Its a cold, wet, nasty Sunday afternoon, and I'm setting around in my office playing with ideas for the design of a hinged tonneau cover for the bed of my 31 roadster pickup. I want to use a peice of 3/4" plywood and a light layer of foam, upholstered with the same white material as the top. I want to hinge it, and use a powered linear actuator to open and close it. I have a spun aluminum fuel tank in the front of the bed, which poses a bit of a problem---in order to access the top of the tank for adding fuel, I would have to raise the cover almost straight up.---I don't like that idea. I could hinge it at the tailgate end, but thats a bit too much like the "suicide door" effect for me---if the wind ever got under the front of it for any reason at 60 MPH, it would get exciting pretty fast.---A light came on in the middle of my musings----Why not hinge it along the side opposite the fuel filler cap!!! that way I only have to open it about 45 degrees to get at the fuel filler cap, and there will be no "suicide door" effect with that.
had thought about the same thing for my 31 A and came up with brackets that would mount in the ends of the bed sides with a barrel slide so it could hinge to either p***enger or driver side by realesing the slides or the whole thing could be removed.
I think I would make a perimeter frame of 2" x 1" aluminum bar that bolted together at the ends with counterbored socket head capscrews, and hugged the inside of the bed. All hinges, actuators, etc, would be connected to this perimeter frame. The frame would connect to the box sides with two 1/4" round head stainless steel carriage bolts thru each box side. If I wanted to remove it, there would only be 4 bolts to remove and a wire plug-in connector, and everything would lift out as a unit with no dis***embly required.
I'm making one for my 34 P/U. I think 3/4" plywood is too heavy. I'm using 1/4" plywood with a perimeter frame and crossmembers made of 1X3 glued and screwed laying flat. Years ago I made one for a 67 El camino the same way. On that one I used hood hinges (before lift gate shocks were invented) It was light but surprisingly sturdy. That one was covered with aluminum camper roof material. We could sit on it in lawn chairs at the races. I'm just using barn door strap hinges with a prop rod to hold it up. (not installed.) I didn't want to screw to the painted bed so I built a stand that slides into the bed. The toneau will be hinged in the front to the stand and just lie on the stand at the rear. I've driven it and there is no lifting action so I'm sure it wont ever come off when it's finally ***embled. I'm thinking 1/8" foam and black hartz cloth. It's main purpose is to hide the ugly bed and keep some goodies out of sight of tempted thieves.
Tommy---What you are doing looks fine. The reason I will use 3/4" plywood is because my box is only 40 3/4" wide x 43 1/2" long---by using a sheet of plywood that thick, I will not need any wooden perimeter frame or crossmembers. I plan on using the ball screw electric opener, so weight is not an issue. This is a sunny day only/show truck so its not likely to see a lot of abuse.
All really goot ideas. Has anyone made one with say a wood peice thats showing and maybe stained it? Just a thought.
had thought to make it out of hard wood to match the bed floor and add some stainless strips and border it with stainless to finish the edges.
What tommy is saying is good and your plan to all but the side way you want it to open .You have to go to that side all the time Have it open from rear.Then you can reach in from all three sides put two light gas shock to the front like for a hatch back. And two bear claw latches to the back of the bed on both sides to open together .Then you are not lifting it up ever time.This works but takes a little time to get the gas shock in the right location.And the bear claws keep it locked.Your light frame will work good with this.
I've been planning on doing something like this to my 39 modified. I want to keep the gas tank inside the frame and I want the bed completely free of anything, but to fill the tank, I'd have to lift the bed up. My plan was to use 3/4 plywood good-on-one-side. This is the stuff that has the good looking grain on just one side, that way if you decide to paint it or stain it, it looks good with the grain. I was going to build a 3/4 square tube steel frame with an X brace in it, then use either tonneau shocks or hood shocks to open it up and bear claw latches to keep it locked up. The only drawings I have are on bar napkins and pieces of cardboard on the garage floor.
I made my whole bed tilt up to get to the gas tank. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61628 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70922
WOW!!!! This is so cool!!!! It works perfectly. I haven't got the switches and relays wired up yet, but by hooking up the battery direct it lets me cycle it up and down. It moves fast enough that you don't have to wait all day for it to open or close, but slow enough that it won't pop up and hit people in the nose if they are standing too close. The motor has a built in slip clutch, so if somebody did have an appendage in there when it closed, it would probably wake them up, but not cut anything off. The hardest part was when I had to close it all the way with me laying under the cover, to mark exactly where to drill the holes for attaching the top aluminum bar. (I did open the tailgate)---try and visualize a 270 pound man laying on his back in there with a pencil and a trouble light, while his 130 pound wife stands outside and pushes the cover down enough to compress my fat old gut and make the plywood lay flat on the aluminum support bars so I can mark things correctly.---Woulda probably qualified for "Canada's funniest home videos". I am very pleased with the way that actuator works.---The pictures show the tonneau board at maximum open and, of course, maximum close.
Neat stuff guys. Totally HAMBworthy - to coin a word. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tommy, you never cease to amaze with your simple answers to sometimes complex questions. SlagKustom, excellent answer to an old problem. I would guess that the gas cylinders pick the bed up even when luggage is within and if not, not much of an added boost - by hand - would be required. Brian, nice work. It looks like there would be no problem with luggage getting in the way of the actuator operaton and in fact the actuator - when closed - would help keep luggage in place. HAMB'rs never cease to amaze and impress....
So---We're almost done. The upholstery man gave me a 24 hour turn around on the tonneau board and the filler peice at the front of the cab, and did his usual excellent job. Now, all I need is to get my bird painted. (sheesh!!! I still think that sounds dirty!!!!)---Oh yeah---the battery set-up at the rear is my sons fishing boat battery with the rocker switch and a couple of heavy duty relays that are temporarily operating the linear actuator, untill I get the switch installed in the cab and wired up properly)
Here's one I roughed in for the Elky. Hinged in the middle and framed up similar to tommy's pickup. Only the back half opens so the front section behind the cab is stationary.
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