Vehicle Purchase

Munster927 said:
Yeah take some measurements of the space between the back of your driver seat and the back seats folded up (I'm assuming Rams seats also fold like my Chevy). You could also put them behind the passenger seat if you need more room and make your passenger lose some leg room haha

Mine are about 50 pounds so they fit well and I can stack the kennels on top of each other. Keep in mind too, you can get away with a slightly smaller kennel for a truck ride then you would want in your house. I have kennels in my house that stay in the house, and kennels that are just for truck travel that stay in the garage.
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That is what I would plan to do - get some smaller kennels for the truck and leave the others in the house. One of my vizslas is normal size - 50 lbs +/- 5 lbs. The other was up to 88 lbs at one point and he's down to about 70 now - real tall and barrel chested.

Which Radco did you work with? I'm in the cities and spoke with somebody at the Oakdale shop who talked about all those options as being add-ons with costs associated with them. Drove by the shop in Brainerd a couple times last weekend and thought about stopping in but didn't have time unfortunately.
 
As for a capper, I'm going with a Century for my new truck. <edit> Supposedly Century/Leer/Snug Top truck caps are all manufactured by the same company. That's just what I've read, no other proof. </edit>

As for options:

Slider Windoors on both sides (contractor doors/side windows that completely open up) that have a sliding, screened window in the middle for ventilation.

Front Slider window that is hinged/removable. This for ventilation and being able to remove to clean rear window of truck

Dual dome lights for night operations.

Roughly $2500 installed including tax in my neck of the woods.

YMMV
 
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lovenstein said:
That is what I would plan to do - get some smaller kennels for the truck and leave the others in the house. One of my vizslas is normal size - 50 lbs +/- 5 lbs. The other was up to 88 lbs at one point and he's down to about 70 now - real tall and barrel chested.

Which Radco did you work with? I'm in the cities and spoke with somebody at the Oakdale shop who talked about all those options as being add-ons with costs associated with them. Drove by the shop in Brainerd a couple times last weekend and thought about stopping in but didn't have time unfortunately.
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Price wise you can't beat the cheap plastic kennels you can get at Menards. They're about 40 bucks or so and do the job. I'd love a pair of Ruffland kennels for my dogs but the price they ask for them and the weight of each kennel (which is a factor for me as I stay in motels and don't feel like dragging in a 30 pound kennel).

As for Radco, I got mine at Oakdale. You may just need to keep an eye on their sales. I bought mine last September, the carpet headliner was free through Leer (advertised on Leers website) and the prop switch and remote lock was advertised on Radcos website as their September sale. I think the only option I paid for was the front sliding window. My truck has a slider window on the back glass, otherwise I'd have skipped it.
 
Chestle said:
As for a capper, I'm going with a Century for my new truck. <edit> Supposedly Century/Leer/Snug Top truck caps are all manufactured by the same company. That's just what I've read, no other proof. </edit>

As for options:

Slider Windoors on both sides (contractor doors/side windows that completely open up) that have a sliding, screened window in the middle for ventilation.

Front Slider window that is hinged/removable. This for ventilation and being able to remove to clean rear window of truck

Dual dome lights for night operations.

Roughly $2500 installed including tax in my neck of the woods.

YMMV
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I noticed the same with Leer, Century and Snugtop. Century was like the "cheap brand" (if you can call 2 grand for a topper cheap). ATC was another brand that looks basically the same as the 3 mentioned.
 
Lovenstein, I take back what I said about the prop switch Leer has. I found my invoice in my email and I paid extra for it but it was a $30 option so I figured why not. But carpet headliner and remote lock were tossed in. Headliner through Leer and remote lock was Radcos deal.

I got the Leer 100XR ($1,999 base price) with slider front window ($85), prop switch ($30), carpet headliner (free) and remote lock (free). After $100 install and tax mine came to $2371. Just for reference for you.

Also, not sure if you've looked at ARE at all, but I found them to be alot more expensive (at the time anyway) and didn't seem to give out any freebies. But YMMV.
 
Munster927 said:
I noticed the same with Leer, Century and Snugtop. Century was like the "cheap brand" (if you can call 2 grand for a topper cheap). ATC was another brand that looks basically the same as the 3 mentioned.
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I bought an Astro in 1999 for my new F250. Had it repainted to match my 2003 F250. Sold it on the truck this year, still going strong. It leaked rain a bit around the side windows, gaskets dried out, but it was fine for my hunting last season. Astro was in Garnett; they repainted it in 03 for $400. Great job too. A fire in 2011in their Garnett factory led to a move to Ottawa, KS. Not sure when they changed their name from Astro to ATC.

