Why aren't there a lot of canopies on trucks out there?

[jdmartin]

That is a nice looking cap. Which Leer is it?

Good points about the height of the bed too. I can't imagine getting anything heavy up in there. It would be much easier to rent a little trailer that is low to the ground if I needed to haul a refrigerator or something like that. I guess when I was deciding between a Suburban and a truck, the truck seemed more versatile as the cargo area is bigger plus you can just hose it out like others have mentioned.

It's the 100XR. I got sliders on it all around, and removable front window for cleaning. In hindsight I might have skipped the front slider because it rattles some on rough roads and I virtually never open it. But I wanted a way of getting back there from the cab in case I ever had my dog there. As it turned out I never did, she always stayed in front.

 

[Got pipe]

DOG STEPS ! No offense but a dog does not belong in the back of a truck ! Not loose --maybe crated up againt the back of the bed if you don't have room inside. Mine rides on the back floor. Would you let your kids ride back there ? Nothing to stop them from hitting the cab at 70 MPH is there ? Every time I see a redneck driving around with a dog in the back of a truck I want to ''''''''''''''''''''''''''$#@%!!!!

My dog only rides in the bed. Your dog on the floor will still hit the seat back at 70, or go through a window. My dog is a dog though. Not a human being.

 

[Cajun_]

This, folds up like a tonneau when not needed, totally waterproof for large loads. Can fold, put up, or remove in about 2 minutes

My coworker saw one of these and couldn't find what it was called. Mind sharing a link?

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk

 

[Mountain Whiskey]

The bed is short but adding the tailgate gets you almost 8 feet. I use a hitch load extender and it works beautiful. It's actually a 5'7" bed. In fact I don't bother with the extender for lumber under 12 feet.

Anyway, that's the thing: if you do any kind of work with a truck other than farming, being able to lock the cargo is huge. Also being able to keep it dry.

Most of the time I would prefer a van, but up here in the mountains you really need 4wd and no vans do that from the factory.

Just a Mercedes van. I don't know the price on it, it is a Mercedes, so you know....

There are a lot of conversions for Ford vans. They are not factory as you state. Would be nice to have though.

 

[Mountain Whiskey]

My dog only rides in the bed. Your dog on the floor will still hit the seat back at 70, or go through a window. My dog is a dog though. Not a human being.

Yea, that's why he/she deserves better, it's not a damned filthy human.

 

[HSKR R/T]

DOG STEPS ! No offense but a dog does not belong in the back of a truck ! Not loose --maybe crated up againt the back of the bed if you don't have room inside. Mine rides on the back floor. Would you let your kids ride back there ? Nothing to stop them from hitting the cab at 70 MPH is there ? Every time I see a redneck driving around with a dog in the back of a truck I want to ''''''''''''''''''''''''''$#@%!!!!

If you dont have the dog buckled in, then what's the difference if they are in the bed, or in the cab?

 

[Cajun_]

DOG STEPS ! No offense but a dog does not belong in the back of a truck ! Not loose --maybe crated up againt the back of the bed if you don't have room inside. Mine rides on the back floor. Would you let your kids ride back there ? Nothing to stop them from hitting the cab at 70 MPH is there ? Every time I see a redneck driving around with a dog in the back of a truck I want to ''''''''''''''''''''''''''$#@%!!!!

The amount of times I've ridden in the bed of a truck. You need to chill.

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk

 

[BNeal]

Canopies look terrible on trucks imo. My dad always had them on his trucks when I was growing up - I didn’t like them then and I certainly don’t like them now.
Between a tonneau cover and an open bed there’s never been anything I’ve wanted to haul securely with my truck that I haven’t been able to.

Yea, I agree, bottom line for me is they're just fugly!

 

[TNRamGuy]

My coworker saw one of these and couldn't find what it was called. Mind sharing a link?

Sent from my SM-G998U1 using Tapatalk

Softopper – Truck Tops, SUV Tops, Accessories

softopper.com

They are awesome to work with!

 

[Kaderast]

I swore that the next time I bought a new truck, it would have a cap again. I always had caps for my trucks with the exception of a couple and having a cap was infinitely more useful than not having a cap.

When I was younger and more apt to move refrigerators into houses and things like that, sometimes it was a love/hate relationship with the cap, but these days anything too big to fit in the back of my truck with the cap on is being delivered!

Major bonus to the cap is that you can camp inside it if you really wanted/needed to, and you can put your muddy dogs back there without worrying about them getting hurt in an open bed. The other stuff has probably already been said - I like being able to leave all the shop tools in the back at the end of a workday and not have to truck them in and out of the house every evening, locked up and secure (I don't live in a dangerous area anyway, the road ends at my house), and I can go to lunch with a bunch of supplies in the truck.

If I need to move something that needs the cap out of the way I have two good options: first, I can go to my cap store and they'll take it off and store if for me for the day/week/month if necessary. Or I can rent a trailer for the day and just do it that way.

