Video Transcript for How to Install: Leer Hard Tonneau Cover on your 2023 Toyota Tacoma

Hi everyone, it's Evangeline here at etrailer, and today we have the Leer quad fold, hard folding tonneau cover. In this video we're gonna talk about how it looks, how it fits, and I'll also show you how it installs into the tracks of your 2023 Toyota Tacoma. So who would be interested in a tonneau cover Well, if you want to protect the cargo inside your truck bed, keep it safe from the elements as well as prying eyes, then a tonneau cover is gonna be a great way to do so. And this being a hard tonneau cover, we have that solid surface helping prevent theft and making sure that everything is nice and secure. This is the quad fold, hard tonneau cover, which means it folds up four times and I have mixed feelings about how it fits on the Tacoma. With the five foot bed, I actually would prefer the Leer tri fold hard tonneau cover, but if I had the six foot bed Tacoma, then the quad fold makes more sense.

Both of them are going to offer the same benefits though, where you have the strong and sturdy tonneau cover. We also have a very low profile look. If you can look closely at our truck bed, this only sits a half inch above our rails, making for a very sleek cover. This is secured by your tailgate, so you do not have access to the latch if your tailgate is up, making it where your truck is what locks the tonneau cover. So if you need to open it and you do have to lower your tailgate, and then on either side passenger or driver, you just pinch that sink latch and then you can lift the cover up.

So notice here our first two folds. With our quad fold, you can go up to halfway open and then this is still secured. I do not recommend driving around with it halfway open, but this is gonna be good if you just need quick and easy access in to the cargo in your truck bed. Folding it over one more time, we then get to the quarter position, and here you can secure your tonneau cover with two buckles, and that way you can drive around with it in the partially open position. This is awesome if you want access to your truck bed, but you don't wanna cover your rear window.

So look at where our window is and look at where our cover is. Also taking a quick measurement from our truck bed to the top of the cover, it sits at four and a half inches and that's gonna be great because then you can still see through your rear view window. Now if you want to, you can get complete access to your truck bed by folding this up yet another time. And this is gonna be what's commonly seen on folding tonneau covers where it sits straight up. You can keep it in this upright position by using the prop rods included with this cover.

