Custom RTT Rack... Why don't I see this?

[Jakeleverett]

Hello everyone, I am planning to re-do my rack now that I have a rooftop tent to worry about.

My original is a one-off custom rack that my dad and I designed and built in the garage.

I have never seen another like it and I enjoy that I had a hand in it's creation (not just it's purchase)

For more info/pictures of the current rack, visit my thread in the signature.

I absolutely love my rack now. I like how it looks as well as its functionality, so far it has been PERFECT for me...

Until now.

MY PREDICAMENT:

The current rack can only be used with my RTT raised up high mounted to the top rails.

It works for now, but is definitely not ideal.

Here it is right now with the RTT on and open:

Notice that it is mounted towards the rear of the vehicle and folding out towards the rear.

In this set-up I have some space (~1.5') in front of the tent.

I have seen on almost every other vehicle that the tent is almost always mounted towards the rear (except folding out to the side).

MY QUESTION:

Why is this?

It seems to not only make the rear sag, but also cause the Jeep to be off balance and handle oddly.

THE PLAN:

Well, I had originally wanted to simply cut the side rails off the current rack.

My dad said that was dumb and that we may as well just build another!

By the time we cut, clean, re-work some things and paint again, we will just about have wasted enough effort to just start from scratch.

So version 2 of our rack has begun...

It is still in the idea/brainstorming process

I have been designing v.2 of our rack, I have been playing around with a drawing on the computer
(my dad is way old school and would prefer to draw it himself but I was having fun while at work)

I have been thinking about moving it towards the front of the rack, right behind the lights.

This will allow for a small amount of space towards the rear of the rack.

I think that having it towards the center of the Jeep will balance the weight out a little better.

Here is a preliminary drawing:

As you can see there is the rack without the tent and then with the "tent".

The lights will be mounted on the smaller side where the four little tabs are. Haven't decided on 2 or 4 lights.

This rack will be larger than my original and will cover more of the roof, almost to the edge of the windshield.

Any ideas, suggestions, or concerns are welcomed and appreciated.

...Nicely please, and thanks for reading!

 

[ColinTheCop]

I have seen on almost every other vehicle that the tent is almost always mounted towards the rear (except folding out to the side).

MY QUESTION:

Why is this?

I'd think it's to do with wind resistance, if it's mounted towards the back there will be less drag do better fuel consumption and less noise....

 

[TexasTJ]

I think he want to know why opening to the side and not to the back.

 

[bobDog]

Subscribed!

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Jakeleverett]

I apologize for any confusion.

I would definitely want it opening to the side, if the tent was mounted any closer to the roof(and it will be with the new rack) then I wouldn't be able to open the rear hatch all the way.

I'm wondering why the tent itself(when closed) isn't mounted closer to the front of the rack.


I do understand the wind resistance concern, I looked at the tent and hadnt realized how huge it is!

Although that happens just about every time I look at it haha it's petty huge.

I have seen what other people put on their racks though, after all the pelican cases, gas cans, spare tires, giant lights and whatnot, I couldn't imagine the tent being too much worse.

Either way the tent is a wind sail up there, I had been thinking (briefly) about a possible wind screen but they look so terrible!

Also I think the lights may act as a buffer for the wind, but time will tell once this rack party gets underway haha

Thanks for the comments!

Any other possible downsides?

 

[JCMatthews]

I like your new rack design. I would really look at some kind of wind screen to help direct the air over the tent. You already have a nice slope to the front of the rack just weld on a piece of sheet metal.

 

[Jakeleverett]

I may do one that is removable, for use only when the tent is on the rack.
I leave my rack on most of the time so the tent, windscreen and lights need to be fairly easily removable.
We have designed the original rack to be more practical and useable for many things and I want to maintain that in the new rack design.

Some things that I have and want to keep:

-Tons of tie down points (not only small chain links that we welded all around the interior of the rack, but also the upper rail is round bar and thin enough for hooks, and finally the floor of the rack is expanded metal which allows for endless tie down options).

-Front and rear of rack are open (for use when I need to put something long up there, I've used this for kayaks, longer pieces of wood/metal and even a palm tree!)

-Ability to sit on rack to have lunch, watch fireworks, whatever.

-Lights and tent as well as entire rack are fairly easy to remove, all lockable (or not removable without a custom tool that we made which doesn't allow for theft) but once unlocked they are all extremely easy to remove.

-Extremely strong (we have it currently mounted through the rain gutters, it did require some slight modification to the rain gutters which I wasn't happy about, but my dad said that it wouldn't harm anything and that that was the absolute strongest point that we could mount to) I have been able to do all sorts of things with this rack and I do not want to ever be limited by what I can/can't do with it.

Things that I have and want to change:

-Size, It is currently the perfect size for the roof and lines of the Jeep, however I think that with the tent going up there I would like it to be a little larger. I would like to have that little extra storage space up there for a small amount of firewood, stove, tarps, etc.

-Weight, I feel like we could cut it's weight down by a lot. With the next one, I would like it to be made out of smaller diameter metal rods as well as have them be thinner walled. I would also like to do away with the permanent expanded metal floor. I want to make one that is removable throughout the entire thing but keep the expanded metal in the rear portion of the rack permanent. As it is now, it is not too too heavy but it is just something that I think we could do better next time. While the rack is just about bulletproof, I won't ever put it under too much stress so it doesn't need such monstrous building material and structure. It is made out of scrap metal that we had laying around so it wasn't a huge deal but now that I have done some cleaning and digging around my dad's shop, I think we have enough smaller (in thickness and in wall thickness) metal rods and other scraps to do it the way I want. It is just over-built for what I need it to do!

