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Retrax PowerTraxPro MX interfers with Rambox

Pepper

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I just installed my Retrax MX yesterday and aside from the poorly constructed assembly instructions ,I too have the same issues however, I loosened the entire cover and slid it back with one person on each side to close the gap from the cover to the tailgate, which helped quite a bit, and pressed downward on the cover to close the height gaps. In regards to the leaking that I have encountered, I ordered all rubber seals and will remove the cover and apply it between all trouble areas and snug it back down! This will be a weekend project and results pending along with an email response to the company
I have the exact same setup and thought I must be doing this wrong. Not only is their a finger gap over the tailgate but using the words waterproof or water resistant and Retrax in the same sentence is asinine and a complete lie. Thabks for your write up and pictures. Helped me a lot. Now if I can find out what seals you installed to fill these gaps, I'll he golden.
 

robgdiv

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Well, Welfare357 was correct. The entire assembly needed to be lowered. Which I did and now the rear seal comes into contact with the tail gate. But calling it a seal is a little generous. At best, water will now get past the seal and dribble down the inside of the tailgate then drain out without getting anything in the bed wet. And that's not to mention the gap on either side of the seal that Retrax doesn't even try to seal. (Then there's the huge ~4" long x 1" wide gap at each outboard edge of the tailgate that come right from FCA, no extra charge.)

So here's where things stand with my electric Retrax:
  • My mods sealed the sides of the Retrax and eliminated the interference between the Retrax side seals the Rambox. So far so good.
  • The rear Retrax seal will keep out some of the water but only as far as it extends. There is about a 1.5" gap on either side of the rear seal that has no seal at all and water should pour in there pretty impressively unless attended to. I have a plan for that.
  • The front Retrax seal - I don't know about that one yet but will soon. It looks like there is some hope it will seal.
  • The factory gaps...I have a plan for those, as well, so we'll see
Regarding the two issues with the Retrax cover that I fixed already...water intrusion past the side seals and interference between the side seals and Rambox lids...Retrax just isn't interested in putting out a better product. The supervisor I was talking to at Retrax said I should call Corporate with my ideas. I'm not going to screw around with that. If they aren't interested any more than that in putting out a bed cover that doesn't leak and doesn't interfere with Rambox lids, the heck with them. They must like dealing with unhappy customers.

Meanwhile, if anyone knows of a good seal to put around the tailgate to keep out dust, please pass it along. Thanks.
Dog Hauler, I am curious to find out if your modifications to your Retrax are still working?
What did you do to rectify the water intrusion past the side seals and Rambox lid interference with the side seals?
 

Majortom

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Well, Welfare357 was correct. The entire assembly needed to be lowered. Which I did and now the rear seal comes into contact with the tail gate. But calling it a seal is a little generous. At best, water will now get past the seal and dribble down the inside of the tailgate then drain out without getting anything in the bed wet. And that's not to mention the gap on either side of the seal that Retrax doesn't even try to seal. (Then there's the huge ~4" long x 1" wide gap at each outboard edge of the tailgate that come right from FCA, no extra charge.)

So here's where things stand with my electric Retrax:
  • My mods sealed the sides of the Retrax and eliminated the interference between the Retrax side seals the Rambox. So far so good.
  • The rear Retrax seal will keep out some of the water but only as far as it extends. There is about a 1.5" gap on either side of the rear seal that has no seal at all and water should pour in there pretty impressively unless attended to. I have a plan for that.
  • The front Retrax seal - I don't know about that one yet but will soon. It looks like there is some hope it will seal.
  • The factory gaps...I have a plan for those, as well, so we'll see
Regarding the two issues with the Retrax cover that I fixed already...water intrusion past the side seals and interference between the side seals and Rambox lids...Retrax just isn't interested in putting out a better product. The supervisor I was talking to at Retrax said I should call Corporate with my ideas. I'm not going to screw around with that. If they aren't interested any more than that in putting out a bed cover that doesn't leak and doesn't interfere with Rambox lids, the heck with them. They must like dealing with unhappy customers.

Meanwhile, if anyone knows of a good seal to put around the tailgate to keep out dust, please pass it along. Thanks.
Hi Dog Hauler. I too am wondering how your mods have held up, and if you could offer more details on the modifications, particularly regarding the interference with the rambox. I just purchased the manual Retrax Pro MX today and am pretty disappointed with how poorly engineered it is.

Any insights to your solution would be helpful. Thanks in advance.
 

Welfare357

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The best advice that I could give on installing these covers is to make sure the factory utility rails attached to your truck is lowered as low as they can be adjusted down. This will not fix all the issues with the covers. But it helps Rambox lid opening and the seal that travels down the lids.
 

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Bo3liwe

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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. View attachment 14425
Hi
I have same this oem rails (with factory tonneau cove) if i want to install bakflip MX4 .do i have to remove and change that rails first? Or i can install MX4 directly with OEM black rails ?
Because on bakflip website they said you must have the selver rails not black one.
 

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Bo3liwe

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Is this the right parts to install bakflip??
 

