I"m so ****ing pissed right now!!!!
Its a long message, but PLEASE read it, cuz i need help!

as you guys might know, the 00 HD's were supposed to come with a fiberglass tonneau cover from the factory.
ford had problems with the gelcoat or something, so they contracted it out to leer
Then they were having trouble with the hinges and the cover rubbed the paint off
After that, there was a suposed lock cylinder company strike, so i couldn't get the cylinder to match my keys, so i had to get a second key for just my tonneau.

Anyway, since ford couldn't make them, they delivered the trucks without the tonneau, and gave the owners a free HD F150 fleece jacket, and $500 off the truck, and would get the cover whenever it was availible. Pretty nice of them.
It took 14 friggin months for me to get the cover though, and i was one of the 1st to get a HD truck or the cover!
Ever since then i've had nothing but trouble with it! Front seal fell off, stuck shut a few times where i had to take it to the dealer to get it open, lock cylinder broke once and had to order another one, and a few months ago, the fiberglass top was starting to separate from the plastic bottom part, which supports the fiberglass. Now the drivers side is separated up about 1/2" from the bottom, and the center is bubbled down.

Don't get me wrong, cuz i love this cover, and still haven't seen one i like better yet cuz it just matches the curves of the truck so well, and is semi-low profile, and i spent a few weeks making custom inserts for the bottom of the cover for at shows, so i don't want any other style. I have no regrets in going with the cover over the 800 or whatever ford credit, plus the fact this cover was only offered for the 00 HD's, and is part of the HD edition truck.

Anyway, i called leer in august after i 1st noticed the problem and they said they would send me out another one. Didn't make sense to me cuz they supposedly destroyed the mold cuz it was for the 00 HD's only, but i said aight, i'd wait the 8 week wait. STUPID ME!

(o yeah, if the cover thing went smoothly with no problems, everybody was supposed to get one (01HDs, 02HDs....etc.) but cuz the problems, they canned the idea after that)

They called me today and said they don't make them anymore (duh!) and they could either send me $500 (would take a month to get though) or they would send me a "similar" cover. Well nothing can ever replace the cover and me be happy about it. They said the cover would be the leer 700 series. Which, does look good, but i don't like it enough to have on my truck, and i don't want to take of my limited edition cover to replace it iwth another leer piece of crap! If anything, if there was somebody local with a flareside black pickup, i'd sell it to them for like 650, but don't know of anybody, so i'm taking the money.

The dealer also has a few extra HD covers there from a year ago that were never claimed, and i could take one of those, but they were made at the same time mine was. So in a year, it'll do the same thing and separate, just as a bunch of other 00 owners covers did. So why bother with all the trouble if i can happen to fix mine AND get 500 bucks. All this trouble cuz they were too cheap with the glue

So i'm taking the 500 bucks. I want to try to repair the cover myself, but here's where i need help. THe driver's side is practically completely loose, i'd have to take the cover off the truck (nightmere in itself cuz not quick release) and then set it on a blanket in the drive, turn it over, and get the heat gun out and slowly heat the underside plastic to try and separate the whole cover, without bubbling the paint on the other side, or cracking the fiberglass. I can sort of figure out how to get this part done, but what should i use to reattach it? I want some strong a$$ mother *******ing glue! My dad suggested some type of super strong contact cement, but then once it touches its set. I'd prefer something that i put on and put the pieces together, then let it dry so i could still move it around a bit to center it all. I wish i knew for sure that they couldn't give me another cover earlier, cuz it would be alot easier to separeate when it was hot out. Now that its cold though, i don't know wheather to take my chances and use the heat gun, or take my chances with it being like that all winter until the spring.

so any suggestions on the separation and regluing?

I really appreciate any help!

o yea, one suggestion... NEVER EVER BUY A PIECE OF CRAP LEER COVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
whew...at least i feel a little better now, but still not enough. LoL

 

o yeah, here's a pic of the underside plastic bracing thing, and with my custom made inserts in that took me a long while to make cuz they are all cut out of 3/8 plywood, sanded, painted, decaled, then clearcoated with envirotex epoxy, which is = to 50 coats of varnish. alot of work gone to waste



here's a pic of the top

 

#356... Sorry to hear your problem. How about some Pics of what you are talking about. It is hard to visualize what you mean. My suggestion is to take the 500 bones Leer is sending and have a professional glue it for you. Try a place that sells boats since fiberglass is what they mostly deal with. I am sure they would know how to fix it. My tonnau came damaged from Innovation. I called a few boat dealers and they came in with a price much cheaper than a body shop.

