Questions about Rooftop tent on Xterra

[Andrew McAllister]

The Xterra is a great truck but it's cargo capacity is low (950# ish) so those leaf springs bottom out quick. I pull an old Bantam T-3 (m416) trailer when I need to bring a bunch of gear and run the Xterra as light is possible. OME suspension is the next upgrade for my rig.


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[bigskypylot]

I think when I decide to Titan swap, I will go with +550 or 600 on the Alcans. With my rear bumper and gear etc, it would be just about right. I'm planning on building a trailer to mount the RTT on so that should help take the load off the rear somewhat

 

[Trikebubble]

CVT Mt. Shasta (with bedding and memory foam topper inside), along with 2 full MFC fuel cans, 1 full MWC water can, a tote packed full of recovery gear, a Hi-Lift, and a homemade-fabbed up front roof cage all attached to the stock roof rack with no issues ta all. Fully tested, among other adventures, on a 6000km road trip to through 6 state last year (to Colorado and back), on freeways, mountain highways, crosswind laden Wyoming plains, lots of offroad (off camber, steep, rocky stuff on the Alpine Loop) and again, no issues at all.

I weight 200, my Wife about 140, plus two dogs totaling another 130 pounds, and we all sleep up in the rooftop tent. I've noticed no integrity problems with the RTT supporting that weight at all. Now, at some point (likely next spring) I will be upgrading to a larger sized rooftop tent, purely for more usable space inside. And at that time I will probably upgrade to an aftermarket roof rack (like a Gobi or something), but for now everything is working tickety-boo.

I initially upgraded the stock suspension to a simple "add-a-leaf / spacer lift, but once I realized a rooftop tent, and bumper, and winch,m and all the other necessary additions were in my future, I full upgraded to an Ironman HD suspension (very similar to the OEM packages) It came with huge heavy duty rear leaf packs which amaze me at the load they can handle, right now they are on the highest (stock location) setting on the adjustable rear shackles, so when I (eventually) add a rear bumper I still have room to adjust the ride height

 

[RonapRhys]

I ran an RTT on top of my X (2007) for one of the goneMOAB events. There wasn't any compressive damage, but the bouncing did loosen up the nutserts holding the roofrack in. If I push up on the rear, I can seem them moving up a bit. However, that's from decently extreme off-roading. I did Top of the World, Seven Mile Rim twice (once as a participant, when I did Wipe Out Hill and once as the trail leader), Porcupine Rim, & Elephant Hill - plus driving to Moab from the Detroit metro area and back.

Since then I've procured an M416 and have it mounted on that (but I do need a higher rack).

If you're doing fire roads, dirt roads, and the like, you'll be just fine with the stock set up. If you're going to do harder wheeling, I'd suggest a trailer. I hauled that trailer with RTT down Lockhart Basin with no issues whatsoever. Those things are damned tough.

As for weight capacity, yes, the rear springs flatten out pretty quickly. There are several options, but I'd suggest Alcans as the best. Figure out how much extra weight and lift you want, call them up, and then you'll have a great set up.

 

[SursOverland]

Does anyone know if the same payload (static/dynamic) holds true for the Frontier too?

 

[Anthony.V]

@trikebubble: Thanks for the feedback! That sounds like quite the journey! I think with all the kit you had tacked on top, you were likely approaching if not at the numbers we'd be looking at.

@RonaRhys:

I think your moab trip plenty qualified as decently extreme lol. Im a novice offroad, so moab would likely be a ways off for me. But it sounds like relocating the RTT to trailer at that point makes sense. I've admired the M416 online. It seems like good examples are getting tougher to find, as a lot of the jeepers have snapped them up. That or I'm just looking in the wrong places online. At any rate, might go that route one day after sharpening my offroad skills without towing anything for now. I'm lousy at backing up trailers on normal terrain lol.

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[proper4wd]

Pro tip - rather than attach the tent to cross bars, and then to the factory tubes... just remove and re-orient the two mounting channels built in to the RTT and bolt it direct through the tubes. Keeps the tent an inch lower (its already crazy high on a factory Xterra rack).

 

[Anthony.V]

Pro tip - rather than attach the tent to cross bars, and then to the factory tubes... just remove and re-orient the two mounting channels built in to the RTT and bolt it direct through the tubes. Keeps the tent an inch lower (its already crazy high on a factory Xterra rack).

That is VERY good to know. Thank you!

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[Anthony.V]

@proper4wd: Just wondering, is that going to be the same across all different brands of RTT? Or even most? I know they all seem similar for the most part. But I've yet to actually inspect up close how they mount.

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[proper4wd]

I think they are all the same or nearly the same (except for maybe the really big ones). Mine is an ARB. It has 4 holes drilled through the bottom plate in a perfect square pattern, with two aluminum channel rails that bolt on. You can orient the channels either way. "Width wise" across the truck bridges the factory roof tubes. I drilled four 3/8" holes through the roof tubes and through bolted with a 3" long stainless bolt, rubber washer, and a heavy fender washer. Nylock nut. Super secure and no problems with the roof tubes loosening or roof damage or anything. Including tent weight I have had probably just over 600 pounds up there when parked no problem.

 

[Trikebubble]

Pro tip - rather than attach the tent to cross bars, and then to the factory tubes... just remove and re-orient the two mounting channels built in to the RTT and bolt it direct through the tubes. Keeps the tent an inch lower (its already crazy high on a factory Xterra rack).

Yes, I also attached my rooftop tent to the lengthways main roof rack tubes. I removed the clamp down cross members completely. With most rooftop tents you can orient that aluminum attachment channels either way. I did not use the CVT flat bar "clamps" that came with the tent, but purchased muffler clamps and used the semi-circular part of the muffler clamp around the tube of my roof rack instead. Can't recall the diameter, but they make muffler clamps that perfectly match our roof rack diameter.

 

[bigskypylot]

That is VERY good to know. Thank you!

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Dave's roof tray adds an inch at most to the overall height. It's the lowest profile solution that you will find for mounting up top

 

[proper4wd]

Why would you have a roof tray under a roof tent?

Also, mounting directly to the side tubes is clearly "the lowest" solution.

 

[Airmapper]

Also, mounting directly to the side tubes is clearly "the lowest" solution.

Is it now....

What if you make some brackets to mount to this?

 

[bigskypylot]

Why would you have a roof tray under a roof tent?

Also, mounting directly to the side tubes is clearly "the lowest" solution.

Because it's a low-profile mounting solution and works very well. If you don't like it, feel free to not comment.