Raider LoRider cover installed - pics and impressions

[seadragon]

Hi all,

As you may remember, I've had bad luck so far with hard tonneau covers. I had 2 "Toyota" brand covers that scraped paint off the front rail of the bed. I had the bed rail repainted and 3M protective tape installed all around the bed.

Anyway, after 2 defective lids, the Toyota dealer ordered me a Raider LoRider with the Elite package through a local Raider dealer. Elite adds carpet headliner, lift assist arms, black hardware and rails.
Since the lid is rolled into my lease, I didn't have much say in which cover they got me. I'd never heard of Raider until now.
There's not a lot of info on Raider on the net so I thought I'd add my impressions. BTW, Raider, Leer and Century are all owned by the same company.

It's a nice enough cover, but I'm not overly thrilled with it. Had a couple of problems with it.
First, it jiggled quite a bit when driving. I added a piece of foam weatherstrip along the front between the 2 hinges and is settled down quite a bit. Then I had to take it back and have both hinges replaced as the pins were almost coming out. The hinges did not have enough roll on them around the pin. New hinges installed and I get home and wash the truck only to discover water pouring in through the front. It has a very open design on the front and is nothing like the LSII in this regard. So I took it back and the Raider dealer added a rubber flap along the front edge (you can see it in the pics) that does stop the water now. I only have a trickle in the corner that I have to fix. Are these covers supposed to be 100% waterproof?

One feature I do like it that it can be removed by unscrewing 2 thumbscrews on each hinge and pull 2 hitch pins on the lift arms. It then lifts off of the rail. Reinstalling is easy since the rail is still in place so there is no alignment needed.

When it comes down to it, I don't think its as refined as ARE. And believe it or not, it is actually MORE expensive than an LSII.
Its an alright cover I guess, but I wish I went with ARE since it looks like a much better cover and has a nice solid hinge on the front. I'm stuck with this lid now and I may end up just dumping it and buying an ARE LSII when I can afford it.

LIKES:
- easy to remove and reinstall since the frame stays on the truck
- quick release system
- sleek design, follows the lines of the truck nicely
- lift assist arms open the lid for you once you turn the handle (it weighs 150 lbs)
- practically everything is adjustable (hinges, latches, lift arms etc.)
- hinges allow for left/right and forward/backward adjustment

DISLIKES:
- not waterproof along front edge from factory due to a rather open design
- latches rattle a bit over bumps since they are metal on metal
- uses cables instead of rods for the latching system

Anyway, on with the pics!

Here is the full picture album:
TheSeaDragon/Raider_LoRider - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Now some highlights (don't mind the water drops, I washed it at the car wash and did not dry it):

Here is the flap they added:



Here is a shot along the front edge with flap installed:



Here is the quick disconnect hinge and lift arm:



Here is where a little water trickle is coming in still:


Front edge from inside:


The latch:

[slamdyota]

that flap looks like crap!

[WXMotorsports]

The flap is just a weather seal to keep water out. Most of them look like that. How is the locking system on it? Can't decide on a topper or tonneau cover. Haul a lot of stuff for work plus on race weekends.

[seadragon]

Yeah, the flap is ugly, but it does work. The lid is off right now and I re-did a lot of the factory weatherstripping. It hopefully will be really tight now.

Oh, the lid is HEAVY! It weighs 150 pounds. But the way I see it, I won't have to add any sand bags for the winter. My wife and I took it off today. 2 thumbscrews on each hinge, then 2 hitch pins to pull on the prop arms and off it comes. My poor wife, it took everything she had to lift it off with me.

Anyway, the lock is okay I guess. The handle had a flip up door that has the keyhole behind it. When locked it prevents the handle from being turned. However, since its all plastic, I'm sure that if anyone wanted in there really badly, they could just twist and break it.

The latches use cables instead of rods. Only nice thing about that is that you can slam the lid shut and it latches. No need to turn handles after its closed.