Decided to do something about my broken cargo cover ends. These things are apparently worth gold on eBay and broken stuff bothers me, so I set out to fix mine! You can't buy just the ends... I've tried!

I measured my good side up (was also chipped) and loaded some brown filament into my 3D printer. Took a couple tries to get the supports right as it's a complex print, but one 10 hour printing session later and voila!

Loading the spring sucked... safety glasses are a must! I reamed the pin hole as well and used some Teflon dry lube. Retracts as nice as the original!

I have some good plastic primer and SEM color match oak paint from Vinyl Pro. I'll prime and paint for an OEM finish when it warms up outside in a few weeks.

I'm pretty stoked. I just mirrored the print and am making the other side now.

Just thought I'd share!

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Nice work man that's gonna look great once you give it a coating of paint. Would you be willing to share the STL file of your design? My end cap is cracked and I'd like to print a replacement on my 3D printer or order a SLS nylon replacement.

@HMGT4R This is awesome!

Thanks!

I just ordered a pair of these from Shapeways. They were quite reasonable. My 3D printer is a cheap, built-it-myself kit with some updates and upgrades, but I get decent results. I'm hoping that if done on a better printer we can eliminate the reaming and improve the cosmetics a bit. If they work out I'll let you know!

What an awesome way to tackle a problem! Hats off to you sir, I like the ingenuity

That's pretty rad. At first glance, I thought you carved them out of wood!

Awesome idea.
You should be selling them on the side.

I'll have to see how they turnout, primed and painted. I have a small business making Toyota accessories now and wouldn't mind adding these to the site (www.ellisprecision.ca)

https://www.facebook.com/ellisprecision.ca/

I'm a little concerned that someone might get hurt by that steel spring inside though... it's kind of a pain to work with! To eliminate that I may just offer them as a rebuild service using people's old springs and hardware, so I can wear the gloves and safety glasses.

I'll update this thread with new pics when they are finished. So far I'm happy with them, just bugs me a little that they are the wrong brown.

Great work! Can you tell me the size of the spring in the cargo cover? I just bought one sans spring on one side and will need to replace it. Thanks!

Figured it out. Constant force flat wire torsion retractable coil spiral spring for tonneau cover end caps size is:

0.25mm x 8mm Width
5000mm Length
45mm Out Diameter

Any tips for taking the caps off and reinstalling? One of mine is cracked and I was planning on taking it off to glue it back together.

Ellis Precision by ellisprecision - Shapeways Shops

Here is a link to Shapeways for these endcaps. I've had a few messages about these lately.

Sorry, I don't have any dimensions or the like for the springs!

Does anybody know were I can get a oak brown cargo cover for my limited 2000 4runner 4x4 been looking for years and haven't found 1 I'm willing to purchase right now if anybody knows here is my email [email protected] appreciate everyone's time

Them 3d printed Mount caps are sweet might need to get 2 for my 2000 sr5 with the gray blue interior nice work

Have you searched eBay?

1996 - 2002 Toyota 4Runner Rear Cargo Cover Privacy Shade Tonneau - Oak Brown | eBay

The search you want is something like "1996 - 2002 4Runner Tonneau Cover Oak"

They are hard to come by, especially in good shape, and they tend to be expensive, but they do pop up once in awhile.