-Side rails all the way down the sides. These will be gone at least where the tent will be. I also want to create enough space all the way around the tent to allow for unzipping of the cover. That is already slightly awkward and I don't want it getting too much worse.

 

[Recce01]

Hi Jake! Your new rack design looks cool! The biggest issue I see and as you mentioned is the zipper factor. I store stuff front and back of my tent as well, and I have to remove it to get the zipper undone every time. Also, you may be mindful of the rods that come off the bottom of the tent to keep the window coverings open. This is something that will be hard to generate a solution for without bending or remaking the rods. I have thought about rebuilding mine so that all the vertical sides of the rack fold out, giving a surface to slide stuff out of the way to unzip and use window rods. This beats unloading the roof contents especially if you want to deploy the tent quickly. Just some thoughts

 

[Recce01]

one more quick comment, have it open to the passenger side, that way if you pull off the road for a quick nap your operation is facing away from the roadway.

 

[Jakeleverett]

Thank you Recce01!! I hadn't even thought about the rods for the windows!!
Ugh that makes it a little more annoying... Then again when I look at it, we could possibly just remove the upper bars behind the lights and in front of the cargo area.
I want those to be easily removed anyways.
Thank you again for that little observation.
I had planned to have it off to the passenger side, for no real reason, but now I do have a reason so thank you for that suggestion as well!


***
AHEM, LAND CRUISER GUYS,
***

I had originally posted this over in the Jeep section but wanted to get some more feedback from you boys as you seem to have more RTTs than Jeep guys.

As a thank you for any future input, here is some LC porn...

It is my cousin's that he had imported from Australia a little while back, it was sold to fund his wedding unfortunately.
It was definitely a sad day. Damn women haha
He made almost 10k off of it though so it wasn't a bad deal!
These were some pictures that I took of it before we said goodbye, I wanted to remember it because I want it back someday haha.

 

[max.powerzz]

Nice design, i like further up as well. Do you have more pics of your gutter mod?

 

[Mauka2Makai]

When I first picked up my RTT I planned on mounting it towards the rear of the rack, A good fellow that I purchased the EA from suggested that I mount it forward so that way I could stand on the lower gate to remove additional items from the roof with ease, ie fuel cans and storage cases. Removing heavy items from the driver or passenger door ways is no fun from the roof, Its a lot easier while standing on the lower gate. Aerodynamics should not be a concern for you as you've made a decision to mount a RTT to your roof, having it forward and to the center of vehicle and as low as possible to your roof will be of more importance. As stated earlier in your thread, having it open to the passenger or driver side will require some personal thought. I've mounted an awning on my passenger side for the situations where I am parallel parked at a beach or park for shade. Having the RTT open on the driver side has always worked well for me. I am keen on flat racks... such as those made by BajaRacks, FrontRunner, and Eeezi Awns. Hope this helps your rack design and RTT placement... good luck.

Its a lot easier to lift cans and containers from the rear of your rack while standing on the opened lower gate.

Awning on the passengers side RTT on the drivers side respectfully. :sombrero:

I don't think it'll matter where your RTT is on your rack you'll still take a hit in mileage. We're driving LC's and Jeeps anyhow.

 

[NH Moto Expo]

When I first picked up my RTT I planned on mounting it towards the rear of the rack, A good fellow that I purchased the EA from suggested that I mount it forward so that way I could stand on the lower gate to remove additional items from the roof with ease, ie fuel cans and storage cases. Removing heavy items from the driver or passenger door ways is no fun from the roof, Its a lot easier while standing on the lower gate. Aerodynamics should not be a concern for you as you've made a decision to mount a RTT to your roof, having it forward and to the center of vehicle and as low as possible to your roof will be of more importance. As stated earlier in your thread, having it open to the passenger or driver side will require some personal thought. I've mounted an awning on my passenger side for the situations where I am parallel parked at a beach or park for shade. Having the RTT open on the driver side has always worked well for me. I am keen on flat racks... such as those made by BajaRacks, FrontRunner, and Eeezi Awns. Hope this helps your rack design and RTT placement... good luck.

Its a lot easier to lift cans and containers from the rear of your rack while standing on the opened lower gate.

Awning on the passengers side RTT on the drivers side respectfully. :sombrero:

I don't think it'll matter where your RTT is on your rack you'll still take a hit in mileage. We're driving LC's and Jeeps anyhow.

Problem is his jeep has a tailgate that swings up...you ain't getting anything off the roof with a swing up tailgate. That's why I like either doors or split gates for an expo rig...and why I will not be building my XJ into an expo rig.

 

[Jakeleverett]

@Mauka2Maka, Thank you for the response, I am digging your 80, I hadn't thought about the idea of being able to get things off more easily but that definitely makes sense!
I normally just step from the front tire onto the hood and up onto the roof or climb up from the open door area.
My girlfriend isn't a fan of either of those... So she may like that idea even more than I do!
What part of SoCal are you in? I think I may have briefly talked to your wife about the LC outside of a Target in Mira Mesa (you were on the phone and trying to wrestle the kids out of the car so I didn't bother you guys too much) because your LC looks really familiar.

@NH Moto Expo, I think he meant with the lift gate closed, he has one too. Its not the vertically split rear doors. Either way it will work!
Is that the only reason that you won't be building your XJ for traveling?
I think it is a great compact little off-road travel vehicle

 

[nuclearlemon]

solve all your problems...get a maggiolina...it takes up the entire roof and there's no room for more stuff :sombrero: