Video Review & Installation

Hey, guys. Adam here with americantrucks.com. And today we're taking a quick look at, and, of course, installing the Proven Ground's Roll and Lock Tonneau Cover in Black, available for the '09 to '18 RAM 1500 with either the 5.7, or 6.4 bed without the RAM box. Now, you should be checking this out if you're looking for a very basic, more traditional, more affordable tonneau cover to protect the cargo in your bed. Now, because it's the soft, roll-up tonneau cover. It's a lot more basic and it doesn't come with all the bells and whistles that are more premium or more expensive tonneau cover would have so it comes in at the more affordable side of the pricing spectrum, right around 250 bucks. This one is a little bit easier to use with a single pull cord right in the middle. It locks shut with your tailgate, so you just unlock that and drop your tailgate, pull that cord and it snaps open, and then you can roll it up from there. There are two snaps up by the bulkhead underneath your rear windshield, so if you wanna drive with the tonneau cover completely open, you can snap it and secure it back. Now, it does come with a black high-quality vinyl soft top. So it can be knifed into, as far as theft security is concerned. If you're worried about that, a hardcover might be the option for you. There are hard roll-ups out there. You just might be paying a little bit more for that premium quality. Now, that soft vinyl here is gonna be weatherproof. It does have weatherstripping on each side that hooks and latches into the side bed rails to make sure it's got a leak-free seal for all weather conditions, which is definitely a plus. And underneath of that, there are multiple aluminum slats for support.Now, one of the gripes that I have here for this particular tonneau cover is that those support rails are separate from the cover itself. They sit in separately from the top that rolls up. So normally with a tonneau cover, the support rails will be built into the underside of this. Not gonna be the case here, so if you did wanna have to remove them, you do have to do that separately as it doesn't roll up with the tonneau. The other thing would be that you do have to hook in the weatherstripping on each side separately. It's not something that automatically happens. So there is a couple of extra steps, but again, being a more affordable option here, doesn't have all the bells and whistles as a top line option, but 250 bucks is pretty good for a tonneau cover.Now, the install for this does get one out of three wrenches on our difficulty meter. Anybody can tackle it with about 30 minutes in the driveway at home, and very simple hand tools like an Allen key or a hex socket, and the Allen key's even included in the kit. The hex socket just makes life a little easier. I'll show you guys the entire process from start to finish and show you how it works. Let's get started. Tools used in this install include an impact gun and a 3/16 hex socket or the Allen key in the kit.First step here, grab the side bed rail for your driver side. And you're basically just gonna lay it right up here against your factory bed rail. Now, you wanna make sure that this is pretty much flush with this gap here between your tailgate and the bed rail. Doesn't have to be perfect just yet. We'll tighten it down in just a little bit. All right. Grab one of your clamps, slide that guy under the factory bed rail and hook it onto your new bed rail. You may have to loosen up this bolt here to get that loose enough to hook on. Grab a 3/16 hex socket or the Allen key included in the kit and tighten it down. All right, you're just gonna repeat that in the middle and then back toward the bulkhead. All right. Now you can repeat this exact same process on the other side.All right. Next step, take the tonneau cover as it's rolled up right out of the box, and you're gonna set it right on top of your bulkhead here. Now, you can see if you peel back this, you'll see this plastic knob coming out with the thumbscrew. That's gonna slot right into the side of the bed rail here. All right. Pull that through and then tighten up that thumbscrew so it sets in place. Do the same thing on the other side.All right. Next up, take your support brackets or support bars, you're gonna slide these guys into the little notches in the sides of the bed rail. Now, you have to go in on an angle for both sides, but they sit right in place. Do that all three times. All right. So at this point you can unroll your tonneau cover. You can unsnap it. We've already taken care of the other side, and unroll it toward your tailgate. Now, when you get toward your tailgate, hook it right into the ends of the bed rails, snap it shut, and close your tailgate.Now, when it comes to using your roll-up tonneau cover from Proven Grounds, you're just gonna drop your tailgate. This pull cord here, it's connected to a cord that goes across the entire front side of your tonneau. That releases the latch, just like that. Now you can roll it up. All right. When you get to the end here, two straps, one on each side to secure it back so you can drive with it completely open.All right. So when it comes time to close your tonneau cover, unsnap each side and roll it out. Snap it shut, close your tailgate. All right. So now you could just leave it just like this, but if you want an absolutely secured weatherstrip seal, you wanna pull back the sides and fold this weatherstrip into the cutout there on your bed rails. Snaps right in place. That's gonna secure it to make sure no weather elements can get in there. All right. Do that on the other side.That's gonna wrap up my review and install for the Proven Ground's Roll and Lock Tonneau Cover, available for the '09 to '18 RAM 1500. You can get yours right here at americantrucks.com.