Roof Tent Mounting Options

[digitalferg]

Been a while, but I did end up with the smaller CampingLab tent and got it all mounted up with the Defender mounts I was talking about.

The tent floor is super close to the roof as you can see. I had to purchase shorter bolts to go from the tent mount rail to the Defender L-bracket as the included bolts would've hit into the top of the roof. I also am planning to add a second bolt for each tent rail to L-bracket.

I really like how it turned out. Unfortunately, I haven't really had the rig offroad since I added the tent so I can't really comment on the way it behaves offroad. I can definitely feel it dragging on the highway after about 65mph and can feel it in heavy crosswinds. And I've not got a chance to spend a single night in the tent yet either...

-Ferg-

 

[Corey]

Just picked up the Airland a month back, and it is mounted to the factory FJ Cruisers rack via four Yakima 58" crossbars, and Yakima LowRider mounts.

Later goal is to move it to a small trailer such as one of those Chaser model, or a 416.

I have also seen an FJ owner who took off the stock rack and made mounting plates that go back into the stock holes in the roof, tnen added in the crossbars.

This way the tent sits a lot lower.
With it up high now, I can feel the rig getting pushed around more when encountering a strong wind when cruising at highway speeds.

Another resurrection of this thread.

With newer racks now out on the market for my type of rig and others, BajaRack sets the bar with making a top quality rack for half the price and more than a lot of competitors out there.

Compare how high my AirLander tent is on the factory rack with the Yakima bars, and now on a BajaRack model MG, MG standing for Maggiolina.

Tent is much lower, rig handles better at highway speeds, and MPG has gone up about 1/2 MPG.

I will have better pics in August during my vacation.
During a heavy wind I still feel the rig being pushed around some, but it is not as bad as before.
Had the rig up to about 70 MPH earlier in the week on the way home from work with no wind, and it felt very stable.
Before with the factory rack I was nervous taking it to that speed, I thought I might have to file a flight plan with the FAA.

 

[Uglyduck]

After reading through this thread I didn't see a setup quite like mine (although I know its been done before) so I thought I'd post it in case someone else was thinking of doing the same thing. Its nice to have all the mounting ideas in one thread.

I installed Yakima Roof Tracks on my fiberglass shell and wanted to keep the tent as low as possible. Yakima Control towers were an option I considered but i planned on leaving the mounts attached to the tent when stored off the shell and spending $150.00 plus on them didn't sit well with me.
I went in search of some brackets that would suit the application and even designed some in Sketchup that a friend was going to fabricate when he had some time. During my search I ran across the Front Runner Tent mounts for $50 at Equipt. These are designed to be used on Front Runners rack system but I didn't see any reason why they wouldn't work with the Yakima tracks. I was days away from a weekend trip and needed them quick so after some brief emails with Paul at Equipt to confirm my idea, they were shipped and arrived 2 days later. I had to grind off a fraction of the bolt head so it would fit in the track and once that was done I mounted them with some help from friends and am quite pleased with the results.

 

[Corey]

That is pretty cool.
I have only seen a few roof top tents mounted to a shell.

 

[taco2go]

I thought I'd post this up for anyone with a soft tonneau type cover. For a while now, I've have been mulling over several options for mounting the tent over the truck bed for solo trips; and had a few criteria that the platform had to conform to:

Be relatively easy to remove/replace. (full use of bed, when required)

Retain use of the soft tonneau cover and rails. (I have one by Truxedo)

Keep tent height below or equal to cab height (garage constraint)

Sturdy enough for prolonged, albeit moderate off road travel. (dirt trails/washboards)

Accommodate the tent within the bed’s dimensions (to allow for a future bumper mounted tire carrier)

In the end I settled for a fairly simple set up that has held up very well......so far.

I found some old Thule gutter mount towers (1050) on ebay, and used three 58 inch load bars. Tent was secured using a set of RTT mounting brackets from Adventure Trailers.

The design of the gutter mounts allows the weight of the tent to be distributed along the vertex of the tonneau cover's rails, where the metal is the thickest and strongest. They clamp on viciously well- althougth if I was being redundant, I could bolt on some of Thule's fake gutters, for additional grippage. No bed stretching so far- fingers crossed.

A nice benefit is that I can still unroll and use the bed cover with tent mounted, for additional protection/concealment.

 

[Equipt]

Great job Mitch and Roash! The mountings look very solid. Unique applications to suit your needs. It's always good to see what can be done with a little ingenuity.

Cheers,

 

[taco2go]

Thanks Paul, the 1400 fits the bakkie perfect.
appreciate your help with my Q's over the phone- and quickly sending out those replacement tent rods.

 

[digitalferg]

I'm trying to find a good way to mount my tent about 8-10 inches above the topsides of the Tacoma bedsides. Similar to what the FrontRunner Bakkie pickup bars or Xsporter can do, but for a lot less money. I'm thinking maybe attach some tall gutter mount thule bars to the topsides of the Tacoma bed. Someone in this thread is using the rails of their soft tanneau cover which looked slick, but I don't want to spend money on a tanneau cover just to get the rails.