Folks where I'm buying say the new ATCs are not the quality of the old Astros and told me I'd be a lot happier with Century. I dunno but I'm taking their advice.

Bottom line is Astro was considered a cheap brand capper when I bought it in '99. It lasted me till 2021. I think this cheap brand Century will outlast me!
 
As the others said, front drop down window, carpet and remote locking with your truck fob. I wish I would have gotten the leer locker as well.
 
Glock said:
As the others said, front drop down window, carpet and remote locking with your truck fob. I wish I would have gotten the leer locker as well.
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When I got my Leer I asked the guys if a Leer Locker can be installed after the topper is ordered and they said it can be. So all is not lost if you really wanted it.
 
Good to know, I figured there would of been some type of reinforcement needed for the factory when building.
 
Glock said:
Good to know, I figured there would of been some type of reinforcement needed for the factory when building.
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Yeah I would have been under that impression as well. If I remember right, they told me it's put on after the topper is molded to begin with.
 
Now I just have to get over the idea of having to drill some holes on the roof for the bolts. Always worried about leaks when doing that.
 
Glock said:
Now I just have to get over the idea of having to drill some holes on the roof for the bolts. Always worried about leaks when doing that.
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Yeah no one likes that haha there's also a system called "Cap Pack" which is exactly the same as the Leer Locker. According to their website, they make the Leer Locker for Leer. It's a little cheaper than the Leer branded version I noticed.
 
I think a front slider window is a must for air flow. The first one I got I also paid extra for the drop down front slider window, which I never really used to clean between... The next one I got, I did not get the drop down. To each their own, I would not say the drop down front window is a must have if looking to save $100ish.
 
Glock said:
Thanks for the tip! I will have to look into them.
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No problem. You could look at having your Leer dealer (Radco or whoever) install the Leer Locker for you to alleviate the pains of drilling holes in your topper. I've been contemplating getting a Leer Locker added to my topper and would probably have Radco do it for me. I can easily handle it but when it comes to drilling holes in my truck, I like to let others do it for me so I can pretend like it never happened.
 
jackrabbit said:
I think a front slider window is a must for air flow. The first one I got I also paid extra for the drop down front slider window, which I never really used to clean between... The next one I got, I did not get the drop down. To each their own, I would not say the drop down front window is a must have if looking to save $100ish.
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I did the front slider as well and skipped the drop down front window for the same reason you mentioned. Idk how often I'll get in my topper to clean my front glass. My dad's topper on his old truck didn't have a front slider or drop down, he had his truck 18 years and never really found a need to loosen the topper, slide it back and clean the windows. They didn't get all that dirty that a car wash or hose couldn't handle surprisingly. But to each their own. Some may be more ambitious than I haha
 
Anybody have experience with Unicover toppers? There is a place in Hudson that offers these caps at a slightly more affordable price with comparable options.
 
Hmmm. The place I’m working with told me the Cap Pack has to be ordered same time as the capper. That place at least won’t put it on later.

Century right now is offering “coupons”. I can pick one of removable front window, keyless entry or the carpeted bed liner.

Don’t know about Unicover, sorry
 
No experience with Unicover, no. Probably similar to Century toppers. A "cheaper" brand in terms of name recognition compared to Leer/ARE/Snugtop.

And Chestle, that's surprising about the Cap Pack. My Leer dealer told me they could do it after it's installed. But definitely seems like more of a pain in the ass. Either you're working on ladders to reach the top of the topper or pulling the topper off to work with it at ground level. There's an install video on Youtube so I know it's not something that must be done at the factory during the mold process.
 
Munster, I agree.

Cap Pack says right on their website: "Are you a “do-it yourself” person? Purchase a Cap-Pack Sport to retrofit your current cap. Install with the cap on or take the cap off to install on the ground."

Has to be easier at the cap factory and it would seem if the manufacturer thinks it needs reinforcement they could do it.

My hunting partner ordered one for his new Ford/capper. I thought about it but I really would only need it for maybe two months of the year. The way I set up my kennel in the back, I can tie down the guns in cases on top of the kennel and get at them through the contractor windows. It's pretty easy and is how my buddy did his with his previous truck. Anytime I have guns in the truck and am not actually hunting, the guns get locked in the cab on the floor anyway.
 
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