3rd Gen Tundra - Drilling Holes in the Composite Bed?

I'm looking at several tonneau covers. HARD covers that roll into a canister at the head of the bed. Not electric. Just "push/pull" type.
*ALL* of the ones that I'm considering require water escapement hoses to be pushed through the bed to be "watertight".
The HEAD (by the cab) had 2 small holes pre-drilled fast I'm sure I can make larger.
The REAR (by the tailgate) doesn't have any holes. Where would you (have you?) drill holes to pass the hoses by the tailgate through?
Side?
Edge (bottom)?
Somewhere else?
Any input - especially *actual experience* - ta greatly appreciated!

 

only advice I will offer is use a unibit and check and double check behind where you are going to drill before you drill - lots of owners do mods to the beds and end up drilling through a wire, vacuum hose or gas line. If you can't see behind where you are going to drill I'd say don't drill there. Hopefully owners who have done what you are wanting to do will chime in. GL.

 

I have planned to drill out the front holes from the bottom, just to make certain that I'm not hitting something. The deck side will be more difficult, but as important to miss everything that is vital.

 

Like mentioned in previous posts I did the same very simple to do.

 

Thanks!
Do you have a picture of the back (tailgate) side that you can share? I'm thinking that gong through the side of the bed - about 1/2 way down - might be best to keep the floor clear?

 

Are you asking where the cover and gate meet?
If so I'll take a pic in the AM.
Yeah if you can drill above the floor you'll defiantly will have an open bed floor.

 

Is like to see where the drain tube goes through the decking at the rear of the truck (tailgate). I'm thinking about trying to drill a hole in the side, close to where the drain tube connects to the cover. This should keep the floor clear and not get in the way of daily use?

 

Maybe I'm reading wrong of what you're asking but,so here goes.The drain tubes go into the bed floor but you want to raise them up off the decking to maximize the square footage and less of a hindrance.
So the options are you drill into the bed wall closet to the cab and put additional hose threw it just to compinsate for drainage.
The other option is through the sidewall between the bed and quarter panels front obviously.

You kept referring to drainage in the back by the tailgate this is the part that confused me,there isn't any drainage back there,pending on what you get and how well it's constructed and how proper it's installed there should be zero water getting in the bed period.
Some people even go to the extra mile and carpet the bed and it looks awesome, me on the other hand tossing a 5' Tuna back there the carpet won't be smelling good come the summer months...
Hope this helps man.

 

I installed my tonneau cover and enlarged the holes slightly with a unibit. Very soft material. Look up from underneath, laying under the truck. You can see the smaller hole.

 

The

Tonneau cover that I'm looking at has 4 drain tubes.
2 at the front of the bed and 2 more at the rear of the bed.
The 2 at the front don't seem to be an issue.
The 2 at the back of the bed, though, might get in the way of putting stuff into the bed.

Maybe your tonneau cover only uses the 2 drain tubes at the front of the bed?

 

Yes I have the Rough Country tri fold. I don't see any water issues present when raining but also don't expect it to be water tight. Seems like decent design. Easy to remove as well which I needed.

 

Wow ok now it makes sense, I had no idea that some come with 4 drainage ports.
Yeah at the back one's I'd drop them in the quarter panels as high up as possible so they don't get ripped out or something.

Yeah mine just has the two at the base of the canister.

 

Is running the tubes a must or can you just plug them (ports) at the surface bed rail?

 

Thanks. I guess I'll take a look from under the back of the bed to make sure I'm not going to hit something 'valuable'

 

Good idea. I might try that first before drilling 2 additional holes!

 

I've looked at the tri-folds. I get that they are easy to fold/remove.....but I think I'm wanting a slider that I can stop at any point along the track? Removal will NOT be easy, though...

 

I tried to weigh all options. My question is what advantage stopping a slider would bring? No longer keeping out weather and you need access to straps and tie downs in the bed plus they cost more. I think the slider looks nice when retracted vs. the trifold when its all the way open. For reference I removed the cover yesterday in about 1 min. to move a mattress. 4 thumb type screws.