My idea is to run the thule bars for carrying the tent but also for carrying bikes etc. Maybe even at the same time if the fit isn't too wide. i'm also wanting the bars about 8 inches above the topside of the bedsides.

Anybody got some good ideas for this? I don't have a welder or any good metal saws right now so custom isn't really going to work.

I've found some thule artificial rain gutters that mount to a side or flat top surface that I think might work if the bolts are beefed up. #542 Thule Artificial Rain Gutters I'm thinking bolt them to the topside of the bedside and then use them with the thule #387 tall gutter mount towers (which have about 8" clearance). Could also use the thule #953 super high gutter mount towers which have 11" of clearance....

I figure if I can find the towers and bars used, this can be a very affordable way to mount the tent.

-Ferg-

 

[digitalferg]

I actually ran out and picked up some artificial gutters last night....

What do you think about mounting them inverted and on the inside of the side of the bed? I would think it would end up putting a ton of stress on each of the two bolts...but I like the idea of it better. Not sure the gutter towers would actually work on them this way, but they might. I'm gonna find some and just see.

My reasoning is that with the artificial gutters mounted flat on top of the bedside, it looks like the towers are going to be hanging over the side of the bed--which I don't want. But maybe the little bit that hangs over is acceptable... I'll see when I find some towers to try out I guess.

-Ferg-

 

[paulj]

The rain gutter mounts (e.g. the original Yakima version) are meant to rest in a groove like the raingutters on older cars. The weight rests on padded 'feet' that fit in the groove. There is a clamp that fits around the outside of the gutter, holding it in place. I don't think those brackets will work except as intended, on the outside of a camper top, or in your case on the outside of your pickup bed.

I suppose you could bolt them to the inside of the bed rim, with the gutter on the bottom, and mount the rack mounts with the tightening knobs facing inward. The bar clamp on the top of Yakima mounts can rotate all the way around, since it is just held on with a 3/8" bolt.

 

[digitalferg]

Buddy of mine found this one over on TacomaWorld from All-Pro. They have them for 1st and 2nd Gen Tacos. Nice to see somebody making something of this sort. Not too bad of price for what you're getting. I would love something like this but about half the height and less coin is always good too... Sorry if I'm a cheap bastid.

I'm really leaning towards building something now. A good buddy of mine has a welder and tools so we're gonna try and make something up. Just don't have a tube bender.

http://www.allprooffroad.com/05tacomatrailarmor/tacomabedracks

 

[Corey]

I have seen setups similar to the one above on the forum here.
They were custom made, and that is probably how I would go with a setup like that if I had a Tacoma, or I would put it on a Canback.

 

[digitalferg]

I decided to just give the false gutters and gutter towers a try.

The false gutters are Thule 542s. The gutter feet I used are the 953s and they are 11" tall. (I wanted to use the 387s which are only 8" tall, but I happened across the 953s for a killer deal so I'm giving them a try.) And the bars I used are the 65".

The tent floor sits about 12" above the top of the bedsides and about 26" above the bed floor. When closed, the tent sticks about 3" - 4" above the roof of the cab.

The bars stick 6-3/8" past the tent on each side, but the fender flares stick out much farther and so do the side-mirrors so I'm not really worried about them being too wide. I may cut the bars down later though if I don't find good use for them sticking out past the tent.

I'm pretty sure I'll be stepping down to the 8" towers, but this works for now. I drilled out the falsegutters to take M8 size hardware as the stuff that came with it was about half that. Otherwise, the whole thing is super sturdy and isn't going to go anywhere without some massive force. Actually the weakest part is now the puny 4 bolts that bolt the tent floor to the tent crossbars--I'm going to add a few more bolts there.

 

[dblosch]

I decided to just give the false gutters and gutter towers a try.

Hey Ferg- What made you change from the defender mounting brackets? Was it just to get the tent lower/out of the wind? After seeing your first set up, I was ready to pick up some of those DS brackets for my rig. Are they a strong, viable set up? I'll likely be mounting a medium size camping lab tent and sleeping a couple of good-sized people up there... also, did you end up going with 4 or 6 feet?

Thanks!
Dan

 

[digitalferg]

Hey Ferg- What made you change from the defender mounting brackets? Was it just to get the tent lower/out of the wind? After seeing your first set up, I was ready to pick up some of those DS brackets for my rig. Are they a strong, viable set up? I'll likely be mounting a medium size camping lab tent and sleeping a couple of good-sized people up there... also, did you end up going with 4 or 6 feet?

Thanks!
Dan

I used the defender brackets on the 4runner and I sold that rig and got into a quad cab pickup. The defender mounts might have worked down low on the bedside of the truck still, but I didn't want my tent quite that low so I never bothered to try them and I've since sold them. They were definitely perfect on the 4Runner--super low, but not so low that it was impossible to remove the tent. Had just 4 feet as there is only two tent cross-bars.