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Rau

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I bought a truck with Retrax installed and of course it doesn’t let rambox fully open without that bad cracking sound.
I would love to see how it was solved by author of this thread.


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Eltaco

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I’m not the author of this thread, but installed a Retrax MX which had the exact same issues with the Ramboxes as explained above. I just lived with it for a couple of months but felt like the Rambox use was limited so much by the cover that we stopped using them... they wouldn’t fully open without feeling like I’d completely damage them.

I ended up pulling the weatherstripping out of both Retrax channels and trimming off the triangle portion. Actually I believe they now seal better than before and don’t cause any interference noises.
3c0703c1648b8694c600ee9a2e0e73c7.jpg
 
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Rau

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I’m not the author of this thread, but installed a Retrax MX which had the exact same issues with the Ramboxes as explained above. I just lived with it for a couple of months but felt like the Rambox use was limited so much by the cover that we stopped using them... they wouldn’t fully open without feeling like I’d completely damage them.

I ended up pulling the weatherstripping out of both Retrax channels and trimming off the triangle portion. Actually I believe they now seal better than before and don’t cause any interference noises.

Could you please send the pictures of your mods?


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Eltaco

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Could you please send the pictures of your mods?


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One above showing the piece I trimmed off. Here’s how it sits on the truck now.
20aaa8a50cf61263e32e320d11b4d543.jpg
 
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Rau

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Thank you! I will try it on mine.

Does it allow rambox cover to fully open without any resistance from sealing?


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Eltaco

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Thank you! I will try it on mine.

Does it allow rambox cover to fully open without any resistance from sealing?


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There is still interference from the gasket, but I’m able to open the rambox lid fully and easily without popping noise. It may not be perfect, but it’s much better than the Retrax gasket design.
 
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PurpleRT

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It’s amazing as much as the Retrax cost I would think they would come up with a better solution and make changes to the gasket. That’s what kept me from buying it.


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Eltaco

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Here’s a short video showing operation with the gasket modification I made.

 
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Oak Grove

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Eltaco-I am ordering my '21 1500 with Ramboxes and Multi-Function Tailgate this week. Researching covers and the Retrax fits my goals. It looks like your adjustments were primarily removing the triangle section of the weatherstripping? Did you only do the section where the ramboxes are? Someone also mentioned they used a sealant to hold down the weatherstripping.
 

Eltaco

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Eltaco-I am ordering my '21 1500 with Ramboxes and Multi-Function Tailgate this week. Researching covers and the Retrax fits my goals. It looks like your adjustments were primarily removing the triangle section of the weatherstripping? Did you only do the section where the ramboxes are? Someone also mentioned they used a sealant to hold down the weatherstripping.

I cut that triangle off of the entire length of the weatherstripping. With the triangle, I found the seal didn’t sit flat against the bed anywhere, removing the triangle helped to lay it down.

I’d say it still isn’t perfect, but a whole lot better than with the triangle. I used to have significant interference and if I pushed against it I could open the Rambox fully, but if I did, it would make an audible “pop” as it shut the lid. Not good. Now with the triangle removed I can feel the lid compress the seal, but the lid opens fully and there isn’t a pop sound when closing.
 
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LMT5G

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I must have an updated version of the side rails. On mine, I actually had to raise the OEM silver aluminum rails a tad bit up so that the Retrax side rails were sitting flush with the Rambox as the instructions suggested. Here's a photo of the cover / side rails. Keep in mind, this is the manual version and not the power version (PowerTraxPro). Mine is the Retrax MX Pro.


IMG_0741.jpg IMG_0739.jpg
 

Eltaco

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I must have an updated version of the side rails. On mine, I actually had to raise the OEM silver aluminum rails a tad bit up so that the Retrax side rails were sitting flush with the Rambox as the instructions suggested. Here's a photo of the cover / side rails. Keep in mind, this is the manual version and not the power version (PowerTraxPro). Mine is the Retrax MX Pro.


View attachment 72992 View attachment 72993

Can you take a pic with the tailgate open looking at the end of the rails. Can’t tell exactly what’s going on here, if anything is different. It looks like you don’t have the overhanging gasket at all in that picture.

Any interference with the Ramboxes?

Maybe they made a fix?!

Also, where did you get the 1” thick foam gasket at the tailgate?
 

LMT5G

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Can you take a pic with the tailgate open looking at the end of the rails. Can’t tell exactly what’s going on here, if anything is different. It looks like you don’t have the overhanging gasket at all in that picture.

Any interference with the Ramboxes?

Maybe they made a fix?!

Also, where did you get the 1” thick foam gasket at the tailgate?

Correct, the gaskets appear different on the outside and don’t overhang. There is absolutely no interference with the Rambox system. I took two photos. One is the box partially open and the other is fully open.

As for the foam gaskets, my installer gave them to me so not quite sure where he ordered them from. It’s a high density type foam with an adhesive backing. They are about 4 1/8” long and about 1 1/2” wide.

be5b45171f50deab089042d99a5b8f2a.jpg

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