The prop rods secure to your rails. With both prop rods in place, you then have space underneath your tonneau cover for all of that cargo. Now it does still take up a little bit of space. So let's measure from our wall to the tonneau cover and I have it at eight inches. So something to consider with most folding tonneau covers is they fold up here and you lose that visibility from your rear window, but you get more cargo space. Compared to canister or roll-up style tonneau covers, they would take up space underneath right where that wall is or above where that window is. So there's pros and cons to every style of tonneau cover. This quad fold tries to compensate for that by giving you two options, whether you want it folded down or folded up. For a Tacoma, you are going to have a track system. So this makes it a little interesting for different brands because they all have different ways of dealing with those tracks. I like how secure Leer makes their clamps to work with that track. On the other side though, it is a little bit of a process to get everything in place, and I will go through that in the install portion of this video later on. Now on the other hand though, this is very secure and I think it's great with how they have multiple clamps, making sure this is fully flush to your truck. Now, some tonneau covers, they do have drain holes and a way to make sure that water doesn't go down into the truck bed. With how the quad full tonneau cover does it though, it does depend on how you install your cover. Yes, on the sides it is low profile and it's designed to help water go down in a way, but you can still see that there might be gaps around your rails. So you do get some foam core as well as some seal that you can put around your track system in order to make sure that everything is nice and water tight but that is gonna be up to you and how you get things installed. Notice how we have a textured matte finish, and I'm a fan of it, I like how it looks, but as for tonneau covers, it's not just about how it looks, it's also about how it performs. So this is made or reinforced with fiberglass, making it strong as well as then resistant. So if you're the type of person that tends to drop things on your tonneau cover and you wanna make sure that you're not puncturing it or ripping it open, having something like this can help out a lot with that. So if you're looking for a heavy duty tonneau cover that's low profile and sleek and also gives you options for more versatility and visibility or more cargo space, then the Leer quad fold, hard tonneau cover is a great option for you. Now, I also did suggest that for the five foot bed you might have a better experience with the tri fold, while for the six foot bed you might enjoy the quad fold a bit more, but we also have videos and pictures and descriptions here at etrailer that can help you make that decision and find the best fit for you. If you're looking for alternatives, something more affordable would be your roll-up tonneau covers that are made of a softer material. Those are going to be easy to set up, but they're also easier to puncture compared to that fiberglass reinforced material that this one has. So there's pros and cons to every type of tonneau cover. Now, I keep talking about how to get installed into the track system of your Tacoma, so let's get into that. Now the install process is gonna be simple, but it will take a little bit of time. With this being a quad-fold tonneau cover, that also means you have four sets of clamps you need to get set up. Now on our truck bed here, I have all the hardware set out. We do have included Allen keys, but I personally use a five millimeter Allen key bit on a ratchet wrench just because it makes this process so much faster. So that's an option for you but not required. Let's get set up with our rail system. Your rail's are gonna arrive in two pieces and there's gonna be a left and a right side. So look for this plate here as well as your prop rod, and that's going to be the side facing your cab. Now they are also gonna be labeled, but just in case they are mislabeled, that will help you figure that out. To get this together, you're going to slide them through. Now this is gonna slide easily through the track. If it doesn't slide easily, you don't have it lined up yet. And once you have it together, make sure it's fully flush before you tighten down on these set screws. We're also gonna set up the track system on our Tacoma. So we're gonna have an end cap on there, just pop that end cap out, and then that opens up the track so we can slide in our plates. So your plates are gonna arrive looking like this. You're gonna wanna take out the screws and the flat washer and the flat plates. Keep those though. But we're just gonna start with these nuts. So these are gonna be our track nuts. They're gonna slide through the track. You're gonna do four on each side. Now as we're getting the rail onto your truck bed and then getting that all lined up, this is where it starts to get a little tricky. I'm gonna guide you through the process, but what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna loosely attach the clamps so that I can still adjust our rail system back and forth. You are gonna get a little foam block that's gonna go between your rails and your bulkhead, and then this has an adhesive as well. We're going to just squish this in there since this is a test fit and I'm not going to use the adhesive, but that's gonna be a step I'll guide you through later. Installing the clamps is tricky because it's a lot of multitasking of the different clamps and spacers and bolts. The reason you have to go through this whole process though is because how the Tacoma truck bed is shaped, it sits a little further out when you get to the tailgate, so it's not fully flushed and you need it to be flush to have a square tonneau cover. So that's what the extra hassle is for. So line up your track nut and then get the small square plate over that. And then you're gonna get your large square plate. This is gonna go between your top rail and your truck bed. So that's gonna push our rail out. And then you're gonna get the clamp. Notice how it's oriented. It needs to fit this way so it can clip into that top rail. And then to hold it all together, you're gonna have your tool bolts and flat washers. So holding that, making sure all those holes are lined up and then threading it through can be a little tricky. It helps to have a friend hold the top rail in place, but it is doable on your own. We're just gonna loosely thread this through. Note where your clamps are going to go before you secure them. So you want one between your plate as well as your prop rod. Then you want two surrounding your set screws, and then you have your last one further out creating that last security point for your tonneau cover. Get your foam blocks, put them up against your bulkhead. I'm gonna use the adhesive at this point, and then you're gonna push the rails up against that foam block and see how nicely that compresses. Now as we adjust our rails, we're gonna make sure that it's even on both sides. We're also gonna close our tailgate to make sure that there's clearance. And then to cap it all off, we're gonna put the cap on the tracks and then tighten everything down. With all the rails fully secured, it's time to put the cover on there. Now the cover is slightly hefty, so I have a friend here to help out. Matt's gonna help me carry this cover up and then over the truck bed. And then we're gonna just drop it over here by the bulkhead or by the cab. Notice how our cover is oriented. Our logo is facing out and now we're able to unroll it towards the tailgate. This is secured by little buckles, so if you could undo your buckle mat. And with both buckles released, we can then unroll the entire cover out. Notice how we still have packaging on that. Don't worry about it, we're just setting it in place. We're gonna install our clamp and this is gonna connect the tonneau cover to your rails. So this is where the clamp will go on your rails. So to make that connection, you are going to loosen the knob so that this head sticks out, and then you're gonna insert that into the track of your tonneau cover. Notice how it slides and secures. And then once you do that on both sides, you can then drop this and secure it from underneath. We are gonna install the prop rod and you first need to install the holder for it. So you're gonna include or have included these two screws. And then you're gonna tighten these down with your little Allen key. Notice how our prop rod holder is facing though. There are gonna be two of them and you want them facing the right way, which is towards the center of the tonneau cover. While you're here, double-check your tie-down clamps since this will move around as you lift your cover up and down the first time and then install your secondary strap. Now for the fun part, which is to check if you did everything right, how do you do that Well, we have our proper rods in the storage position. We're gonna unroll our quad folds and with each time it latches, we're gonna lift both sides to make sure that both latches are secure. That's secure. And the last two, which is the end. Notice here how our driver's side isn't latching but our passenger side is. So, a way to fix that is you can loosen your clamps a little bit, double-check that the rails are straight, and then once you get towards the front, you can then readjust the way the tonneau cover sits. So let's loosen the clamps real quick. Now I'm gonna give a little tug on the tonneau cover towards the driver's side, and then I'm gonna tighten down on the clamps, just double-checking that our spacer is in place. The reason that it's further apart towards the tailgate might just be because the spacer wasn't pushing out enough and the clamps we're pushing on the rails too close to the truck bed. There could be other reasons why it's not latching up for you, but going back and forth until you have a full connection. There we go. That's secured. This is important to make sure you have a good fit on your truck before you start driving. Final step is the tailgate. Does it close properly Does the front near the cab sit flush against the cab or the bulkhead Are you able to open up the tailgate without adjusting the tonneau cover Does everything stay in place Those are all things to check for. Now, our tonneau cover over here looks good. Something to note though is I did not use the foam as well as the bulkhead seal that is included with your kit. This is something that you can use along the edges or especially along the bulkhead to really tamp that down and make it more waterproof. Some people do notice that water may come in through where it folds up, so that's something worth looking at as well as over by the tailgate. If you can see closely, the tailgate fits underneath the cover, so that's gonna be good but that may adjust as you make your adjustment too. So the installation can be simple, just might take a little bit of time, especially with getting everything lined up on your tracks. Now, if you have the six foot bed Tacoma, it's gonna be exact same process, just a different and longer tonneau cover. But right here, right now, this was a look at the Leer quad fold tonneau cover on the five foot bed of the 2023 Toyota Tacoma.