Camping Labs RTT mounting advice

[upcruiser]

Good news. Sounds like it's coming together. I'm sure I don't need to remind you to take some pictures. That Disco should look pretty good with an RTT.


B

It is a great Disco and my Land Cruiser friends are giving me crap already! haha It is a 5 speed manual D1 with some nice upgrades. Really nice to drive, I've had it for a week and a half already to use and its been a pleasure. Not nearly as big as the 80 on the inside which would hinder some of the things I use my Cruiser for.

So, bad news on the RTT front. We thought we had ordered it with express shipping via the shopping cart online but didn't realize that it has to be sent freight. Soooooo, it is very unlikely that we will be able to get it in time. No matter, we will still enjoy Moab, via tent and have a great time anyway. BUT, if anyone knows anyone in the greater Denver area that would be willing to loan out a RTT for 4 days let me know! It would really add to the experience of her first time out in the bush with the Rover.

 

[yooper]

bummer on the shipping

Mine is 55x94 open and 55x47 folded.

When it opens to the side the rails on the tent run fore and aft and are only about 30" apart. So if you want to mount directly to your basket side rails you'll be unfolding the tent off the front or back. Consider the front, you can run the ladder to the front bumper maybe depending on the dimensions of everything. Ken Eshelby does that on his HZJ62 with an ARB RTT and it works out great.

It you want to open to the side you will need to put side to side crossbars on your rack somehow.

Alternatively you could remove the basket rail on one side and mount the RTT to the floor of the rack.

I guess you'll have plenty of time to think about it now. D'OH!

Did you sell the 80? :Wow1:

 

[upcruiser]

bummer on the shipping

Mine is 55x94 open and 55x47 folded.

When it opens to the side the rails on the tent run fore and aft and are only about 30" apart. So if you want to mount directly to your basket side rails you'll be unfolding the tent off the front or back. Consider the front, you can run the ladder to the front bumper maybe depending on the dimensions of everything. Ken Eshelby does that on his HZJ62 with an ARB RTT and it works out great.

It you want to open to the side you will need to put side to side crossbars on your rack somehow.

Alternatively you could remove the basket rail on one side and mount the RTT to the floor of the rack.

I guess you'll have plenty of time to think about it now. D'OH!

Did you sell the 80? :Wow1:

Can't you remount the extrusion bars 90 degrees? I would think flipping it forward would be cool but the issue would be that we got the changing room for it and that hangs below which would mean side or back. Off the back Fernando thought the tent and changing room would be wider then the width of the Disco. So I'm thinking of mounting it off the back to the side. Yeah, plenty of time now! haha

No, I didn't sell the 80, I'll probably keep that truck till either I die or it dies, and frankly it will probably outlast me! Ha ha. I love my 80 and can't get rid of it, but I'll tell you the 4.6 with the Borla exhaust system on this Disco is addictive! I guess I wasn't very clear, the Discovery belongs to my friend Alexia who lives in Evergreen. I'm based out of Colorado for work and don't return back to Marquette till December 19th. Alexia was cool enough to lend me this truck to use while I am out here. In exchange I am going over it for her, fixing a few things, and helping kit it out for her for some adventures we are planning which Moab is a part of. Even if the tent arrives after, I'll get some use out of it still while I'm out here. I'm going to have rig envy though as all of the stuff I'm putting in and on it is stuff I'd love to be getting for my Cruiser. Its going to be setup pretty nice.

 

[yooper]

Can't you remount the extrusion bars 90 degrees?

I suppose if you took it all apart and drilled new holes in the floor you could, but you'd also have to cut them shorter because they are longer than the folded tent is wide. It's only 47" wide so it wouldn't span the rails anyway. (the tent is 55x47 folded and the hinge is on a long side and the rails are oriented the long way) Furthermore, the tent floor is an aluminum frame skinned with aluminum sheet and filled with foam. I'd want to know that there is another place on the frame to remount before taking it all apart. Also, the way it's manufactured it's quite strong; you might be compromising the structural design if you swing the rails, although that's just conjecture.

Basically that roof basket is not ideal for RTT mounting because the rail is so tall. If it was me I'd cut a section of rail out of the rack before messing with the tent, and then mount the RTT to the floor of the rack. You should be able to do that and make it modular so you can reinstall the rail section if you want to, or make it hinge down maybe for unfolding the tent. A secondary benefit is the tent won't be so tall and the rig less top heavy (the tent weighs over 100lbs).

Or mount it on top of the rails so it folds off the back, then the rails on the tent will be going side to side. But looking at your Disco picture the tire and ladder will take up quite a lot of the changing room and you probably won't be able to swing the door open.

 

[FourByLand]

Cut the rack or remove it all together and use crossbars to mount it, the lower the better. I chose to open over to the side as opposed to the rear simply because my tent was too wide. I also like it because it allows me to store fuel on the forward section of the rack or wood or anything else I don't want inside.