I was wondering those of you whom have a truck with a camper shell/ truck cap, what your experience has been with them standing up to the tests and tortures that comes with taking our trucks off the road. I have an 86 Toyota pickup that I have had for a little over a year and am on my second camper shell already, I live in southern California and my wheeling consists of about 50% desert 50% crawling. The first camper shell came on the truck and was a Leer, it lasted about six months, in that time it gathered multiple small cracks before the aluminum piece that holds in the rear window fell out causing the rear window to also fall out and break. When looking for a replacement rear window it became clear it would be cheaper to buy a complete used camper shell than buy the replacement glass. The second camper shell I bought locally for 180$ and it had lasted until last weekend when I did a desert trip to Barstow where I ran course �B� and by the end of the day the camper was rattled with cracks to the point that the integrity of the shell was weakened and had to use tie downs to hold it still, it now shimmy�s and makes noises on the street.
So my question is, what is my alternative here? I really don�t feel the need to want and buy new camper shells every six months but I have a dog and like to do different types of adventures which necessitate me having some sort of cap on the hind side of my truck. I have seen the soft tops they make for my truck but I don�t want to Experiment with the integrity of those seen as they run about 700$. I am also wondering if others have the same problem as I although most all the problems with the shells have come from the high speed desert side of wheeling and it seems that most on this site are East Coasters or pure crawlers.

 

What are you using to hold the shell down, the clamps or are you bolting it down.

I have recently put a shell on my rig and I haven't noticed any flexing or issues but the most I have done is some light wheeling and beach crawling on my recent vacation. I have 6 aluminum clamps that are more than enough to hold it snug and it will not budge at all. Hmmmm thinking of what would cause the shell to flex, I mean the bed flexes different from the cab a smidge but its not in anyway connected to the cab. I bought the shell of of craigslist for cheap and had it line-x'd just because I had a hook up and I got it done for cheap and I can say that after lifting it and moving it around before and after it feels almost bulletproof compared to when it was just painted. Not saying this will fix your problem but if your looking to stiff up the integrity of the shell it is one way to do it.



I also have a 91 so I'm not sure if the bed rails are the same?

 

The first camper I had was bolted in six places to the bed rail and the one that I have now uses "J" hooks in four places. the problems seem more to be at the upper corners of the shells, but I will say the first shell that was a leer seemed to hold down better.

As you can see I'm not so easy on the shells!

 

Besides a hard shell, you're looking at a soft topper kind of deal. The fabric will stretch and move with the bed and will not crack. But its not nearly as secure. I haven't had any issues with my high rise leer, but i'm not jumping it as you are.

 

the one covered in line-x is likely cracked but you jsut can't see it as its covered. Paint will crack, boxliner won't.

What do you have between your bed rails and the cap? At our body shop we use somethign we call "topper tape" It provides a gasket to avoid rubbing and a weather tight seal. a few layers of this and leaving your clamps to the point of loose and it will probally stop cracking. The important part is leaving the clamps "loose" so the canopy is free to move. If its locked tight, its going to crack gauranteed.

I think the soft top is your best option. Plus its easier to remove. Fiberglass shells are not designed for this kind of abuse. You can either keep on buying these figerglass shells for $200 each and watch them all fall apart, or spend the money and get the right product for what you need.

 

Oh for sure it's cracked, dangit.

 

I had some of the camper shell tape on both campers but only one layer.

as far as tightness, I thought that the tighter the better but I here the logic in what your saying about over tightening the shell and that's good to know

the only thing that bugs me about the soft tops is all the moving parts and screws to the skeleton of it which witch I would be worried would loosen up or come apart after hard wheeling and vibration.

here are some pics of the cracks

 

Can you leave it off on your wheeling trips where you are jumping and put it back on for other trips?

Or do you sort of do crawling, desert running and adventuring in the same trip?

 

Had a metal cap that came with 94 nissan hardbody 4x4. That thing could withstand a lot. So ugly though the guy wouldn't take it when I sold the truck. Had to give it away on Craigslist. But it was really tough if that's the most important thing to you.

 

Are those J bolts holding it down? If so I don't think that is helping at all, if you go to a topper shop the clamps can be bought for cheap also online, some good thick topper tape and 4 clamps should be great. I have also seen a couple guys that have bolted a long piece of steel the length of the cap from front to back to act like a big washer.

On that first pic all the pressure looks to be on the edge pulling the cap in and it cracked because there is nothing pressing it on the rail of your bed, that's the way it looks anyway.

 

to solve my problem and prevent any further issues, i welded a square roof rack for the camper shell to mount on top as i frequently haul stuff up there, then welded support brackets that go inside and go from the inside rail to the roof where the roof rack is bolted thru. This way there is no deflection of the shell, the clamps that hold the shell on are clamped onto a steel flat bar that runs from the front to back of the shell. I ll post some pics for you. This way youll never have any problem. Stout as a rock.

 

Thats one good lookin truck

 

My shell has held up great to all kinds of nonsense, it's also very light. I can take it off and put it on alone no problem. It's a fibreglass shell with aluminum framing around the bottom. The brand is brahma.

 

I had two different shells on my '90, and neither held up very well. The first w h a nice leer fiberglass. It did hold up until I got into college and really started wheeling. After that, it lasted maybe 3-4 months before I started seeing major cracks. From there, I only put left it on during winter months, and to travel back and forth between school and home every two months. It probably made it 8 months into my college carrier before one of the center supports broke and I took it off permanently. Now it's over at my great uncles farm sitting on top of a pallet keeping firewood dry.



The second one I would say faired a little better, because it was actually one of those cheap tin/aluminum shells. I think it flexed a little more tan the fiber glass, so it didn't fail as easily. The only problem I ever had with it was windows getting broken lol.

On my T100, I took the shell from my dads 2000 Tundra when he decided to take it off and make the truck his field truck. I don't put it on anymore, because it's heavy, huge, and I don't see much gain from it. It actually seems to drag my mileage down lol, so I only put it on to go camping. It's another leer I believe. I also did notice that, I think because of wheeling with it on, the window seems are starting to separate. There are 1/4 inch gaps between the front window edges and the shell now.



If your gonna take anything from what I said, I'd suggest you find a cheap aluminum shell. Like I said, mie seemed to hold up better than either fiberglass I've had, and plus, they are cheap, so you won't feel as bad if it does get damaged lol.

 

****Update! I gave up on conventional camper shells not holding up and built my own which I am very happy with, follow the link to see how it came out.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/foru...g-camper-shell