 

i'll try to get a pic, but its hard to even get a pic of. basically the top side is compeletely fiberglass, and the bottom side is completely plastic and the two are coming apart. i'll try to get a pic of how its bowed up tomorrow.

thanks for the idea though, i'll check into that.

more suggestions welcomed

 

I have a boat and those guys can work wonderw with fiberglass.. they are always hungry for work too.. give a couple of reputable boat dealers/marinas a try and see what you come up with..
Dana

 

I don't blame you. I have a Leer shell on my truck and it has stress cracks on the corners. This is my 2nd shell. The first one I refused because the paint didn't match and it didn't sit flush with the bed rail. Kinda like it was alittle warped. I too, will never buy Leer again.

 

I agree with the suggestion mentioned above. Take the cash and find a good boat/fiberglass shop that can put it all back together.

If you want to experiment, you can get some fiberglass resin and try a small area to work with. Boat shops carry these items cheaper than your Home Depot or Ace. Just be careful with the fumes, you don't want to get TOO HIGH

 

Yep, agree with the majority here. Let someone who really has experience do this. I did a little resin/fiberglass work way back in high school and as I remember it was tricky. Not to mention you have paint on there.

I'm sure the boat guys can do this for ya.

Good luck!

 

thanks for the info. i think i'll check that out this weekend cuz i'm off wed-sun
i'll try to get a pic of what i'm talking about tomorrow. it's kinda hard to explain. you guys with 00's and the cover should know what i'm talkin about though

LoL. well that might make me feel a little better j/k

 

A glue I found out recenlly kicks butt is "Gorilla Glue". It's amazing stuff! So if you try the glue route-- use this.

And it cleans up really easily with denatured alcohol.

One thing of warning however, is the glue expands to fit the areas. So when you come to the edge you want to stay far enough in to glue it, but not to close that it comes out.

Good luck!

/tg

 

thanks for the help. i'm gonna start checking out places this weekend.

more suggestions welcome

 

Hey 356,

Be careful what you use if you attempt to fix this yourself. The inner structure of your tonneau is made of ABS, the cover itself is fiberglass of course. A leer co. rep. informed me of the inner structure material when I called them to report a crack in the inner structure which I didn't notice until the day after I got it.

3M structural adhesive may work for your application(Vette glue) but I would do some research before I attempted a repair or let some body or boat butcher get his ham fists on it.

I never persued the crack repair since it is only about 3" long and very hard to see. I'm a body and paint tech and could easily do the repair with a plastic welder but it hasn't spread.

So far my tonneau hasn't delaminated as yours has. Then again it's only got around 6,000 miles on it. Truck has 8,500 miles! Took about six months for the cover to arrive and looks as if you went through the same crap I did prior to receipt.

Good luck with your quest for a proper repair. If you were closer to Upstate NY I could hook you up with the hot fix. My new shop is nearly finished!

 

thanks for the info FXDX. what does ABS stand for? I do want to really search this stuff out before i attempt anything. thanks for the help.
post pics of the shop when its all done.

 

Harley #356 - Do you think yours is splitting/seperating so bad from all the weight underneath? The nice pics of the truck and bike on the wood? Just a thought.

 

I don't remember what ABS stands for. Did at one time but that was many brain cells...er...years ago! It's a semi rigid plastic that can be identified by a burn/smoke test of a small sliver of material taken from an inconspicuous area. The color of the smoke and odor are used to identify many plastics for repair by plastic welding. Different type rod for different plastics!

What you need is an adhesive that won't quit and is compatible with ABS and fiberglass. Check out 3Ms website or catalog at a body repair supply store.

Will post pics of garage, trucks, car and scooters soon as I pick up a digital camera. Maybe Santa will bring me one if I continue to be good.