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Retrax PowerTraxPro MX interfers with Rambox

Dog Hauler

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I just received my electric Retrax bed cover. The rails that mount to the BUG tie down rails have seals that sit on top of the bed's sill. There is a seal that's supposed to keep water out of the bed. First off, the seal doesn't look like it will do much. More importantly, the seal interferes with the opening of the Rambox cover.

Does anyone else have a problem with this? The electric retractable units have been out only a few weeks, I think, so there probably aren't many folks who have these but an y input is appreciated.
 

harleyrae

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I have the Retrax electronic cover but not with ram boxes. I have had no problems.
 

RonH

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I just received my electric Retrax bed cover. The rails that mount to the BUG tie down rails have seals that sit on top of the bed's sill. There is a seal that's supposed to keep water out of the bed. First off, the seal doesn't look like it will do much. More importantly, the seal interferes with the opening of the Rambox cover.

Does anyone else have a problem with this? The electric retractable units have been out only a few weeks, I think, so there probably aren't many folks who have these but an y input is appreciated.

I'll be watching this thread with interest. I'm considering a Retrax manual cover. After reading your complaint, I'm concerned the manual Retrax covers will have the same issue.
 

Welfare357

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I'll be watching this thread with interest. I'm considering a Retrax manual cover. After reading your complaint, I'm concerned the manual Retrax covers will have the same issue.
I will be receiving a RetraxPRO MX in a week or so. I’ll post my results.
 

Welfare357

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I just received my electric Retrax bed cover. The rails that mount to the BUG tie down rails have seals that sit on top of the bed's sill. There is a seal that's supposed to keep water out of the bed. First off, the seal doesn't look like it will do much. More importantly, the seal interferes with the opening of the Rambox cover.

Does anyone else have a problem with this? The electric retractable units have been out only a few weeks, I think, so there probably aren't many folks who have these but an y input is appreciated.
Can you post some pictures?
 

Dog Hauler

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Let me first talk about the water seal issue.

The tail part of the Retrax seal (the flap that extends over the side of the truck box) looks like it's supposed to fit flush against the box to be the first line of defense against water intrusion but doesn't. Even if it did, that would likely make the interference problem worse. See below.

The main part of the seal, the rounded triangle part, doesn't do the job, either. I poured water from a cup along the seal and quite a lot of water leaked through into the bed.

Second, but no less of an issue is that the seal interferes with opening the Rambox lid. See pics, below.

I sent an email over the weekend to Retrax and a response came in as I'm writing this post. I was very surprised and dismayed by the response. In relevant part, the email from Retrax states:
  • "Though the functionality of the ramboxes will be slightly limited, you should still have access to them...."

  • "Regarding the water intrusion, our covers will not be 100% waterproof. I can send you some rail foam if you think it would help, otherwise not much else can be done to help with that. As for the ramboxes. They will still be able to open and close, though the amount they can open will be slightly limited."

So it seems that they know the seals aren't watertight and also that the ineffective seals interfere with the Rambox lid and that's just the way it is so deal with it, Mr. Customer. With no disclosure in the product description, these two problems are completely unacceptable in a bed cover at any price. At $2500, it is an outrage.

I intend to reply to Retrax:
  • That both of these issues should have been disclosed in the description of the product on their website.

  • That the interference with the Rambox lid created by the seal is much more than slight.

  • That I already figured out a solution to the problem that at the consumer installation stage is not particularly easy but could be engineered into the product with little effort or expense.

I really do have a solution that I consider pretty certain to work. It won't stop water from leaking past the seal. But it will prevent water from entering the bed by evacuating all such water via a drain tube. My plan is to do the modification within the next few days. The first part of the mod involves very minor alteration of the Retrax seal, which I've already done and it helped a noticeable amount.

It will be interesting to see if Retrax wants to know what I figured out.

Now on to the pics.

Retrax 1.jpg


The soft stick-on seal shown doesn't look like it will seal anything and it also looks like it will deteriorate in the sun very quickly. I didn't pour water here to verify the leaking part and it's not been in the sun to see how fast it deteriorates. But this is minor. If everything else sealed, fixing this probably wouldn't be too hard.

But at each end of the Rambox lid there is a gap, as there must be. If the Retrax seal kept water out everywhere else, water will leak past the seal here and into the the bed.

Retrax 2.jpg

Now to an equally troubling issue: the tail on the seal that overhangs the Rambox and the bed side on each end of the Rambox. When the lid is opened, the tail tries its mightiest to prevent the lid from opening more than a few inches. My guess is that the tail is supposed to slide up the lid as the lid opens and some resistance in opening the lid is just the trade-off to get a water tight seal. If that was the case, it's an acceptable trade-off. But, as already noted, there is no watertight seal and...

Retrax 3.jpg

Even when the lid is forced open, the seal doesn't just slide up the side of the lid as it's raised. What you see in the picture, below, is what happens. And all the while, really ugly cracking sounds happen as though the plastic lid or black plastic cover is splintering into shards. That's not happening, but it sure sounds like it.
Retrax 4.JPG
 
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Dog Hauler

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Update:

This isn't good. Retrax replied to the effect: no worries, we'll send out a replacement foam seal.

Yipes! Someone on their end didn't read my email, that's for sure. I responded that replacement foam won't do any good because it won't cure what's wrong. I don't know if I'll get a reply to that or not. Either way, I'm off to see if my idea to make the cover water tight and to eliminate the interference with the Rambox lid will work.
 

NHREBEL2

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Man I'm not happy to here this. My Retrax finally arrives tomorrow. It was delayed 6 weeks to refit for the new RamBoxes. Looks like they failed. Mine is the manual version but essentially the same cover I think.

