DIY Tonneau Repairs? Anyone try to do this yet?

[NorthernOak]

He showed me how to do it:
- Open the tonneau fully
- Press and hold the open/close button and keep it depressed until 5 seconds after the cover has completely closed.

Thanks for this info. Ever since mine came back from service a few weeks ago its been having the same problem of leaving a 1" gap between cover and tailgate. When closing I would just hold the button down until it closed all the way, but then next time the issue was back probably because I didn't hold for 5 seconds after close. I'll try your trick next time.

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[staples]

@Lil'O Annie Was there anything special about getting the bed rail plastics off? Or did they just pop off by pulling up on them?

 

[johnjohn]

Not sure if this was mentioned but there is a reset for the cover. I had issues with it fully closing but after doing the reset it has worked fine.

pg. 145 of the owners manual

 

[Lil'O Annie]

@Lil'O Annie Was there anything special about getting the bed rail plastics off? Or did they just pop off by pulling up on them?

It's not too difficult. Start at the corner near the rear window. Take your time and lift gently. There are a number of odd metal clips with red plastic buttons that can break, so be careful. The ones molded into the plastic edge covers are pretty good.
When you put the edge covers back on, be sure to slip the rear end back into the light blue button before snapping it back down--that's easy to miss and must be done first. If you take them off, you'll see what I mean.

 

[staples]

It's not too difficult. Start at the corner near the rear window. Take your time and lift gently. There are a number of odd metal clips with red plastic buttons that can break, so be careful. The ones molded into the plastic edge covers are pretty good.
When you put the edge covers back on, be sure to slip the rear end back into the light blue button before snapping it back down--that's easy to miss and must be done first. If you take them off, you'll see what I mean.

Thanks for blazing the trail on this one.

After a call with service they told me they could send a mobile service tech to try and hammer mine into the stack as a temporary fix. I could see that the panels had come apart on one side and even did a little malleting myself. A blow was not going to link the two panels back together within the track.

I followed in your foot steps and pulled mine apart. Some notes from my experience:

Starting at the front of the bed I carefully lifted the bed rail cover letting those red clips stay on the bed, and used a thin screwdriver by it between the cover and bed to press and release the other clips. There was a bit of length to the wires going to the buttons, but I did still disconnect them when I got to them.

Next the front corner plastics popped off easily because they are held in place with 3 of those red clips. Once removed this gives access to the 4 torx bolts that hold the tonneau stack cover on.

The stack cover also has two rods running the entire length with 10mm nuts at each end. There are two small holes on the driver's side of the stack cover that you can stick a small Allen wrench into to prevent the rod from spinning to allow you to loosen the nuts.

Be careful removing the stack cover. There are 4 spacers / washers under the cover that the torx bolts go through. Luckily I didn't lose any into the void of space all around this area.

Once I had the stack cover off I could manually push down on the stack freeing the passenger side of the half connected panel. Then I could freely move the the panels that were in the track above the bed. With the assistance of the button I was able to get everything into the stack.

I played around with it for a while at this point looking for what might be binding, causing the loud clicks and preventing it from continuing to work. I found that the last panel on the driver's side sometimes looks flush with the previous one. In this picture you can see the last two panels are flush, but there is a measurable lip at the front edge of the rest. This pics show both states.

This state of the last two (in my case) panels binding, I believe, prevents them from properly splitting when entering the stack and contributes to the issues. I could see how this might even cause the two sides getting out of sync and gears jumping teeth.

When the panels are flush, and since it's the last two to enter the stack for me, it's quite easy for me to press up from the underneath the cover and get it back to the appropriate lip and separation.
I don't know if there are damaged teeth on the panels but giving it gentle to forceful encouragement to go into the stack seems helps mine now. I just push on the panel as the motor is pulling them in.

Putting it back together was rather straightforward. The stack cover has the middle plastic panel permanently attached which made it slightly tight to get back in place. I started at one side and had to encourage the rubber gasket that touches the rear window to get into place. This then allowed the rods to fall into place on the other end of the stack cover. After it was in place I carefully slide the spacers back under the stack cover, threaded the torx bolts in and lined up everything before tightening the torx bolts, then rod nuts. Then I could install the corner pieces and the bed rail covers.

Those red clips are impossible to replace without the entire rail off the truck. I originally tried to just lift the front third of the rail but I couldn't put the red clips on when I only had an inch of space to work.

