Tonneau Cover Leaks on 2019 Rams

[Cmerkert]

@Patsy1099 @YoAdrian

Maybe you guys can help me with this - installed my sentry CT today. The instructions on installing the tonneau itself on the tracks are crap. Does this gasket on the front of the cover go above the seal on the bulkhead like in my pictures or should I have folded this under?

It was really awkward looking above the bulkhead seal at first but seems to be settling now, so I think this is right?

Looks great otherwise!

Never saw a Rambox in Delmonico Red. Looks great.

 

[Patsy1099]

@YoAdrian i don’t like the way your rear rubber seal is sitting. It should be flat and tight on you tailgate. Can you take a few mod pics. Straight across each side of the tailgate and then one from the rear. It appears as the the cover is bowing inward. Maybe your rails need to be adjusted/straightened?

Which piece of weatherstripping are you referring to the pieces to seal up the tailgate or the long piece running across the bulkhead?

 

[ders0]

No that piece doesn’t go there. The cover should sit flush. I struggled with that part of the instructions as well. It wasn’t clear to me where that went and why. I am not getting any water leaks though so I guess I did it correctly. When I go out again I’ll take a pic for you but essentially that gasket wraps around the underside of the rails in each corner.

EDIT: looking at your pics again I think I was looking at the wrong piece. Your pic is of the outside looking at the bulkhead which appears correct. I thought you meant underneath. I am including pics of both. Outside from both sides at the bulkhead and also underneath showing one of the rails. Let me know if that’s what you have.

Thanks for the quick reply. Yes - i was referring to the gasket above the bulkhead seal. Looks like mine is exactly how yours is. It has settled too so it sits flatter now that it's been installed for half a day or so.

Those seals for the inside front corners also threw me for a loop though and I did install those differently (and I'm sure wrong). The instructions looked like they went in the front corner of the bulkhead, but I couldn't figure out how to get them inside the cargo rails. So I actually removed both cargo rails which tripled my install time, just to put those things on the front of the bulkhead and after the cover went on they're not sitting flush with anything so they're essentially useless right now. So we'll see if that ends up leaking and if so maybe I'll contact Truxedo to get new seals. I'll post some pics of what I did with those seals after work today.

 

[ders0]

I don’t have Ramboxes or the utility rails, and it looks like you guys received a thicker seal for the Sentry’s front edge than I did. Since the install kits are different I’m not sure how much help my setup will be, happy to share of course though.

I was only given one seal, which was thinner than yours, ran along the front edge of the bed, and did not wrap under anything. It snugs up against the sides and is supposed to lay against the rubber gasket. The rails and back edge of the tonneau also have rubber gaskets attached to them. I noticed I am currently getting water sneaking in at the front corners and that’s about it. Here you can see the rubber gasket above the thin stick-on seal included with my kit. The gasket takes time to relax flat, it looks better now. I may ask Truxedo for a thicker seal like you guys have... that ~1/2” thick seal was included in your kit @ders0 @Patsy1099 ?

View attachment 20232

Yes - I would say the one we got is about a half inch.

 

[Patsy1099]

As a side note with any weatherstripping, or any adhesive-backed piece, I always use a heat gun to warm up the adhesive...especially in these colder months. It makes the adhesive very tacky and it sticks/cures much better. I get tons of use out of my cheap little heat gun Be careful though, these things melt plastic fast if you don’t keep the gun moving and at least a few inches away!

 

[Brandon_Vickers]

Now I see what part that is. That should NOT be like that. It should sit on top of the tailgate. It does that in the beginning. Once it starts to break in it will do it less and less. I am posting pics from various angles.

Does the Sentry interfere with opening the RamBox lids all the way?

Do you have to unlatch the cover before you close the tailgate? or can it always stay latched while using the tailgate?

 

[Patsy1099]

Does the Sentry interfere with opening the RamBox lids all the way?

Do you have to unlatch the cover before you close the tailgate? or can it always stay latched while using the tailgate?

The cover does not interfere with the ramboxes.

You don’t have to unlatch the cover to close the tailgate. The only thing is that there is a rubber trim piece on the edge of the cover that meets the tailgate to seal it. In the beginning that piece is stiff and when you close the tailgate when the cover is down, it occasionally gets stuck inside the tailgate vs laying flat on top, so you just need to pull it up and fix it. After some time it loosens up and gets “trained”, especially if you close the tailgate with a little force, seems to work better.

 

[Brandon_Vickers]

For those of you who went with a Truxedo Sentry or Sentry CT. How did you pick between them? I am trying to find out what is the underlining differences between them. I can not find up close pictures of the different cover materials and I have not found a local dealer that carries both. And their website seems to use different marketing terms for the rest of the parts, like the slats.

