Truck Canopy Guru ... ?

Got a niggly leak letting water into my ARB Ascent canopy on my Ford Ranger. The water enters at the front join bewteen the canopy and wellside and the fix probably involves lifting the canopy off and either repairing or replacing the seal before reattaching the canopy. I have spaoken to two Auckalnd area ARB dealers who estimate around $250.00 - $300.00 to do the job. I would attempt it myself to save the expense if I was properly set up but in this case need to ask a professional service.
Can anybody recommend a good Auckland area operator who could takle this at reasonable cost ?
Thanks for any help. Cheers.

Im tight with my money but.....$250-300 equates to what??? four hours labour one person or two hours for two people and $50 worth of materials....
cant see one person doing the job on thier own so MAYBE that quoted price isnt all that unreasonable???

I lifted mine with help from the wife, turned it over and cleaned all the gook off and set it back on with silicone sealant held good, then it had to go in to the panel shop they lifted it and put it back on and now it leaks in the 2 front corners, not much but enough to be annoying. I think its a common fault with canopies.

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Im tight with my money but.....$250-300 equates to what??? four hours labour one person or two hours for two people and $50 worth of materials....
cant see one person doing the job on thier own so MAYBE that quoted price isnt all that unreasonable???

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Roughly, equates to 2 hours @ $138.00 / hr plus an assumed new seal. Yes, probably a two man job.
Even if the fix was simpler and quicker they would probably want to charge close to this anyway.
Quite likely I'm tighter than you with my money MD ;) and as you suggest, maybe not an entirely unreasonable quote but in my mind I can't see that it justifying more than $200.00 tops.
But I do have a sort of gnawing feeling I'll end up sucking it up and just paying the quoted rate.

I have lifted mine off by myself and cracked both sides of the canopy below the side windows. Ya learn stuff all the time.:oh noes:

Huh, I fitted one all by myself (cause I had no mates...).

It's not that hard provided you do it carefully. If you have the time spare $50 of materials vs the full cost plus you can afford to take extra time to make sure it's right and fully sealed. You might not have to drop it fully off too, just pack it up on timbers the full width of the tub.

All our 2020 BT50 work Utes leak, it drives me nuts!!

@199p you've probably had more experience than most mate

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last roll of dam stop i bought for a canopy was about 50-60 dollars i would say try your local panelshop but since makepiece and henderson seem to have gone i dont know if there are any good ones left in puke..... you can do it yourself by letting the bolts go and chocking the canopy up off the tray rather than lifting it right off (you only need a few inches.)if you take it right off there maybe a high stop light which needs to be disconnected but thats no biggy . on occassion we have had to use some screen seal in addition to the dam stop tape if the canopy wasnt moulded perfect. which brings up another option of a cheap fix if you know where the leak is. just squirt some screen seal in (not silicon or urethane you dont want it to set )

250-300 bucks sounds ok for this day and age. No ones going to do it for nothing...

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Originally Posted by Bushline

All our 2020 BT50 work Utes leak, it drives me nuts!!

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Yeah, nothing worse. Any canopy that sits on the top of the tub can develop a leak - the type that sit on top with the side of the canopy rolling down over the side of the tub (Fleetline have models that do this) are a lot more leak resistant. I have a Fleetline on my Ranger that is designed to not have any leaks, all the door openings have mouldings and channels in the fibreglass to direct any runoff away and down so you can stand under the doors without water pissing down on you. 11 years, no leaks so far. Not in a real hurry to get rid of the thing to be fair, I'm happier with the devil I know even with all it's faults than starting again from scratch having to discover all the glitches on the fly.

Yeah my next gen is looking like its getting its 3rd full replacement from arb
Its still leaking bad trying its been on and off a bunch of times and replaced with a new unit already but to get the upgraded one for free
apparently the cheaper ones are far more prone to it especially on the next gen.

Apart from it still leaking arb have been great to deal with, it must have been back to them 15 times so far they are just as fed up with it as i am.
Still got 4 years of warranty left haha

Ouch. That sort of downtime is what concerns me about changing out vehicles, at least the one I have now I can manage the downtime (put another way it still runs despite the annoying glitch). I dunno why the new vehicles are so prone to leaking canopy seals - it's not like its new tech or anything! If I didn't need the separate spaces (one for passengers and another for cargo) I'd be more keen to get an SUV style vehicle than a ute that likely leaks like a sieve. What a piss off!

While it's off check the seal around the front glass, that's where mine leaked. Presented as a front base seal leak

I would have a flat deck if we didn't fill the canopy with stuff when we are away caravanning.

Updating this matter to say a very satiosfactory resolution to the leaking canopy issue was achieved.
Initially I had it booked with one service outlet for a specifically timed morning slot as I needed the truck that afternoon. When I arrived early to deliver the truck I was informed that delays would mean work would not start at the booked time and they could not offer assurances I would have the truck back when needed. That was annoying. I had to cancel the booking and depart.
Sometiome later I talked to ARB at Highbrook who were happy to make a booking suitable for my then time constraints and I took the truck in on the appointed date. The helpful young guy attempted a fix, wasn't certain it was absolute and said to let them know if it still leaked. They did hose the canopy on site first and apparently it seemed OK. I offered payment to the site manager but he said the work was gratis.
I drove the truck around on the next rainy day and it still leaked so made another booking and went back. Another guy did a bit more work and thought it was nailed. Again ARB wouldn't accept payment but said, again, let them know if it still leaked, which it did when I next drove in rain.
So, a third booking was made and I went in very early as asked. Three guys ( soon two ) got into it immediately. I was invited to watch the work in progress. The entire canopy was jacked off and all the contact area between the wellside and canopy was cleaned up, the original canopy seal removed and a new seal attached and a couple of ( plastic / nylon ? ) panels unscrewed then reattached after silicone was liberally applied to screw holes, A long silicone bead was also applied along the front edge of the new canopy seal and silicone spots applied over other screw heads in that frontal area. The whole deal took a couple of hours and we all had fingers crossed that this problem was finally resolved. No mention of any payments due for this.
The next and subsequent rainy day drives proved that weather tightness has been ahieved. Not a drop of water entering anywhere.
This was the same ARB dealer that originally installed the canopy. Although it's a different buch of guys to those I dealt with there then the product back up still seems to be first rate. In an earlier incident the two struts supporting the canopy's back window panel suddenly failed just after the 12 month warranty and wouldn't keep the window open. ARB immediately obtained two new struts which were replaced and fitted free despite the expired warranty.
All in all I'm very happy to report on these very positive dealings with ARB Highbrook, another business with great custmer servive policies.

I think the consumer guarantee's act can have you covered beyond the normal warranty in some cases.