I didn't bother trying to replace the sticky foam pads. Rivian will be in there soon enough with the next gen tonneau. And I think the other clips every 6-8 inches is enough.

Overall it wasn't too hard of a job. Getting the bed rail covers off was maybe the hardest part and requires the most attention. Or maybe it just seems that way because that's where you start disassembling an expensive truck.

One again, thanks for your help @Lil'O Annie!

 

[Lil'O Annie]

Thanks for blazing the trail on this one.
One again, thanks for your help @Lil'O Annie!

GOOD JOB!! I'm so glad you found my little hints helpful. You did a great job of describing your process...much better than I did.

 

[nfrank]

My tonneau just got jammed up today. Made a service ticket on the app and got a call. Service guy said he’ll setup a time for them to get it in one position and leave it. Then he said a once the fix is available they’ll do another repair to make it work again.

 

[TAZ]

I just got finished wrestling with my cover also and here's a few more tips. The two holes on the driver's side are in the attached pictures. You may need to spin the rod for them to be accessible. I had the first panel very jammed sideways, is why I had to disassemble it in the first place. After unscrewing the 4 torx bolts and the 4 10mm nuts, i ran the tonneau cover reset option on the display. This sucked the the panel in, at which point I pushed the remaining panels towards the cab and they proceed to get stacked/stored in the open state. I then pushed the button to closed the cover which it did properly but somewhat at an angle. We were able to get it back into alignment by having my son pull the cover back as we open and closed it a few more times. I'm leaving it as is for now until they come up with a new design. Its just crazy that after all the engineering that went into this truck the tonneau cover is such a POS!

 

[beckhome09]

Wow...I understand your concern!!
You need a set of star-bits with a ratchet. There is a tight spot under the window corners where you'll need a 1/4 wrench for the star bit to reach a star screw that you can't reach with the ratchet attached. Need 8mm & 10mm sockets. Pliers, flat-head screwdrivers (tiny to large). Nothing too specialized, but not everyone may have star bits.
Biggest item is patience and a bit of finesse to gently remove/reset covers. Be sure to document the entire removal process, so you know how to put it back together (we didn't document the whole thing, but wish we had. Did have enough to get things back together, though).
It took us all afternoon, probably 4-5 hours, but we had to explore and analyze the situation as we went. If you knew exactly what you were doing, would probably take 2-3 hours. We went slowly and carefully to avoid breaking anything.

When i spoke to customer service about extending my cover fully until the redesign is complete; I was told it would take the service techs about an hour so for us novice; 2-3 hours sounds just about right.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

I started trying to pull up the bed’s side pieces but these clips do not want to give. They look different from the ones the OP has.
Any advice on getting them to release?

Thx

 

[Lil'O Annie]

I started trying to pull up the bed’s side pieces but these clips do not want to give. They look different from the ones the OP has.
Any advice on getting them to release?

Thx

Those don't look like anything we had under our sides. They must have changed the clips after July or so. Where was this photo taken of the side piece...front/back?

 

[Dark-Fx]

I started trying to pull up the bed’s side pieces but these clips do not want to give. They look different from the ones the OP has.
Any advice on getting them to release?

Thx

Those are just standard automotive trim clips. They are seated with pressure but having a trim removal tool makes quick work of them.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

Those are just standard automotive trim clips. They are seated with pressure but having a trim removal tool makes quick work of them.

I’ve got an assortment of trim removal tools, but these things don’t want to let go.

 

[Carmelbythesea]

I just got the death twist on the cover. Currently it's so far askew with 5 panels out. It looks like I am going to have to extract the whole thing. I'll try and document the panel removal.

Theses red clips seem like a real pleasure to work with.

to work with.

 

[JGard18]

I just got the death twist on the cover. Currently it's so far askew with 5 panels out. It looks like I am going to have to extract the whole thing. I'll try and document the panel removal.

Theses red clips seem like a real pleasure to work with.

to work with.

This is what just happened to mine after the SC replaced my entire unit. It's still broken. Mobile service was here to check out something for me, but I mentioned the cover and how I just want to use the bed. Rivian was going to have me drive an hour to the SC to get everything back in, instead, the mobile tech just grabbed the outer-most slat and yanked hard at an angle and was able to pull it out. He then did all the rest of them, too. So while I have a crooked one partially sticking out from where the cabin in, at least my bed is open and usable again.

Man I cannot wait for the redesign. Something tells me it's further away than just the beginning of 2023, too. But who knows, maybe we'll be surprised.

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