 

[Rdskins25]

All, first time poster, I saw YoAdrians review awhile back and I like him chose the Sentry Ct. it was just installed on my truck last week and today we had lots of rain and I noticed leaks ALL over the front and right side. Any advice on how to fix this? It appears I have a super thick weather strip on the front but it seems to be soaking up water rather than preventing it from coming in

 

[Patsy1099]

All, first time poster, I saw YoAdrians review awhile back and I like him chose the Sentry Ct. it was just installed on my truck last week and today we had lots of rain and I noticed leaks ALL over the front and right side. Any advice on how to fix this? It appears I have a super thick weather strip on the front but it seems to be soaking up water rather than preventing it from coming in

If you’re sure your cover is installed correctly and the water is only leaking at the tailgate at the corners, then weatherstripping should correct it. It should not be absorbing water. Not sure what is up with that. Adjusting the weatherstripping and/or adding more should fix things. If you can post some pics of your install and trouble spots we can try and assist.

 

[Rdskins25]

If you’re sure your cover is installed correctly and the water is only leaking at the tailgate at the corners, then weatherstripping should correct it. It should not be absorbing water. Not sure what is up with that. Adjusting the weatherstripping and/or adding more should fix things. If you can post some pics of your install and trouble spots we can try and assist.

Thank you for responding, to be honest, I’m not 100% sure the cover was installed correctly and I even had it installed by the dealer where I bought the cover. It seems the bulkhead seal isn’t glued down entirely and maybe the passenger side rail is up a little. See the pics of my truck bed showing the water in the bed. Not sure what I can do, so any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Brandon_Vickers]

Thank you for responding, to be honest, I’m not 100% sure the cover was installed correctly and I even had it installed by the dealer where I bought the cover. It seems the bulkhead seal isn’t glued down entirely and maybe the passenger side rail is up a little. See the pics of my truck bed showing the water in the bed. Not sure what I can do, so any help would be greatly appreciated

When attaching the seals to a spray in bedliner, it is recommeneded that you scuff it up slightly and use an adhesive promoter.

Not if all have this issue, but my Rambox Sentry included two small foam blocks to put in the corners where the front ends of each rail meets the bulkhead. I had no idea how they should be mounted as the instuctions were unclear. I saw several different ways it could go. I contacted Truxedo and they sent me photos from an employee's truck with the same setup. I would check the front corners for gaps.

Also, get the install instructions for your truck and cover and read through it and check that it seams to be installed correctly.

 

[Patsy1099]

Is that truck on level ground? Did it remain level up until you took that pic? I ask because I’m trying to figure out if the water leaked in through the bulkhead and/or the sides by the rails or whether it leaked only at the tailgate and ran back toward the bulkhead. If it is only leaking at the tailgate, simply adjusting the weather stripping at the tailgate should square things away. If it’s leaking at the bulkhead or on the sides/rails then the cover will need to be adjusted. You might just want to pull the entire cover and reinstall everything. It’s really not a big deal to do. It’s a few clamps. It takes longer than it needs to the first time because you have to read the instructions etc but it doesn’t require any mechanical know how or lots of tools. Whoever installed it probably got it crooked on the rails or didn’t apply weather stripping properly or both. You could (and maybe should) go back and have them do it correctly but if that’s a hassle or you just want to make sure it’s done right, you could yank it and do it yourself. If you wind up having to pull the weather stripping to fix it and it loses its stickiness, just heat up the adhesive side with a heat gun or hair dryer and it will get real tacky again and you will be able to reapply. Pull it off slowly and carefully so you don’t tear it. You can heat it up first also. If it gets trashed or ripped for some reason, call truxedo, tell them it’s a brand new cover and the installer/dealer was a boob and they will almost definitely send you more. They are very nice. Good luck. Ask questions if you have them.

 

[Rdskins25]

Is that truck on level ground? Did it remain level up until you took that pic? I ask because I’m trying to figure out if the water leaked in through the bulkhead and/or the sides by the rails or whether it leaked only at the tailgate and ran back toward the bulkhead. If it is only leaking at the tailgate, simply adjusting the weather stripping at the tailgate should square things away. If it’s leaking at the bulkhead or on the sides/rails then the cover will need to be adjusted. You might just want to pull the entire cover and reinstall everything. It’s really not a big deal to do. It’s a few clamps. It takes longer than it needs to the first time because you have to read the instructions etc but it doesn’t require any mechanical know how or lots of tools. Whoever installed it probably got it crooked on the rails or didn’t apply weather stripping properly or both. You could (and maybe should) go back and have them do it correctly but if that’s a hassle or you just want to make sure it’s done right, you could yank it and do it yourself. If you wind up having to pull the weather stripping to fix it and it loses its stickiness, just heat up the adhesive side with a heat gun or hair dryer and it will get real tacky again and you will be able to reapply. Pull it off slowly and carefully so you don’t tear it. You can heat it up first also. If it gets trashed or ripped for some reason, call truxedo, tell them it’s a brand new cover and the installer/dealer was a boob and they will almost definitely send you more. They are very nice. Good luck. Ask questions if you have them.

Thanks to you all, I called the dealer and since this was their first attempt at this cover, they have the mfg rep coming out to show them how to install this cover.
But to answer your question, it was at a slight downhill slope when the water got in, but when I first checked, the water was leaking from the bulkhead seal and the right side as well as the tailgate.
In the end, if I can wait a little, the dealer will fix this. If not, Truxedo, whom I also called will help by sending parts as well. So, once again, thank you all for your help