Cargo Lid Experience and Question

[Skid]

After installing a new set of Mike's struts on the rear cargo lid I found that the drivers side front corner of the lid had been pushed up about 1/8 inch and was noticeably high due to the increased pressure of the new strut. While it was in the body shop last week getting some details finished on the recent repaint, I asked my friend who owns the shop to help me re-align it. We determined that the only way to get the necessary clearance to adjust it down was to remove the mounting plate on the drivers side and elongate the four mounting holes so that the plate could drop the required amount. This also required that we grind the free floating washer on the bottom two mounting bolts flat on one side to allow the plate to drop without hitting the washers.

At first we figured to just remove the cargo lid and gain easy access to the mounting plate. But when we tried to lift the cargo cover off the truck using the owner's manual as a guide, we found that on the drivers side the hinge plate that is attached to the lid has an "L" bracket with some sort of electrical interface switch attached to it that will not allow the lid to pop up and out of the pickup bed. Even with three guys maneuvering the lid it would not come out from under the side rails of the bed. That "L" bracket would stop us every time. We ended up removing the hinge plate while I manually held up and stabilized the driver side corner of the lid and kept the lid open at the correct angle on that side. This allowed us to remove the base plate and elongate the holes. I was forced to hold up the corner for almost an hour with a towel on my hand to keep it from touching and scratching the paint. Some Fun! Then we re-attached the base plate and the hinge plate and spent another half hour getting things to align perfectly so we wouldn't chip the paint when it closed. Everything worked out fine and it's aligning great all the way around with no raised corners. My guess is that this has occurred before when stronger struts are installed and I'm OK with the fix we came up with.

So here is my question:

Why couldn't we get the lid off the truck?

[BlueStreak]

I cannot answer your question but have one for you. Did you contact Mike when you noticed the problem and see what he suggested? Mike has a reputation for backing his products and he knows the problems that are likely to be caused if something is not right. I think you may have had a problem which could have been corrected if you had asked the person you are placing the blame on here. It should not have been necessary to re drill anything if you merely changed the struts.

[Skid]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

I cannot answer your question but have one for you. Did you contact Mike when you noticed the problem and see what he suggested? Mike has a reputation for backing his products and he knows the problems that are likely to be caused if something is not right. I think you may have had a problem which could have been corrected if you had asked the person you are placing the blame on here. It should not have been necessary to re drill anything if you merely changed the struts.

Did not think to ask Mike, as I made the assumption that the extra pressure from the new struts would cause this issue occasionally. I have no problem with any of Mike's products. They are the best available and he is always helpful. I had the opportunity to adjust the alignment while in the shop and I took advantage of the help. In retrospect it might have served me better to discuss this with Mike, but I didn't think it was a problem with the struts. They are a big improvement over OEM.

OK.....so why couldn't I get the lid to come off?

[BlueStreak]

I can't answer that since I have not tried to remove mine so I am not familiar with the parts involved. There are some out there who might be able to help but you have to give them time to find this thread and read it through.

[Mike in AZ]

I have seen the same lifted corner issue on several (including mine) trucks. I find that a properly charged set of OEM struts will also lift the corners. As soon as the strut will no longer lift the lid to the full open position, you will notice that the forward corners of the lid set down onto the rubber stop on the hinge..... My conclusion is that the hinge design has little or no engineering margin to allow for lid/hinge/strut variability.

I'm curious........ did you install the 390mm struts or the 437mm struts? The reason that I ask is that the newer hinges (that take the 437mm struts) moves the lower attach point of the strut down about 1.0-1.5". This increases the leverage on the hinge in the closed position.........

Regards,

Mike

Sorry, can't answer the question about removing the cover at this time...... But I'll be pulling mine off in a week or two and will find out for myself.......

Thanks for pointing this out.

[Skid]

Originally Posted by Mike in AZ

I have seen the same lifted corner issue on several (including mine) trucks. I find that a properly charged set of OEM struts will also lift the corners. As soon as the strut will no longer lift the lid to the full open position, you will notice that the forward corners of the lid set down onto the rubber stop on the hinge..... My conclusion is that the hinge design has little or no engineering margin to allow for lid/hinge/strut variability.

I'm curious........ did you install the 390mm struts or the 437mm struts? The reason that I ask is that the newer hinges (that take the 437mm struts) moves the lower attach point of the strut down about 1.0-1.5". This increases the leverage on the hinge in the closed position.........

Regards,

Mike

Sorry, can't answer the question about removing the cover at this time...... But I'll be pulling mine off in a week or two and will find out for myself.......

Thanks for pointing this out.

Hey Mike;

Thanks for the response. I fully agree that the problem is in the design of the hinge assembly and not the OEM or Simple Engineering struts. I installed the 437mm struts after sending you a picture of my assembly and getting your recommendation. They work great and I wouldn't think of going back, even with the non-adjustability of the assembly.
After carefully elongating the bolt holes in the base plate, I gained enough up and down adjustment to get things perfect. Plus I can easily move the corner back up if the strut starts to change the alignment as it ages and looses some pressure. Getting things just right requires some fiddling as you may have to move the hinge where it attaches to the underside of the lid slightly to get the gaps good all the way around and have no binding in the hinge. The last thing I did was crawl in with the lid closed and snug up the plastic-topped stop on each front corner. This gives you a very slight additional lift.