Definitely to each his own though. Just sharing my experience.

 

Please keep us up to date. I wanna plug all the ports

 

Yeah I hear you there & I feel what your saying,I have tri fold on my chevy and always hated how it would hang 1.5' shy/occupied that last bit of the bed,yeah I can remove it just like yours thumb screws but always wanted the roll up.
The roll up is nice and tight and lockable (to an extent) I have used it for moving big items and relide on all 4 pick points with no issues on the rails,this can also be removed quickly and haven't yet but I do like this better.

It's always a 50/50 crap shoot unless you can predict the future of everything that will go inside that bed JMHO.

Good hunting on the OP's choice.

Cheers!

 

Which tonneau covers have you looked at?
Price wise, the Flokottu and the Synetrac seem to both be under a grand.... just a bit more than some of the tri-folds?
I'm still on the fence.

 

To be 100% honest with you and everyone else here,I don't remember all of them but I had my mind set on a retractable one and with good ratings.
The electric ones I wanted to shy away from,I didn't want to go down that rabbit hole and decided a manual one that is lockable would be great.

Gator has been around for quite some time and I do have the tri fold on my chevy and very happy with the craftsmanship, but wanted more than the folding type.
I plan on keeping the Tundra for many years and thought that I would go the extra mile and buy what I always wanted.
I ended up getting the GatorTrax MX ,for what it's worth I'm really pleased with it's composite material construction and the powder coated rails,the locking works on friction from 99% of it being closed(again,anything can be broken into) but where it meets the end by the gate the lock tooth drops into a hole which keeps it tight as a drum.
The two drain ports could be better with brass 90's vs plastic nipples,which I'm going to make in some down time and will post if people are interested.
When the top is rolled up in the can it rattles more than I care for and with the back window dropped you can really hear it.
I thought it was the top rattling in the bed rails but it's pretty tight,so I dunno I'll figure something out,heck,maybe it's just my OCD.

The price tag was 1,499 yeah kinda pricey for a stupid cover but I wanted what I thought would be a good match for my brand new Rig that I plan on keeping,I guess I'd give it a 4.5 star only because of the noise other than that it's solid.

Good hunting Man I wish you all the best in your decision.

 

Thanks!
Great input and reason for your selection. I had looked at gator and may consider it again if it only requires 2 drain tubes.
I also decided against the electric covers due to cost vs functional need/use.
I also plan to keep this truck and only want to buy a tonneau cover.... one time!
Merry Christmas. Hope your day is going well!

 

Watched a you tube video the other day, where I guy had a horrible musty smell in the truck he couldn't find the source of. Turns out whoever installed the bed cover drilled a little too deep. One of the drain hoses was behind the rear seat in the cab. Mechanical nightmares I think was the channel, entertaining and scary how bad some of the vehicles are out there.. beside you on the hwy going 75 mph

 

My 24 tundra has a composite bed , in the front of the bed /next to the cab. There is a hole on either side for water drainage. At the rear nothing visible. So what do I do re drilling the front areas? Any advise?

 

Just a FYI, I had one of those and the box that the cover rolls up into, will fill with crap off the cover over time, thus plugging the drains. Just keep an eye on it. I just shop vac'd mine.

 

When I installed my bed cover drains I had to drill the holes out a little bit in order to fit the drain tubes. I’m not sure what you mean about the rear? Mine had 4 holes towards the cab end of the bed. I used the 2 outer holes for the bed cover drains. I used a unibit to up size the holes a couple steps.

 

I just buy the parts at Home Depot to reduce the drain tubes to a size that will go in the existing holes. I don't want to drill anything on my truck.

 

What cover did you end up going with? How did the holes come out?

 

I ordered the Pace Full Metal Switchblade.
The holes were easy. I used the existing holes as a guide and just carefully opened them up to fit the drain tube on each side.