Agri-Cover Access Roll-up Tonneau

Over the last few decades, truck accessories have steadily grown in popularity. Some accessories have come as quickly as they have gone. Installing window louvers, race-car ground effects and faux carbon fiber bolt-ons to your truck provided about as much functionality as a set of $25 JC Whitney spinner hubcaps on your Ferrari F430. Yeah, there have been some serious flops in the accessory market – thank God they didn’t have staying power.

Others though, have stood the test of time like that of Roman ruins, defying both economic and ecologic erosion. Suspension lifts, winches, and performance enhancing intake systems alike have adapted to consumer needs over the years – thank God they did have the staying power.

Tonneau covers fall into that second category, namely because a quality cover fills the order of several key consumer needs; they allow you to personalize your vehicle relatively cheaply, they protect the items you wish to keep from thieves, they add style, they are super functional and they reduce drag and increase fuel mileage. Make no mistake though, there is some real crap out there and as my ol’ man used to say “You get what you pay for”. A $200  parts store-special tonneau cover will last  but as long as spinner hub-caps on your rock buggy.

 Agri-Cover though is the antithesis to that cheap automotive accessory crap. In business for nearly 30 years, Agri-Cover planted their tonneau cover roots by building rolling covers for grain-carrying semi trucks. Trucks that saw more time on the road in one month than your vehicle will likely see in a whole year. These covers had to last – tens of thousands of dollars of precious grain was at the mercy of the elements and a cheap cover would not last, and neither would their business. Agri-Cover’s mainstay is quality and it shows in each product they build. In 1991, they introduced the revolutionary Access Roll-Up tonneau cover. A first of its kind tonneau loaded with quality features and built with the finest components, its no wonder it’s the #1 selling roll-up tonneau in North America.

When my fire fighter buddy called and said he needed to protect the goods in his new 2009 Dodge Ram 4X4 truck, we steered him towards quality; towards the Agri-Cover Access Roll-up.

Installation

Like most new Tonneau covers, installation is pretty straightforward and easy, especially if you’ve installed a tonneau cover before. The only tools you will need to install this tonneau are a knife (to open the box), a few clamps, and two 9/16” wrenches.

Note: Agri-Cover provides their customers with comprehensive instruction manuals (the very best tonneau instructions we have ever seen) and quick-reference instruction videos too. All can be seen at: http://www.agricover.com/index.php/products/category/C68/

Step 1 – If you have a plastic drop-in bed liner, be prepared to do some trimming of the plastic. Our truck’s OE Dodge drop-in liner required trimming in all four corners in order for the tonneau rails to sit in place correctly.

Step 2 – To install the cover side rails, you’ll need to grab your clamps. We prefer the squeeze clamps with the rubber grips on them, as they won’t damage the truck or the rails. If you only have a set of C-clamps, wrap the clamps in electrical tape or place a cloth between them and what you will clamp. Adjust the position of the cover side rails until they are correctly aligned. Once this is done, you can install the Agri-Cover aluminum clamps with your 9/16” wrench. There are 4 total per side.

Step 3 – Install the Element Seal rubber stripping to the truck bed header per the instructions. We strongly recommend that you clean the trucks painted surface, or the drop in liner with soap and water first, and then clean it with alcohol to remove any oils.

Step 4 – Assemble the tension adjusters for the Agri-Cover Access Roll-Up tonneau cover. Place the tension adjusters into the tonneau’s front bar and loosely bolt them in place.

Step 5 – Mount the tonneau cover to the side rails by placing the rolled-up tonneau at front of box (behind cab) with bar facing up. Be sure to set the weather seal in place per instructions.

Step 6 – Slide the tension adjusters until it engages underneath the side rails. You will have to push the tonneau bar back and forth to line up holes. The next step is bolting the tension adjusters to the rails, but this is a bit tricky as the holes don’t line up (the instructions even confirm this by stating that they are “designed for a snug fit”). Snug is one thing, but these holes were off by about ¼”, certainly too much to get the bolts to pass through. Our top required that we drill the holes to get the bolts to pass through.

Step 7 – The installation is now complete, but the tonneau will require some initial adjustments using the thumb wheels on the adjusters that were installed on the previous step. To do this, unroll the tonneau cover and place the rear bar into the latching mechanism and press down on it to snap it closed. It will take about 20-30 pounds for a normally adjusted cover to snap closed and the cover material should be tight enough so that it sounds like a drum when you thump it. Simply turn the adjustment thumb wheels to tighten or loosen the cover accordingly.

Operating The AgriCover Access Tonneau Cover

Opening and closing the tonneau cover is a piece of cake and can be accomplished with one person, as seen below.

The Verdict

Agri-Cover is a no-nonsense company that makes quality, durable, innovative products that range from tonneau covers to snow plows. Their tonneau cover lines lack the cool gadgets that some other tonneau manufacturers add on, which in our opinion typically detract from the primary purpose and/or degrade the overall quality of a good tonneau cover. Instead, Agri-Cover focuses on producing a high-quality product that is designed to last a very, very long time. In fact, we have trucks with Agri-Cover made tonneau on them for over 10 years now and they still look and function like new. The vinyl cover is made of heavy-duty, double coated and UV protected material that will not stretch in heat and is proven flexible to -40 degrees. Further, Agri-Cover’s vinyl is made with a low embossed design texture which resists dust and dirt and makes cleaning MUCH easier. The other parts of the tonneau are made from high-density, strong plastics and high-quality aluminum – all designed to last a very, very long time.

The particular tonneau cover that we installed on our 2009 Dodge Ram truck was the Access Roll-Up cover – Agri-Cover’s premium roll-up tonneau. While it incorporates all of the quality described above, it also sports a nice, clean, low-profile look. The cover also rolls up in a small, tight roll  maximizing  cargo space for your truck box, something most truck owners need.

We have no doubt this tonneau will last as long as the other Agri-Covers that we have installed in the past, which is typically much longer than most people own their trucks.