Hey guys...first of all I just want to say that I can't friggan wait to be back in the US...granted I've been hearing some aweful things. Especially in Colorado, it's either burning down or people are falling victim to a mass random act of violence...not the country I've been missing or hoping to come home too.

But enough about that...on the brighter side...I just ordered my SC 3865 Tuner the other day. Should be at the house by the time I get home. That being said...I've heard that before you plug it in you have to hook it up to the puter and get it registered and download the latest version of tuner program and it takes a long long azz time.

What else do I need to know about using this baby, or is it pretty simple to follow the directions?


Secondly, just sayin that I am extremely happy with the flat fiberglass tonneau cover that I have on my truck...especially cuz I was able to find it on craigslist from a guy turning in a leased truck...so yeah only $200 and the thing is mint... but here is my situation.

I like to go camping and you can't always count on the weather when you gotta haul bigger stuff...so I've been on the look out for a bed cap for my baby. Don't want to trade one for the other, just want to have both to swap out depending on my needs for the day.

Luckily for me I am moving into a house when I get home that has a garage with ample ceiling space...so the plan (if I find one) is to just have it suspended from the ceiling on one of those pully things like you would use for a bicycle (I know I know, I'd have to get a heavy duty one that is rated for the weight, but you get the idea) and having a two car garage have another on the opposite side...so I can easily lift off the flat one and drop down the big one...not that they are not too heavy, but all of you that have ever had one knows that they are just really cumbersome and I don't wanna scratch it.

So, the point for my thread is...and JKeaton was nice enough to chime in on this already at one point...for those of you that are as OCD as I am about the asthetics of your truck...as long as the color matched how do you all feel about the looks of a cap made for a 98-04 Dak when used on an 05+ ? In reguards to body lines and it matching up and all.

In addition, I know a lot of you have had a lot of success with rattle can paint jobs and plasti dipping the sh** out of everything...so how would yall rate the easiness of painting a bed cap and having it come out good?

Lastly, with my flat bed cover, now that I've started to learn the fine art of welding...I've considered the idea of fabbing up a metal frame that when connected to a couple linear acuators could lift my flat tonneau straight up and then using tent material and my supreme Betsy Ross skills make a liner to go around and essentially have a tent for a bed.

Since being here in the desert I've been having tons and tons of thoughts on things to do with my baby. Now coming home with some extra cash and some new skills I want to have as much fun with her as I can get away with.

I don't want to re-invent the wheel if I don't have to with some of my ideas, so if any of you have either tried or seen something along the lines of what I'm talking about I'd like to hear your input. In addition, like I said, having a little bit of extra cash...what kind of fun things would you do to yours if you had the funds...i.e. power inverters, train horns, air bag lifts, led lighting, performance upgrade, etc etc.

Thanks for listening and as always I look forward to all your opinions.

 

As far as the tuner goes you have it right takes for ever to update. Don't be surprised if you have to call customer service at least once.

Then I have a 04 Topper on my whip, and had it painted to match. Looks awesome. Yeah the rear hangs off about 3/8 of an inch on each side but whuppdy doo. Considering I bought mine and painted it for under $500 v.s. buying a perfect fit version for $1300-1500, I will take the slighty off fit any day. Period end of story.

 

that truck tent sounds like a great idea, but i do know they make a tent for our truck beds, and a blow up mattress that fits the bed with the wheel wells, but i do like your idea better of it going straight up, its a pretty neat idea. That pulley idea great in theory but the trouble maybe getting the cab topper high enough, i cant even get my truck in the garage with my lights on it, and they're only six inches higher than the top of my truck. I say go for the ideas tho.

also, if you get the train horn, it can scare off bears and animals, but more importantly you can use it to blow the air mattress, and you wont have the problem of forgetting the pump or the batteries

 

Like most I got a Gen2 Cap, Im on my 3rd one since Ive owned my truck.
I bought it with a Black High-Rise cap on it, which I sold a few month later for $450, Since I didnt want a Cap then.
then recently I bought a Flame Red ARE Aluminum Contractor Cap for $200 off a 06, Then sold it and bought a Black Low-Profile Fiberglass one with Tinted Front, Side and Rear windows for $200 off a Gen2.

If you look you can find cheap caps. The ARE one I had new is about $3800, then Fiber-Glass one is I think like $1200-1400.


Get one that matches the color of your truck, or Color Scheme.
Making a lift for it, shouldnt be to hard. Ive seen a few people with it done. Its a Great Idea

 

Yeah, I'm addicted to Craigslist...which is how i got most of the accessories that I have now. So, I will continue my search until i find one that suits me that will look good on my truck.

I'd love to have a color matched one, but I've considered that if I don't come across one I will attempt a rattle can paint job. If it doesn't come out looking the way i want it to, I'll just go over the whole thing with diy bed liner and maybe use some of my left over aluminum diamond plating to accent the window or cut out a dodge logo to rivet on somewhere.

What annoys me is people that don't know how to advertise very well on craigslist.

The will post an add for a truck bed cap or truck topper, but they won't list the color or dimensions, or they will post that it's for a Dakota Short bed, but really mean that it's for the extended cab not the quad...kind of annoying. But the search continues, I'll let you all know what I end up doing. Thanks for the input though.

Oh and the ceiling space in my garage...yeah there is enough room inside that if I put up rafters and ply wood I could walk around above the level of the garage door. so there should be plenty of room to be able to lift off a bed cap.