Ford F150 Forum - Community of Ford Truck Fans - Have my cake & eat it too. Tonneau cover build

bought myself a new 2016 F150! Yay me!

I kept my toolbox & when I realized the tailgate locked like the doors I started looking for a tonneau cover that would let me keep my toolbox.

No such monster exists - so I decided to do a DIY cover & hope it doesn't look like total sh!t. Here's how I did it.

I found an old tonneau cover from a Chevy on Craigslist for free! Yup - people have these things laying around & want someone to just take em.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...3c05e4a3a5.jpg

The nice thing about using an old cover is you get all the hardware and can see how its set up. This cuts down on guesswork and why reinvent the wheel? I just want it to fit my truck.

First thing to do is measure. After you have your measurements - measure again.

I then drew out my shape on the cover & used string as a guide to keep everything straight.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...1c2daf8661.jpg

Using my grinder with a cutoff wheel I cut out the shape I needed.

Fun fact - old tonneau covers are made of honeycomb cardboard sandwiched between fiberglass. But when you cut all the sides off you have exposed cardboard.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...550feba8ef.jpg

To protect this newly exposed cardboard I coated it with fiberglass resin. Then filled the gaps with bondo ( had a can in the garage).

Now this took a lot of sanding - thank God for a belt sander.

Now keep in mind that up to this point I've spent exactly zero on this project. But that's about to change.

How to mount it on the truck?

I tried using the clamps.
Didn't work. Not enough to clamp to.
In the end I used stainless steel screws. The aluminum body won't react well to steel. Make sure to use stainless.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...872872a9f5.jpg

I need to mention these rails were part of the original tonneau cover. I had to cut it down to fit.

Spend so far $2.00 for stainless screws.

Next I had to work out a henge. I bought 3 henge's at Ace. $15 total - could have found em cheaper but it would have been a longer drive.

I had to fit the henge's to the top. It took 1 bend.
I bolted these to the top & under the lip of my toolbox. Had to cut out photos - only 10 allowed.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...915f597658.jpg

Here it is attached before the inside hardware.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...869a27e4e0.jpg

Paint job looks a little like a rattle can job because it is a rattle can job.

I moved on to the latching mechanism.

It wasn't too hard. Bolted right on.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...9799faa9de.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...a4811f415d.jpg

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...883d6b56cf.jpg

With this done I can now lock the bed. I just drop the tailgate & pull on the cable.
Next I need to fit the lifting struts.

Lesson learned here. Two struts were WAY too powerful for my cut down cover. After I fit them both I removed 1.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.f15...2bf90c4e9d.jpg

Couple problems I've seen so far - first. The fiberglass isn't as strong as it was before it was cut. I doubt it will last without more patching & resin.
Two - the stainless screws worry me. They just do.
Lastly - it will never be water tight. That gap at the toolbox will be hard to fill, though I did reuse a seal against the tailgate which looks good & fits well enough.

I'm glad I used an old cover - but if it gives me trouble I will replace with ply soaked in resin.

That's my build - troll on!!