Another Successful Retrax Install

Took about 1.5 hours with two people but that was in -15'C weather so it was pretty dam cold at times so a break was needed to warmup. Thanks goes out to Tony at http://www.rathwellhardware.com/truck/ for the great service and price. Cover looks fantastic, gotta wait for the next snowfall to do the durabilty test but i'm sure it will hold up fine :)

I love to hear that. Mine is in transit with an arrival date of 20 Dec projected. Good luck with it.

I am getting mine on Thursday from Tony of Rathwell. Glad to know you got good service. From all the ROC review, it seems that Retrax is the prefered cover for Ridgeline.

I am a little surprised that you got Retrax in Canada. One of the negatives of Retrax is that it does not handle snow and ice well. Not an issue here in California.

Happy holidays!

I am getting mine on Thursday from Tony of Rathwell. Glad to know you got good service. From all the ROC review, it seems that Retrax is the prefered cover for Ridgeline.

I am a little surprised that you got Retrax in Canada. One of the negatives of Retrax is that it does not handle snow and ice well. Not an issue here in California.

Happy holidays!
Don't know how much of a issue the snow and ice is gonna be but.. Tony has a retrax cover on his GMC so it must me it holds up pretty good if the retailer has his product installed on his own vehicle

BBRRR! I'm glad it went smoothly. It's a cleverly designed cover.
Let us know how you find it in that cold weather.

Hi hijack204, congratulations.

Please help me to measure the “height” from the bed (top of the “bed rib”) to the cover. I would like to slide my cooler in if I have the cover installed.

Thank you for your help.

Just installed my retrax from Rathwell. Good service and on time with good price. It took my son and I one hour. He read the instructions while I did the work. It was a fun bonding experience.

The only odd thng is that the passenger side rail is 1/4 inch too low, so I had to use a hammer and raise it. After that, perfect fit.

If I had to do this the second time, it would probably only take 30 minutes by myself. Removal for should take only 10 minutes.

Cover starts to flutter at 45 MPH and noise starts at 60 MPH but it is not audible inside the cab.

One comment: the bolts and attachments are smaller than I thought. I am sure it is reliable but just seems weak.

Please help me to measure the “height” from the bed (top of the “bed rib”) to the cover. I would like to slide my cooler in if I have the cover installed.

It is 16 inches. Ultra Hog provided me with this answer before we got our cover. I could have told you precisely last summer, as I went through several stores with tape measure in hand to find a cooler and a plastic bin that fits perfectly. It's dark and cold outside right now or I'd tell you the brand of cooler that fit.

There is a tiny bit of difference in clearance between the front and the back of the truck bed. I know this because of my obsession for effeciently using the space. If I remember, it's less than half an inch. The storage bin I bought fits nicely in the front but is a tight fit in the back by the tailgate.

Here's a link that contains the height issue and much more information about the Retrax.

http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?p=53668#post53668

Oh, I'll add this from my post on the thread listed above because I did the front and back measuring and posted it:

"Now that we have our cover installed, I measured the clearance. The leading edge of the cover has a lip that goes downward. At the tailgate it is about 15 1/2" from one of the humps in the truck bed to the bottom of that lip. It's a bit higher when it's fully opened. At the back in the middle it's about 16 3/4" clearance. We're going to have to buy another cooler that's short enough to fit."

Hey there!!

I seem to have the same problem you had with the passenger side rail being to low. I tried to hold it up all the way while cranking the allen bolt but it's still just a touch to low. When you hammered it did you actually bend the rail upwards to fix this problem or did you just use the hammer to raise the rail off the bolt and gain height. I really wanna fix this as it's already scrathced my bed liner on the tail gate, and retrax said i should maybe drill the hole a little wider to allow for more raise.. Let me know what you think..

Also another question, does your retrax roll all the way back into the case? Mine seems to hang out about 5 inches or so from the box..

Thanks in advance!

The problem is Honda truck not being level. After I bolted the side rail, I inserted a 1/4 inch aluminum to raise the rail. Now the retrax is perfectly level and the door will close.

Mine is about 2 inches away from flush with the box.

My only other complaint is that the allen wrech bolt seems a little cheap. Replacement torx bolts are only $0.50. If I use the lock cover everyday, I am sure it will not last, the lock should be re-keyable for the honda key. Since I do not open the cover much and do not plan to lock it, this is not a big issue. For almost $800, these thing should be done. IMO.

Do you have a picture of where you put the aluminum? I'd love to do this to mine as well so it doesn't hit the gate.

I also commented about the allen bolts as I rolled my driver side bolt and completely stripped it with the correct size key. I now can't get the driver side bolt out at all I'll have to drill it out eventually. *Sigh* where did you get the torx bolts?

The 1/4 inch aluminum is directly under the L bracket. The torx bolt is from Olander here locally. They specialize in fasteners.

One bolt is stuck (for now) the other is fine..

When you put the aluminum strip in, didn't it make the bolt not line up anymore with the hole? I'd think that even a 1/4" would be enough to start at least cross threading.

The 90 degree L- bracket became 100 degree, but the bolt did not bend. I think a more elegant solution would be for Retrax to compensate for this defect. I could probably machine something since my office neighbors are all machine shops.

