Truckman top

Leupsak

Well-Known Member
I have a new Truckman top fitted to my Navara and the rear window seals have split and let in water they have been replaced by Nissan, failed, split and let in water 3 times in the last 16 months.
Has anybody had similar issues with Truckman as they are saying my vehicle is the only one in the country to ever have this problem!

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This Issue with Truckman. I had one fitted to a brand new Ranger in 2016. Same issues with all the rubber seals cracking. Went back to the ford garage that fitted it and they kindly got truckman to send new seals and repleaced them all. Truckman maintained it was a fluke, but 3 months later and the same problem. Also had a problem with the locking system failing (so couldn't lock the back) and a fair bit of leakage coming into the liner from under the roof rack bars. These are only sealed with a rubber washer so no wonder. I got sick of the problems with it. I subsequently changed vehicles but will look at other cabs thank the Truckman. They are pricey and in my experience poor quality.
 
Sounds and looks like poor quality rubber, or they used the wrong additives during production. Rubber is a polymer, and like a lot of other polymers can suffer when exposed to UV Radiation, temp. extremes and oxidation. Exposure breaks down the molecular chains resulting in cracking and brittleness like we see in the pics. Sulphur dioxide is one compound added during the heating process to reduce these effects.

A well made good quality rubber should last a good few years before perishing, even in the UK’s often inclement weather. Hell, you just have to look at the seals on most family cars - how often do people have to change those?

You can buy products which extend the life of the rubber, I.e. gummy pflege sticks, but you shouldn’t have to with a relatively new product, never mind replace the seals thrice in 16 months.
 
so not the "one off, never heard of it happening before that Truckman have stated"

Thanks guys really useful, keep the Truckman info coming please
 
To be honest in my opinion they are poor. I am on my second locking mechanism in 2 years. The latest one is only 4 months old. At c.£100 a go it’s pretty unimpressive.
I spoke to them yesterday and they advised me to put some WD40 in it....helpful!
 
Very happy with the Navara, Truckman is the issue
I use to make the fibre glass truckman. Few years back mind, but I would not have one. Truckman use to be based in Cheltenham and Cheltenham laminating is on staverton trading estate.

Truckman was crap but autosleeper even worse
 
Some pics of my cracking rubber for reference. I have mine sorted under warranty beacuae my local dealership pushed Truckman for it. I also had an issue with the paint bubbling:
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Al less than 12 months old. Pretty poor, wont buy one again.
 
Poor quality really considering they are dearer than the competition


I’ve had a few aeroklass canopies and had no issues to be fair
 
This has all the hallmark of a cheap imported product ! I had a truckman back on my hilux years ago with no seal problem at all , so many companies now choose the cheap route above all else ..
 
Truckman bulkhead window seals have failed 3 times in 16 months with new ones being fitted on 2 occasions, now waiting on the suggested remedy from Truckman for this 3rd occasion.
Truckman have been painful to deal with however the Nissan dealerships manager has been great.
Ill keep you posted on the outcome of this, the 3rd failed set of seals


images of the failed seals
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Signs of water running out of the tailgate from the leaking seals
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Truckman have been arguing that harsh chemicals in cleaning products are to blame but can't explain why no other seals on the truck have done the same or have an answer to the fact I have never cleaned the car!
 
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Look at a car door rubber seal.
They will have on any sharp corners specially moulded items bonded onto the seal section (tech term is shot moulded) you can always see a slight joint as it meets the normal section, your truckmans very low production items engineers are trying to bend the seal around a too sharply external radiused corner for the seals shape = it stretches the outer radius skins edge too much giving the failure shown as the distance is much greater than along the the inner side. Simple logic the rubber is under constant stretch stress. I saw it many times when I was in the car design business, they will also crinkle up when running around on internal radii.
Try a car scrapyard and scavenge an old tailgate seal and if it is a close enough shape cut the corners off & bond them with rubber cement to your seals corners after trimming the damaged areas away..
BB
 
The Truckman top fitted to my Hilux pickup leaked in the first year from first registration. It is the tricky area where tailgate and hinged canopy meet, but it looks to be poor design married to poor build. [rubbers detatched from canopy edge].

Also, corrosion caused the canopy lock to partially seize by about the 18 month mark. That translated to the electric servo being unable to unlock the canopy. That seems an early fail/high maintenance design issue if rust removal and re-grease of lock is required annually.

I note that my Toyota dealer is now fitting Toyota canopies for 2019, so I wonder if the Truckman tops have been problematic for a significant number of users?
 
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I bought an Isuzu Dmax with a Truckman top last April, just on three years old. Top left hand hinge gave out within a few month and there's a fair bit rust along the bottom edge of the top tailgate. Also let's water in.
 
I have a new Truckman top fitted to my Navara and the rear window seals have split and let in water they have been replaced by Nissan, failed, split and let in water 3 times in the last 16 months.
Has anybody had similar issues with Truckman as they are saying my vehicle is the only one in the country to ever have this problem!

Truckman are pure crap. I had the window fall out of my first one. The hinges broke on on the second one
 
I purchased a grand truckman top in 2016 and nothing but problems from day one. Truckman are more than happy to repair it if it’s in warranty but don’t want to know if it’s out. This is a shocking and disgusting product to sell for thousands of pounds knowing it’s going to fail. They are aware Of the primary manufacturing issues but really couldn’t care less. They’d rather sell a dodgy product and just keep fixing it, until it’s out of warranty then run for the hills.

•bubbling paint on spoiler replaced
•failed locking system replaced
•peeling paint on roof bars replaced
• peeling paint on rear handle replaced
• cracked bulkhead window rubber replaced
•bubbling paint on paintwork both sides
•water coming in every time it rains

If they keep supplying this product it’s only a matter of time before the Internet makes them go bust .
 
Ford are aware of truckmans shocking truck canopies. They stopped fitting them in 2017 because of the poor quality and problems that kept coming back to bite them. They now ask you to purchase it off your own back . This just shows how bad truckman really are
 
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