That shot of the open lid is frightening. How could that be acceptable? These aren't cheap cover$.

Thanks for posting those and I'm very interested in your solution to the seal.
 

Welfare357

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Yea I'm worried we are going to see the same. I should be getting RetraxPro MX in a few days.
 

Dog Hauler

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Update:

Retrax sent another email letting me know that I can return the cover for a refund if I wish, but gave no indication that they're interested in hearing about my mods if they successfully make the product watertight and compatible with Rambox.

I was surprised at this part of the Retrax email: "The 2009-2018 Ram boxes were not able to be opened all the way either as this is one of the most challenging beds to fit given the track system, narrow mounting surface and Rambox doors." So it looks like the same interference issue is present in the Retrax for the Gen 4 1500, as well. No mention of the Gen 4 version being watertight one way or the other. "

In any event, I replied that I intend to see if my solution will work and once again invited them to contact me if they're interested in improving their product in the event my mods work.

I thereafter received another email from the customer service fellow asking for my telephone number, which I provided. But I haven't yet received a call. Stay tuned.
 

Welfare357

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I received my RetraxPRO MX today and installed it with some of the same issues that your having. I think I still have a little adjustment that can can be performed but ran out of daylight and it cold here now. I’ll look at it closer tomorrow.
 

Dog Hauler

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I received my RetraxPRO MX today and installed it with some of the same issues that your having. I think I still have a little adjustment that can can be performed but ran out of daylight and it cold here now. I’ll look at it closer tomorrow.

Good luck. I certainly hope you can adjust the problems away, but that's fantasy. The seal does little but interfere with the Rambox lid. If you think you have a water seal that's 100%, don't forget to pour some water at the seams of the lid. There is no hope of getting a seal there.

There is essentially no adjustment on the Retrax rail that slides into the truck's tie down rail. That's the Retrax rail that has the seal. It's the rails that attach to the cover canister that need fine adjusting but those rails have nothing to do with the seal between the Retrax rail and the truck. That's the one that leaks and it's also the one that interferes with the Rambox lid.
 
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Welfare357

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Good luck. I certainly hope you can adjust the problems away, but that's fantasy. The seal does little but interfere with the Rambox lid. If you think you have a water seal that's 100%, don't forget to pour some water at the seams of the lid. There is no hope of getting a seal there.

There is essentially no adjustment on the Retrax rail that slides into the truck's tie down rail. That's the Retrax rail that has the seal. It's the rails that attach to the cover canister that need fine adjusting but those rails have nothing to do with the seal between the Retrax rail and the truck. That's the one that leaks and it's also the one that interferes with the Rambox lid.
Do you think these rails might help with some of our problems. they are on a RamBox with the factory tonneau cover. You would not need the rails they sent. But it would not help with sealing anything . But it might help getting the tonnean to the correct level. 5.jpg
 

Dog Hauler

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Do you think these rails might help with some of our problems. they are on a RamBox with the factory tonneau cover. You would not need the rails they sent. But it would not help with sealing anything . But it might help getting the tonnean to the correct level.

You said it: it won't help with sealing anything. And I'm not sure what you mean by "getting the tonneau to the correct level."
 

Dog Hauler

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I finished the installation of my Retrax and am all but certain I have the sides sealed. Sealant is still drying so I can't turn a hose on the truck just yet but the testing I did as I went along tells me the sides of the Retrax should now be water tight. I've also eliminated 99% of the interference between the Retrax seal and the Rambox lid.

But is unfortunately not the end of it:

The front seal from Retrax looks like it will (mostly) work. The corners are debatable but we'll see. It shouldn't be too hard to seal at the corners in any event.

But the rear is another story. The cover is too short and stops about 3/4" from the tailgate, leaving a gap that water will just pour through. WTF? Also, the gap is big enough that you can see in most of the length of the bed, a handy feature for bad guys looking for stuff they might want.

I sent an email to Retrax with the picture below asking, basically, what gives?

The light you see is a shop light inside the bed. That gap goes the entire width of the cover.

The tracks are positioned the required 1/8" away from the tailgate so there is no room to slide the whole thing back the needed distance. The cover is just too short. I'm coming up with a fix for this, but I'm a bit pissed that I have to develop their product for them.

Rear of Retrax.jpg
 
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Welfare357

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You said it: it won't help with sealing anything. And I'm not sure what you mean by "getting the tonneau to the correct level."
Referring to the level. My cover sits too high. It would never seal at the tailgate. Now that you mentioned it about length. Mine is to short too. 2AB2668C-D9DD-4883-9741-12134F82BEB1.jpeg B47A5B58-FFA7-4D4B-A374-94AF2946A652.jpeg
 

Dog Hauler

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Referring to the level. My cover sits too high. It would never seal at the tailgate. Now that you mentioned it about length. Mine is to short too.

I don't think it's the height that's the problem. The cover just doesn't extend far enough back so the seal engages the tailgate. Just make the damned cover and tracks and inch or so longer and it would not only cover the gap that's now present but it would more or less seal.

How well do your Ramboxes open? My guess is you must fight with them.
 

Ellisstrong

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I don't think it's the height that's the problem. The cover just doesn't extend far enough back so the seal engages the tailgate. Just make the damned cover and tracks and inch or so longer and it would not only cover the gap that's now present but it would more or less seal.

How well do your Ramboxes open? My guess is you must fight with them.
Y’all are definitely better than me. Would’ve definitely sent that mess back
 

Dog Hauler

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Y’all are definitely better than me. Would’ve definitely sent that mess back

The "make the damned cover and tracks an inch or so longer..." is not directed at Welfare 357. It's directed at Retrax. My sentence structure was poor. Sorry about that.
 

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