My general experience: anyone that's not a farmer that seriously uses their truck for work has a cap. Those who use their truck more for recreational purposes (carrying an ATV, motorcycle, etc) prefer having an open bed. I've owned trucks all my life and on balance caps are more useful than not having a cap, especially given the height of the bed on full-size trucks these days where putting big, heavy things that high up is hard on your body and more dangerous removing.

Open truck beds are really good if you're a farmer, because you need to move a lot of dirt/hay/manure and you can mound it, dump it with a front end loader, etc, but beyond that the lockable bed is way more useful. Yeah, the truck doesn't look as cool with a cap on it but I'm too old to worry about that ****

Side note: I see *a lot* more trucks with caps on them in the last 2 years than I saw in probably the previous 20. I remember a time where I was pretty much the only guy I knew with a truck that had a cap on it. Now I know a lot more people, and I see a lot more trucks tooling down the road with caps. They've come a long way since the one I had in the 1980s
View attachment 107151
View attachment 107146

Leer color-matched cap with liner on my Maximum Steel Ram

I really like your truck! I think yours and mine are twins.

 

[jdmartin]

I really like your truck! I think yours and mine are twins.

Just about! You have the 6' bed, which I wouldn't have minded having but I already have a tight driveway to park this thing in, so I went with the shorter bed which still works just fine for hauling anything I've needed including 16ft lumber. Funny, I wasn't completely sold on the Maximum Steel when I got it - I wanted the Delmonico Red but they didn't have one with the options I wanted - but it's really grown on me and I like how it changes color when you look at it in certain light, which is what my Titan did as well. It was "Deepwater Blue" and depending on the light it looked either green or blue or black. Maximum Steel is like that too.

 

[jdmartin]

Just a Mercedes van. I don't know the price on it, it is a Mercedes, so you know....

There are a lot of conversions for Ford vans. They are not factory as you state. Would be nice to have though.

Yeah, that's the Quadra-trac conversion. They've been doing those for a long time so they're pretty solid but they're also really expensive. I've always been surprised that one of the big 3 didn't go in on making a 4WD van. GMC did it on the Safari/Astro mini-vans but no one took the plunge on a full-size.

I didn't know Mercedes had a 4WD van but the price of all Mercedes parts is so stupid that I have never been able to justify owning one, and there's several of their small convertibles I really like. I have an old Miata that I tool around in instead, which has a cost of ownership of practically zero - it never breaks, and when things do wear out parts cost next to nothing and can be had everywhere.

 

[MileHi Guy]

Just about! You have the 6' bed, which I wouldn't have minded having but I already have a tight driveway to park this thing in, so I went with the shorter bed which still works just fine for hauling anything I've needed including 16ft lumber. Funny, I wasn't completely sold on the Maximum Steel when I got it - I wanted the Delmonico Red but they didn't have one with the options I wanted - but it's really grown on me and I like how it changes color when you look at it in certain light, which is what my Titan did as well. It was "Deepwater Blue" and depending on the light it looked either green or blue or black. Maximum Steel is like that too.

I love the Max Steel color. And my hard top!

 

[Kaderast]

I love the Max Steel color. And my hard top!

Very Nice! It's obvious that only the smartest truck owners get maximum steel with a topper.

 

[Idahoktm]

Very Nice! It's obvious that only the oldest truck owners get maximum steel with a topper.

Fixed it for you.

 

[Kaderast]

Gotta admit, that was pretty good.

 

[GTLimited]

I think it really depends on location. I'm in the suburbs of a big city ... most trucks you see are just alternatives to the large SUV and have open beds or tonneaus.

But when I go camping, or go out to the mountains in VT or NH, you'll see the proportion of truck caps increase significantly.

Me? I love my 100XR.

 

[hermes]

I’m waiting firm a canopy/topper that accommodates the digital rear view camera. The unit sucks out further than the stand CHMSL so there isn’t one available for my 2021 yet. And it would be nice if Leer or someone came out with a canopy/topper that had a camera in the back that would connect to the digital rear view mirror in order to extend the functionality. As it is now, installing a canopy/topper will render the digital rear view mirror useless by blocking it making it non-functional.

check this

 

[rzims]

Just put a leer on my 19 Ram and love it. I've always had toppers because I like to be able to lock my bikes, tools, fishing equip, etc. inside and out of sight.
Also sleep in there on occasion on overnight fishing trips. Had a soft tonneau for a while and that was nice for keeping stuff back there dry, but didn't really work for the bikes.
I have an old ranger with a rack and open bed for picking up gravel, lumber, mulch, etc.

 

[beetlespin]

I recently switched from a cap to just a cover (last 2 trucks).

There are times when I miss the cap but not enough to go with another one.

If I did get one it would be one that I can use as a camper. Main reason why I did the 6'4" bed.