the proper tools. Also, getting it centered and square on the bed is proving to be a bit tricky as well. Will mess with that more today or tomorrow. But for now, I love how it's built, how it looks, and how it works. Not sure it's worth a six month wait but I'm very happy with it.

 

Congrats! Very cool.

 

Awesome. I’m happy for you. Congrats, and enjoy.

 

Super nice!!

 

I specifically like how there’s enough space to get in there and clean both sides of both windows.

 

Now I’m excited! Ordered mine back in August and I’ve been worrying about that gap ever since. I can’t even tell you how many nights I’ve been searching through the internet and Instagram for these picture angles. Your post has me totally pumped!!
Now just need to find pictures with a white shell and black door

But if I don’t find any, I’ll post pictures of mine since the expected delivery date is Jan 10

I actually didn’t even consider this but I can see how it would be a problem if it was a tight fit. Thanks again for sharing

 

Hooked up the third brake light today with the help of the @Puppypunter brake light tap. Had to drill a hole down into the bedside/tail light area but was no big deal.

 

Any drilling needed for the RLD install? Can you please post some pics of the rack/rail system?

 

Only had to drill one hole, for the 3rd brake light wire. I’m sure you could avoid that if you really wanted to.

What do you mean rail/rack system?

 

Just a picture from the top view. No other drilling for the install? I read on another forum that you need drilling on your bed rails for the RLD cap install where RSI and alu cab use clamps instead.

 

Definitely not true. The RLD uses clamps that interface with your Toyota bed rails.

 

I'm about to drive a few hoursto pick up a used RLD top for my 2020 tundra. I realized today that I don't have the factory rail system installed in my truck.

Can anyone confirm whether I'll be able to use this style of mounting clamp to at least safely drive home with the thing on top of my bed?

 

I have no idea what that is. You may have difficulty without the bed rails. Maybe hit up a Toyota dealership and have them installed along the way.

 

Those are clamps to clamp a shell to the top rail of the bedside. They should work fine if the shell has a flat bottom rail and a little ridge on the inside edge would be okay also. Basically like the old school aluminum camper shell frames of yesteryear. Pretty sure they are all still made about the same way, if not identical.

 

You may have trouble. Here’s the inside of the shell that you’ll be working with. As you can see, the flat part overhangs toward the middle of the truck quite a bit.

 

Thanks, that photo helps a lot. Does the cap have a flat bottom and sit flush on the sides?

Might bring some furniture clamps along in case I need something that has a little more reach inward. And motorcycle straps. And a drill and some bolts.

 

It has a rubber gasket along the bottom which, yes, is flat. What do you mean by "sit flush on the sides?" I would just bite the bullet and have the cargo tracks installed. You'll need them anyway.

 

If you cut out holes to access stake pockets, then you can use old school stake pocket expanding rubber mounts. You would need to cut the holes in the bed rail covers, attach the mounts to the shell rails, then lower it down into the pockets, followed by tightening the anchors to expand the rubber. I did this for my headache rack and bed rail assembly. I swapped out the carbon steel zinc coated eyebolts to stainless steel hex bolts and used JB weld to attach stainless nuts to the bottom pressure plates that pull upward when tightening to expand the rubber in the pocket. Just be sure that the nut threads and plate threads line up correctly before the epoxy sets. The epoxy will keep the nut from spinning when you tighten it up and being stainless will prevent corrosion.

 

Well OP, how’d it go?