If you get the chance, let me know how the lid removal goes for you. I hope I'm just doing something stupid so it's pilot error. I'll gladly send a pix or two of the offending tab and switch if you don't encounter it. I'm slightly worried that I've never heard it mentioned here on the forum.

Thanks again.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Skid, do you have a light in your lid?

[jackatg450]

To remove cover:
1.Unscrew the light connector and pull out of plug. Picture 1.
2.Remove struts while supporting back of cover.
3.Remove 13mm Plated bolt. Picture 2.
4.Slide bed to the rear 1" until slot is clear, then lift. Picture 3.

2 men, 5 minutes.

Hope this helps.

Jack

[Ripshift]

Took mine off once to haul something and it comes off like the owners manual says. Going back was scary, I put towels along the edges of bed in case but we got it back without any damage.

[Skid]

Originally Posted by jackatg450

To remove cover:
1.Unscrew the light connector and pull out of plug. Picture 1.
2.Remove struts while supporting back of cover.
3.Remove 13mm Plated bolt. Picture 2.
4.Slide bed to the rear 1" until slot is clear, then lift. Picture 3.

2 men, 5 minutes.

Hope this helps.

Jack

Thanks Jack

I followed these instructions exactly, right from the owners manual, but on my '05 SSR there is metal tab on the drivers side hinge plate that sits close to a switch/sensor mounted on the base mounting plate. The wires that feed the switch/sensor are part of the same harness that feeds the under-lid light. The metal tab is bent at 90 degrees to the plate and protrudes outward toward the side of the bed. This tab makes it impossible to lift out the lid from the bed without tearing the side of the bed (unless someone can tell me what I'm missing).The pix below show the tab on the drivers side hinge plate in the first two shots and the lack of tab on the passenger side in the last shot. Can anybody tell me what this switch/sensor does? It is totally stationary, so I'm thinking it is there to tell the truck that the lid has been removed, since that is the only time the tab in front of it changes position relative to the sensor.

[Mike in AZ]

Originally Posted by Skid

Thanks Jack

I followed these instructions exactly, right from the owners manual, but on my '05 SSR there is metal tab on the drivers side hinge plate that sits close to a switch/sensor mounted on the base mounting plate. The wires that feed the switch/sensor are part of the same harness that feeds the under-lid light. The metal tab is bent at 90 degrees to the plate and protrudes outward toward the side of the bed. This tab makes it impossible to lift out the lid from the bed without tearing the side of the bed (unless someone can tell me what I'm missing).The pix below show the tab on the drivers side hinge plate in the first two shots and the lack of tab on the passenger side in the last shot. Can anybody tell me what this switch/sensor does? It is totally stationary, so I'm thinking it is there to tell the truck that the lid has been removed, since that is the only time the tab in front of it changes position relative to the sensor.

You are right on target with the switch function. That switch is used to tell the computer that you have removed the cargo cover. This will eliminate the top retraction lockout with the cargo cover up. Trying to put the top down with the cargo cover open is not good and the computer remembers this for you, so you don't do something dumb.

Speaking of dumb...... please be aware that you can start to drop the top and stop it in mid stroke to let you clean the top compartment. In this position, the top compartment cover is open and hanging over the cargo cover. It is possible to pull the manual release of the cargo cover any time the tailgate is open........DON'T DO IT!!!!!! I was cleaning mine and had the top compartment open. The tailgate was open and I pulled the handle, but managed to grab the lid just before it got a dent in it.......

Regards,

Mike

[jackatg450]

When you pull the cover back about an inch ,you then raise both sides enough to clear slots above the flat head on the "bolt". Raise the passenger side above the top side of the bed. Now you can pull the cover toward the passenger side enough to clear the "L" shaped bracket and take the cover off.

Of course I used a bunch of towels to protect paint.

Jack

[Skid]

Originally Posted by jackatg450

When you pull the cover back about an inch ,you then raise both sides enough to clear slots above the flat head on the "bolt". Raise the passenger side above the top side of the bed. Now you can pull the cover toward the passenger side enough to clear the "L" shaped bracket and take the cover off.

Of course I used a bunch of towels to protect paint.

Jack

Well Jack....between you and Mike I not only got the answer to my question, I got some excellent tips to keep me from screwing up again in the future. When we were trying to lift the cover there were three of us and we were trying very hard to keep everything level so we didn't put the new paint at risk. With all the towels, talk and instructions we weren't seeing the obvious. If we had lifted the passenger side out first I'm sure we would have made a successful removal. It would have been nice if the owners manual was more detailed in this regard. Even so, I feel like a dope for not seeing the key to the problem.

Many thanks to you and Mike. Maybe someone else here will learn from my mistake.

Now I'm off to the upholstery shop to figure out how to keep my carpet from constantly popping out from under the console.