Modification idea for a roof top tent

[aawolf]

I have an Autohome Columbus permanently mounted on my 4Runner. We've gotten a lot of use out of it so far and love it, but there's one thing I wish we could improve.

When my wife and I are up there at night any movement by either of causes the suspension to bounce, especially side-to-side. It's not so bad that it's a deal breaker, but also not so negligible that my modification-obsessed mind doesn't wish there was a way to "lock" or "manually disable" the suspension of the vehicle.

Obviously, this would just be for when we're parked. We'll be driving/camping every day for a while starting this summer on a long trip through SA, so something as labor intensive as jacking it up and putting it on jack stands won't work (nor will I be able to carry jack stands with us on the trip). Minor manual work to lock it down would be fine though.

Is there any solution for doing this? Bonus points if it also allows us to adjust the "locked-in-place" height independently for each wheel so that we can fine-tune the level of the RTT on un-level ground.

Also, the way the roof top tent is oriented, just locking the rear suspension would probably do 90% of the job.

 

[StreetsofCompton]

Not sure if this would help or not, but you may get some ideas over in the Land Rover section. Look for a thread titled "DiscoDavis Discovery Thread". Should be on the last page, or 2nd to last page, detailed explanation of how he wired a switch that removes power from the EAS system and "locks" it into whatever height it's sitting at. Not sure about locking front/rear independently, but might be a cheap option for you? Again, may not be exactly relevant, but could get your wheels turning.

 

[A.Wilson013]

From my post on T4R... maybe it could help someone here?

I considered putting leveling jacks on the inside of my frame rails, but I couldn't find a jack tall enough that was anywhere near the budget I wanted to spend on this project- let alone 2 of them.

I'm surprised your tent moves the suspension that much... Mine hardly moves regardless of what er... activities... are taking place.


As an alternative to the scissor jack between the axle and bump stop you could have a 4x4 cut to fit in there... Make it small enough to fit, but big enough to only allow for a tiny bit of movement?

 

[WillBeck]

Scissor jack between tire and fender. Use some kind of wood block or rubber pad to avoid damage to fender. Easy, cheap, and side to side independent.

 

[rayra]

some sort of camper or trailer jack, which you can attach or slide into a receiver tube at each end of your rear bumper. Slide them in, jack them to the ground, take out the suspension play that way.

eta could even by done with jsut a pass-thru vertical pole with a foot of some sort on it, and a spring pin to lock it in place. You would just rock the vehicle or lift on teh bumper to set the pin in a higher notch, then at rest adn with you both in the tent, it's firmly grounded. Akin to the center pipe of a jackstand. You could rig the locking collar to the bumper bolts or frame with some sort of brackets. Then you just drop your pipes in and clamp them when they are tight to the ground.


eta

tent trailer stabliizer jack. just mount them on your frame ends where you can reach them with the crank

 

[Herbie]

Solution: Buy or make something like the Adventure Trailers Rear Stabilizer bar: http://store.adventuretrailers.com/products/Trailer-Rear-Stabilizer.html

It's basically a few lengths of tubing, some bolts, and some feet, tensioned by a ratchet strap. Once pulled into tension, it can apply just enough force to the rig to unload the suspension and keep everything from moving. And it folds down flat!

Valterra makes one too for about the same price, so buy from the Forum Good Guys (AT) if you're not going to make one.