I got the unit assembled and ready to mount on the truck (it was getting late when I started putting it together).

There is mention of drilling out the plugs in the front of the bed for the drain tube. A couple of questions:

1. Where does the water go from there - would it cause any problems draining from that location?

2. How hard are these plugs to replace if I screw it up or decide to simply let it drain in the truck bed?

Mike Walsh
Niagara Falls Ont.

I haven't noticed any fluttering of my Retrax, and no noise at all. But you will want to seal around tail gate, sealing material is furnished in the kit. When driveing on dirt roads the vacume created under the cover sucks in a lot of dust. I also sealed around the rails and the box with siclone sealant (black). There are small gaps around the edges that the seal does not fill, espically in the fwd. corners around the tie-downs. I found this out by lying in the bed with cover closed and looking for light source's. A bead of siclone should take care of this, this will also aid in makeing the cover more water tight. There is a small amount of leakage but not enough to worry about. There is not a cover on the market that's inbed install that does not leak. The sealant also acts as a bonding agent adding to the security of installation.

Ronin, Welcome aboard! The water goes out through an existing small hole next to the bolt and onto the ground. The caps are just rubber plugs thet could not be easier to replace. Thay can't cost more than a couple of dollars to replace. There is not much water that goes down through the drain tubes. Only water that gets into the canister from the leading edge of the cover or from water that is on the cover itself when you retract it.

I got the unit assembled and ready to mount on the truck (it was getting late when I started putting it together).

There is mention of drilling out the plugs in the front of the bed for the drain tube. A couple of questions:

1. Where does the water go from there - would it cause any problems draining from that location?

2. How hard are these plugs to replace if I screw it up or decide to simply let it drain in the truck bed?

Mike Walsh
Niagara Falls Ont.
The water drains out through a small hole in this cavity and out to the ground. This small hole can become cloged with dirt ect... But it is not hard to clean out.

Took about 1.5 hours with two people but that was in -15'C weather so it was pretty dam cold at times so a break was needed to warmup. Thanks goes out to Tony at http://www.rathwellhardware.com/truck/ for the great service and price. Cover looks fantastic, gotta wait for the next snowfall to do the durabilty test but i'm sure it will hold up fine :)


Hi there Jack, I was thinking about getting a retrax in the near future, Hows it holding out?

and can you tell me why you went with Rathwell instead of Retrax to get your cover? Were they cheaper??

Thanx
Cor

Hi there Jack, I was thinking about getting a retrax in the near future, Hows it holding out?

and can you tell me why you went with Rathwell instead of Retrax to get your cover? Were they cheaper??

Thanx
Cor

Works great a little freezing after a car wash but nothing that can't be fixed with a little tapping and banging. I went with Rathwell because Tony drove it right to my house so no shipping fees. Also it was already in Canada so I didn't have to worry about any hidden custom/duty/brokerage fees.

I see that some of you have had this thing for several months now, so for thseo of you that own one, how do you like it? Still the issue if scratching it, I see (gotta treat it like the paint on the car), but what about leaks? Not that I carry fragile stuff in my bed, but just in case...

And I know it is hard to tell from a 2-D pic, but how does it look in real life? It seems to me that it adds beauty to the truck from the pics online.

At any rate, we just got our new RL for Xmas (the wife's present from me), got a blue model with chrome wheels, side steps, chrome bumper accents, XM, towing package, and a bed extender. Thus far, the gas mileage is the only con I see (coming from an 05' Accord), otherwise, it is a great truck! I have been drooling over it since before it came out, and now am fortunate enough to have one.

Only thing else is the occasional rattle from dash speakers, but hasn't been constant enough to prompt me to pry the covers off and investigate.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Howdy F6Hawk! Congratulations, Merry Christmas (!), and welcome to the ROC! I have had the Retrax since they first became available back in June(?) 2005. I continue to be very happy with it and have no complaints. Yes, you do have to be careful with the surface just as if it was the hood of your truck. Since it rolls up and out of the way when you are likely to be loading or unloading it really is not a problem. I also keep a coat or two of "Dry-Wash-And-Guard" on it so that dirt doesn't stick to it and so that it cleans up easily. You do have to be careful when washing it so that a dirty or sandy wash mit doesn't scratch it. Not much different than the rest of your truck, especially if it is black like mine is. As to the water leaks, no, it is not water proof, but it can be pretty close. The key there is to push the side moldings out to contact the side rails of the bed. Not too difficult to do:rolleyes: . A little water will still get past the moldings if it rains hard or when you wash and rinse thoroughly. It usually just runs down the side walls of the bed and down through the channel that runs along where the bed side walls meet the bed floor. No big deal at all. If you have a semi-stiff bed mat and any water does manage to get onto the bed floor it will run under the bed mat in the low parts of the bed and out the tailgate. Again, no big deal. I do like the appearance and the ability to keep stuff in the bed out of sight. The bed can also be secured if you add the optional tailgate and Retrax locks.
If you or your dealer pop the covers off of the dash tweeters you can stop the rattle easily with a little foam tape.
Your fuel mileage will increase as the miles add up. By the time that you hit around 10K you should get somewhere in the high teens around town and the very low twenties on the highway - depending on how you drive:rolleyes: .
Once again, congratulations and welcome to the ROC!