any homemade box cover or tonneau cover ideas

[blazer2007]

Looking for some ideas for a box cover or toneeau cover,anyone have a pic of one they made

[Greenlee]

Back in the 80's I remember seeing people make them for these trucks out of 3/4 inch ply wood and black indoor/outdoor carpet. I guess that was before you could go out and buy a tonneau cover in the aftermarket. I remember them looking pretty good, but they are probably a pain to remove if you neet to use the bed.

[datguysaL]

yeah i remember helpin my old man build 2 of these. the first one we made was out plywood with about 2 legs to keep it from saggin in the middle and we covered it with that outdoor turf carpet looking stuff, looked nice cuz during that time that carpet came in many colors, so u had a variety to choose from to match your truck.

the second one we built, we made for a guy that saw the first we had made, but on that one we did it in 3 sections held together by hinges, then covered it with the same material, he chose black. i remember the section close to the cad we used double hinges to compensate for the thickness of the back section wen it was flip all the way to the front.

both we made fit flush with the rails.

[ADennis]

Search the net for pics of a Lingenfelter Twin Turbo Sonoma. He made one out of aluminum and Carbon firber. Might be a little over the top budget wise but its cool anyways. Could get some good ideas from the pictures. Sorry no link, my work internet won't let me find the right page.

[ADennis]

Found the link. Sorry I couldn't post it yesterday.

http://www.sportmachines.com/history/twinsonoma.html

[3r!c84]

i rember someone on here made one out of some wood sticks and vinyl

[Hottrucks]

a coule pieces of paneling and some vinyl fro the fabic store would do it tha paneling owuld need a few supports maybe cut from a piece of pine to keep the arch and close the ends...

[staggerd86c-10]

i would like to see a few pics of these trucks cause i would like to do the same thing for my truck to keep temporarily until all my other plans get done.

[JohnC]

My cousin made one for his 66 VW Double Cab. I'll have to get some pics of it. He made it super simple. He built a basic frame out of aluminum angle, and then put a piece of sheetmetal that he had covered in the same material that they use on the Mercedes convertible tops. The frame basically just sits in the bed. He bolted it down in a few places so it wouldn't fly out, but in our trucks you could just make a style of clamp to go under the bed rails. Like I mentioned I'll get some pics of it, and find out how much it cost him.

[wklink]

I did the plywood/2x4 method with an old Ford Ranger I once owned. It looked darned good too. I had the thing held in by bolts and thought it would never be able to come out.

Bolts loosen if you aren't careful as I found out on the interstate one day. Lets just say a tonneau cover flying off the back of a longbed Ford Ranger makes for an interesting item to duck. Luckily the traffic wasn't that bad and the only thing destroyed was the tonneau cover. Barely missed a tractor trailer though.

[blazer2007]

I have a welder so a frame idea of metal sounds good

[datguysaL]

hey, well your cover possibilities with a welder are endless..

how about a a full square tube frame that sits flush with the top rail, try to not use to much, just enough to add strength. add some hinges at the front of bed near the cab. and tabs on the inside bedrails to hold the rail, then cover it with any light material that you can stretch over it.

id say some aluminun sheets. one not too thick, but then again u can lower your frame to keep it all flush, and to hold it down, you can use some nice screws, bolts or rivets. add some gas shocks and a latch.

hmmm.. i just gave myself and idea... lol..

post some pics of your work.

[blazer2007]

I like the idea of aluminum but is very expensive,was thinking of trying a roofing company to see what they have

[grinch4om]

I used angle aluminum down the sides strategically placed around the bed, 3/4 marine plywood wraped witha cheap tonnea cover, hinged halfway(piano type hinge so I could put groceries etc in the back half) Used hood pins....oh, when it started to age,(sag) I made a prop wall halfway that was also hinged on the back piece,(swung up to the back) and was bed height so if I needed to remove it all it was easy, the sagging was cured and was able to strap things on top of the bed also...looked good and functioned great!

[blazenlo95]

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=355737

I'm gonna redo it this spring though, The center supports need a slight bow and the vinyl needs to be tighter for water run off.

[3r!c84]

thats the thread i was looking for ^^^^

[blazenlo95]

Originally Posted by 3r!c84

thats the thread i was looking for ^^^^

I was wondering if you were talking about me.

[3r!c84]

haha yes i remberd it cus it was a good idea.and orange it my fav color lol

[blazenlo95]

Originally Posted by 3r!c84

haha yes i remberd it cus it was a good idea.and orange it my fav color lol

Thanks man.

[bobs84]

Mine is about what "datguysal" said but added 1in. off foam rubber then trim out patern and glued .

[McMurray76]

I built one out of weather treated 1x for the frame then 1/2" treated plywood covered it with 1/2" foam and vinyl. Looked good and was fairly light. still sucked taking it off without help. My suggestion would be to make some kind of latch for it right behind the cab. At high speeds it will want to lift up from the vacuum created. If you want to make it really weather resistant paint the exposed wood with fiberglass resin.