Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Toppers

I saw a snazzy topper today, the RSI. I never seen that brand before.

I bet they are spending.

1999 Glasstite is as snazzy as I've had.....

https://www.rsismartcap.com/$PRIMARY_SITE_URL/$primary_site_url

Hopefully the link works

Never heard of them, but thanks for the link.

Those RSI look nice to me. Kind of clunky but possibly functional. My ARE I bought less than a year ago allows dust and water to penetrate very easily. And the installer setup the LED light so that it blows fuses about every 2 hours, so that has been a nice feature also. I went ARE after my last Snugtop had very similar issues. So after trying American made for 3 total toppers, my next one will be South African.

What truck, and year?

Dust usually penetrates from openings in the bed (stake pockets and underside of the rails) and around the tailgate. I tried taping up all the openings in my bed once and using a tailgate seal. It worked for a while but wasn’t 100%, and the baked on tape residue was very tough to remove. Water intrusion can be from a poorly sealed window or window frame. I had a shell that leaked around the frame. Get in and have someone hit it with a hose until you find the leak and it is usually pretty easy to seal it up.

I've had good luck with Leer. I'm on my forth one I think.

2015 Tundra and a less than year old ARE. Main purpose of the ARE was keeping the dogs safer while on the highway for 3 months of upland hunting each fall. And to provide a reasonable space for locking up stuff as needed. Its been great for the dogs. Keep the wind off of them and they are quite comfortable to low temps on our out of state outings.

I had a Glasstite on my first truck, then a cheap aluminum and then a no name fiberglass one on the next truck. Something that I hadn't expected was the mold growing on the inside roof of the fiberglass caps from condensation from sleeping in the truck bed. I've got an ARE on my newer truck now and that has a fabric carpet like covering inside that would absorb and evaporate condensation. The only thing that I don't like about ARE is the too dark a tint on the rear window. I suppose it prevents people from seeing what's inside, but it prevents a good view out using the rear view mirror.

With the tailgate and all I do not think one can have dust tight and topper.

Like my Leers, on my second one.
Both have received compliments on how good they look!

I'd like one but it would only be on about 4 months a year. The rest of the time, the pickup needs to be on call at a moment's notice for carrying my Razor/car top boat/stock rack full of llamas/hay/kayak, you name it. It's a utility vehicle, not a car.

I've got an ARE mid-height on my '13 Tacoma. Yes, it leaks a bit of dust and when it rains hard, some water gets in. But, as the dealer told me, if you want totally dust and waterproof, buy a SUV.

I really like the accessibility of the work shells like the one on my Tundra.

Before I bought an ARE for my 2017 Tundra, the dealer guy warned me that the canopy might not be waterproof. When I asked why, he said that the front portion of the bed was lower than the rails so they would have to build the area up with foam. And water can flow down the canopy, and collect on the rails. If there any gaps between the rails and canopy it will seep though. I bought one anyway.

When I asked about dust, he said that the Tundra was actually pretty good. IIRC, he said the late model GM trucks were the worst. Similar to what K1500 mentioned. The Tundra supposedly has fewer problems in that way.

On my Tundra, I had to use eight clamps to keep the water out with my ARE. With four clamps, I'd get water in the bed. I tried shuffling four clamps around but it didn't work.

I also added a Bed Rug, and if you think about it, it creates a tub within a tub. It sort of seals it up. I didn't get much dust at all but I know a rug isn't an option for everyone. My bed was for hauling hunting/camping gear, and occasionally sleeping in so it wasn't an issue for me. Nice on the knees, and I didn't need to haul tall objects or chicken manure.

The only dust I would see was near the tailgate, but since there was the rug on the floor, sidewalls, and tailgate, it did a pretty dang good job of keeping it out.

The rear window did leak, and I just added more sheetmetal screws which solved that issue.

I checked out all the fiberglass canopies from the major brands that were available locally before I bought the ARE. Leer, ARE, SnuggyBaby, etc. They all seemed to be more or less the same. Basically crap. I forget who owns who, but there's some overlap in ownership. Quality and fit and finish was mediocre at best. Just seems to boil down to what you think looks best on your truck.

And none seem to hold up to really hard use offroad. That was one of my concerns but the steel or aluminum canopies that I wanted were twice the price. I figured that I'd run the ARE and if it broke, I'd throw it away and buy another one. I drive like a bat out of hell on rough dirt roads and the ARE did fine on the Tundra for roughly 3 years but not on a daily basis. The Tundra doesn't have that bed motion/flex like the Tacoma though.

Instead of going to an Aussie or South African made topper, you could look into a commercial aluminum canopy. Many look weird with the Tundra curves and lines though. Not sure if that matters to you or not. Tradesman has a good reputation around here, but it looks like they are catering to the overland crowd and are focused on trailers now.

There's a company that makes steel canopies for Utah fish and game. I don't recall the name, but their canopies are designed for use on dirt.

I had an ARE for 10 years with no structural problems. I had to seal the back glass window frame and replace the door struts about 6 years in. Beyond that it did fine. I have another ARE for the past 2 years with no problems and a new one on order. I am happy with them.

Great info 4th point. I have 6 of those clamps on there so far. I think I'll try to get some help and raise it up and then build up the front with more gasket material. Need to haul a lot of diesel and herbicides so will pass on the rug but more gaskets and more clamps may help my water issues.

Mine has the side windows that open up with two handles each. Kind of a must have for me as I use them to latch and unlatch the dog kennels. Probably don't help the waterproofness though.

I understand what you are saying there but I found that is what Utility Trailers are for. They carry more weight and more volume than any pickup truck bed. Now they do cost money but I would much rather load a Razor or a boat into a trailer. My truck has a fiberglass tonneau cover and I use one of my 3 trailers for the utility type loads.

I have a very good 6x10 utility trailer but only 1 hitch on the rear. Quite often when the list of stuff is in my pickup bed, my camp trailer is hanging on the rear.

Gotcha

If you have access to a forklift, or maybe even a tractor with fork attachments, it makes it easy. I think most installation shops just use the foam weather stripping that you can get at home improvement stores. It actually works well, but can shift out of place when you drop the top into place. I've used that foam tape in other applications on work equipment and it's handy. I think it's usually sold as camper tape/seal.

I think Snug uses a bulb seal, which you could also try but I've never used it.

Even with eight clamps, I really had to fiddle around getting one just in the right spot. And the correct amount of clamping force. Once I did that, it never leaked and I never had to make any additional adjustments but it took all eight clamps and there are certain locations that you can't put a clamp due to the design details in the sheet metal.

I've never had those side windows but was really tempted. If they have an aluminum frame around the glass, you can get leaks there. That's where extra sheet metal screws may help. The frame is just screwed together with the seal and glass in between. That's how I fixed the leak in the rear window.

Gooseneck trailers are hell on toppers.

Mine is only on from oct to April.

Not trying to sound like a smart ass, but I’ve had so many toppers I can’t really remember, but they all leak a little water around door glass at top when trk. Just setting in heavy rain storm, never had any leak around side windows if shut right. But the latest ARE I bought was there top of line, been several years now, cost about 3-k , much more arrow dynamic than 2-k style, no leaks, they will all get dust unless you put the filler strip in tailgate gap when tailgate down.

Revisiting the topper subject…

What’s y’all’s thoughts on the Soft toppers, less than grand.

Easy on/off, fold down. Basically something to keep the dogs in.