I guess I better get a cap. I miss throwing stuff in the back of my SUV!

[grimreefer]

We had a topper on our 02 Harley Davidson F-150 and my wife said never again. All the blind spots made it a nightmare to maneuver. Of course the dark tinted windows and no fancy cameras didn't help matters.

The most comfortable truck I ever owned... until we bought the 5th gen of course.

 

[Quint]

I've been known to throw my ATV into the truck bed. I've hauled mattresses, couches, large boxes, lawn mowers, metal roofing panels, lots of wood 2x4s and 2x6s for the outhouse that I built last year, 2,500lbs of concrete for footings I made for a gazebo, etc. For all of these things, I just rolled back my tonneau cover and rolled. I'd say that once a month I roll that tonneau back for something that I am doing. I would love having a full enclosure, but I hate being limited by needing friends/neighbors to help me lift something heavy off of my truck. I also have a 1950s garage that isn't even big enough for my truck without a topper!

Good luck with whatever you go with.

 

[Desert Dawg]

I love having a topper; not only can I secure things out of sight, I can haul wood loads, Christmas trees, and gear when overlanding/off-roading. For skiing, it makes a great changing room too and place to keep wet gear. Plus, it makes for a great bug out or emergency camper (if that is a concern). The newer designs also give the truck a more integrated look too. When I had to haul dirt bikes, I went with the aluminum roll-top style bed covers which worked out well and looked great with ski racks/cages on them, but I still prefer the topper a lot more.

 

[c3k]

I think toppers have their place. I chose a RetraxPro tonneau cover.

1. It keeps the stuff in bed totally safe from water, dust, thieves, etc.
2. It rolls out of the way for big stuff.
3. It allows me to load stuff ON TOP of it. Like the tree the OP was talking about.
4. It has slots in it that I used to install Thule racks so I can load things ABOVE the tonneau. That allows me to open the tonneau if desired.

(A bed cap would allow more stuff to be stowed, maybe a bit of sleeping in it/dogs, and with a rack you can load things on top, too.)

For me, a soft tonneau did not make sense. The aluminum RetraxPRO was exactly what I wanted. It's been great. YMMV.

 

[Mountain Whiskey]

My thoughts, let's say you need to move a refrigerator or something similar (washer dryer) that you shouldn't lay down.

If needed, I can flip my tri-fold in about 20 seconds or completely remove it in about 3 minutes and fit it in the bed with whatever I'm hauling.

With a topper, it's a multi person lift and a way more involved process. Sure it's rare that you'd have to, but hell, it rare that I even use the bed for anything besides groceries of a quick trip to Lowe's.

I can see the benefits of both, just adding to the discussion.

I have see some pretty cool garage hoist systems that can lift the top off and hold it. I'd definitely rig up something like that if I had one. Even some bicycle ceiling Hooks and four ratchet straps would work.



Sent from my Galaxy S21 Ultra using Tapatalk

You have to be an engineer!

I manage a group of them at work. I give directive on how we intend to do something going forward and someone has to bring up " But we can't do it like that. What if X happens? Then A and Z won't fit Y." "It happened on the Over The Moon project." I then ask, has it happened on the 10,000 projects since then or ever before? No.

I can think of the one time in my life I moved a refrigerator. Now I'm 55. I get people to move them for me.

 

[Ldc2335]

You have to be an engineer!

I manage a group of them at work. I give directive on how we intend to do something going forward and someone has to bring up " But we can't do it like that. What if X happens? Then A and Z won't fit Y." "It happened on the Over The Moon project." I then ask, has it happened on the 10,000 projects since then or ever before? No.

I can think of the one time in my life I moved a refrigerator. Now I'm 55. I get people to move them for me.

I wish I had an engineering paycheck. Instead I'm military with a very "engineering" mind.

I've also had to move across the country a few times, so some of the "unlikely" scenarios are slightly more likely for me.

Sent from my Galaxy S21 Ultra using Tapatalk

 

[Techna]

It really is so dependent on what you do with your truck. I couldn’t have lived with a topper on my 4th gen, but my needs have changed. Now with the way I use my truck, I can’t imagine being without one. I just one day realized that I was often loading things that wouldn’t fit under the retractable bed cover, but no longer carrying things that were taller than the roof of the cab. Not only that, but my truck is too tall to easily reach over the sides to grab things anyway, so limiting side access was a non issue. When I said that I wanted to buy a topper, my wife was incredulous and even suggested that I not sell my very expensive bed cover until I’d lived with the topper for a few months. Didn’t take long to realize that we needn’t have worried much about any negative impact on utility as the Leer I’d bought just worked so much better for our needs. I will say though that the sliding bed floor has been an absolute game changer. Yes I did give up some cargo height, but we routinely load the bed completely full front to back and side to side, and not having to crawl into even a slightly lifted truck’s bed when loading or unloading makes my only gripe 100% disappear.