Frozen Retrax Tonneau

[Capertrj]

Merry Christmas!

So I’ve had my RetraxXR with the side rails for about 3 weeks now. I’m in southern Maine and we are at about 10 degrees. Lightning is in the garage plugged in. I went out to show my father in law the cover and it’s frozen. The truck is in the garage and it’s frozen. I open the port push the button and it won’t even lift. Quite embarrassing. I was torn between retrax and paragon due to winter weather up here. At this point I am not a fan of the retrax and wish I went paragon. Does anyone else have issues with cold weather retractable covers?

Any tips on a frozen tonneau cover? If these are all weather this shouldn’t happen. I’m fairly easy going but when I have to crawl in the bed at 5 degrees to retrieve stuff it’s not ok. I’m close to returning the retrax. I haven’t seen any other negative review about a frozen cover so maybe I’m one of the few. Any help or tips would be helpful.

thank you all!

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[trev5150]

I don’t know about the buildup of that tonneau but there’s probably a lot of thermodynamics involved, from metals contracting to lubricants in bearings getting gummy. Not knowing anything about your alternate option either, given the physics would the other one really have done better?

 

[Capertrj]

I don’t know about the buildup of that tonneau but there’s probably a lot of thermodynamics involved, from metals contracting to lubricants in bearings getting gummy. Not knowing anything about your alternate option either, given the physics would the other one really have done better?

Given the thermal mass I would think both of equal(of course depends on the true volume). The paragon folds in a couple separate areas to collapse. I would think mechanically you have some movement with 3 joints. Compared to a solid rolling cylinder. You can overcome some issues with brute force with a multiple joint cover compared to a solid rolling cover. I’m no means an expert on grease chemistry but I can hold my own on the sciences.

just curious what’s your physics background?

 

[trev5150]

Given the thermal mass I would think both of equal(of course depends on the true volume). The paragon folds in a couple separate areas to collapse. I would think mechanically you have some movement with 3 joints. Compared to a solid rolling cylinder. You can overcome some issues with brute force with a multiple joint cover compared to a solid rolling cover. I’m no means an expert on grease chemistry but I can hold my own on the sciences.

just curious what’s your physics background?

A degree in genetics and a year of medical school. Not a physicist, but delta H is delta H and cause and effect is what it is.

 

[awilli1010]

I’d just hit it with a big hammer…

 

[PA Lightning]

I have had things freeze in the last week that never froze before. Temps have been ridiculously cold.

I opted for a soft tri-fold this time around because my OEM hard tri-fold used to freeze to the top of the tail gate occasionally. I used some silicone spray on the tailgate top which helped and it may help you if you spray the rails and your moving parts.

You say the cover froze when garaged. I do not know if you were out driving around when there was precipitation and then parked in the garage, but that could have done it in these temps.

If you are in the garage, I would use a hairdryer to get the cover unfrozen. You should be able to tell the area where the cover is frozen if you have a helper.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I have mine out of the garage in fun sun today, that should melt all the ice I accumulated from the Friday rain storm which turned into an ice-over which has my cover frozen solid, Southern New England will be in the low 30's by 1400 hours, should warm up in Maine later this week around Thursday!!!!!

 

[Capertrj]

Let it outside still locked up. The key rotated freely but the button wouldn’t release. Drove around. Came back home and retracted easily. Maybe a weird catch? It’s been fine before and after that incident.

we got hit hard by that storm last week so I had to crawl all the way in the bed to get gas cans (waiting on new transfer switch).

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