repro tonneau covers

[Vombil]

has anyone bought an ebay tonneau that is same style as original (one piece bungi cord)? are they any good?

thanks :mushroom:

[buck]

I will tell you next week, i just ordered one pick it up next thursday

[jennie285]

We will be after one as well, so await your response Buck...

[Taily]

One thing you need to make sure of is that the eyelets have a material flap behind them so that the eyelet wont dig into the paintwork as I have seen on a few utes that their owners "saved a few bucks" and went with a cheapy. Mine had one chucked on it 10 years ago as I was across the other side of the country (in the Kimberley) for work and the ute was being delivered to me by my old man after he got himself and it off the Ghan at Alice Springs (where it terminated back then). Because of the way the chord passes through the eyelet the eyelet will sit at an angle and dig into the paint over time. The original ones (in the 60's and 70's anyway) used white window sach chord. It was around WB(?) that may have come from the dealers with black bungy chord and not long after that (mid to late 80's) some types of tonneau covers started to come with the individual plastic retained bungy loops.

I recently bought one off ebay (bungy loops) for my HJ. It seems to be strong enough and reasonable material, however isn't as generous as the original in size, which worked OK for me as I bent-up a new (flatter) arch bar which works OK. I also replaced the "lift the dot" retainers as well as I was getting a bit over the rattle from the old ones coming loose while driving.

Hope that helps.

Regards,

Dave

[wbute]

No HQ-WB had the elastic rope. They were all sash cord. The individual elastic loop was what ford used on XD onwards. So they are a Ford thing.
Elastic rope is the way to go for sure. You can pop the rear of the tonneau up without un-doing the rope. The Ford idea were useless. They used to break after about 2 uses.
The tonneau will rub the paint off no matter what you do,but yes the eyelets will do real damage if they have no flap covering them. So if you have a flash paint job/Sandman stickers I would be a bit careful.

[Vombil]

cheers guys! very helpful and yeah buck let us know how you go with yours off ze bay

[buck]

will do

[Robbo]

The original tonneau cover's used to leave their mark on the sticker's also. I had my HZ for not quite three year's and the sticker's were becoming wrinkled and just starting to get grit under them. There was not a lot I could do about it. Being my first ute I also learnt a valuable lesson in removing the cover after rain, or washing the vehicle. If you don't do this all the condensation get's into the paint under the the edge of the cover and it blister's.

[buck]

2012-03-03 12.33.12.jpg
I must have ordered the wrong one as this is what turned up, i must admit its very well made thick, good stitching and bungee cord with the covers on the inside for the tarp rail and loops

[SandmanMuscle]

That looks unreal, those rims with the white writting works heaps nice. Best WB I've seen in a long time.

Thats the kind of tarp I want on mine, where the cord ties straight down instead of the V shapes.

This:
HQ Red Sandman (6).jpg
Opposed to this:
PC140131.jpg