RTT 2009 Tacoma

[abeaudin1971]

Hi,

I've asked a couple of folks individually about what they use for RTTs and a tacoma and so far - I'm leaning towards an ARE cap with the roof rack option.

A question did come up with respect to the plastic caps that the new tacomas have on their box and how the combined weight of the cap, RTT and occupants would affect them.

Does anyone have any experience with this and suggestions on what to consider/watch out for?

It's not a fire issue, I take possession of the truck Wednesday but I'd like to get the cap ordered. I have 6 weeks off starting the middle of December and 15000km to drive

Thanks,
-a

 

[WASURF63]

NEW GUY HERE...re:RTT & '09 TACOMA

Hi,

I've asked a couple of folks individually about what they use for RTTs and a tacoma and so far - I'm leaning towards an ARE cap with the roof rack option.

A question did come up with respect to the plastic caps that the new tacomas have on their box and how the combined weight of the cap, RTT and occupants would affect them.

Does anyone have any experience with this and suggestions on what to consider/watch out for?






Thanks,
-a

First of all I'd like to say hello, and what an awesome website this is !!!
Alot of you have some very sharp, dialed rigs and no doubt some thought,build time, and $$$ into them. Nice work !

Abeaudin1971,

In reply to your RTT/ 2009 Tacoma ? ...
The composite bed in the new Tacomas are very strong. I initially had some doubts as well. I've been running a bed mounted rack, Leer canopy, Colombus XL RTT, Hannibal awning, + other expo gear (incl 15gl water tank) on my '08 Tacoma (full time) for a little over a year now, and not one single problem with the structural integrity of the Tacoma bed. My rack is mounted to the four corners of the bed and has a 750lb capacity. The composite bed is plenty strong.
The question you might consider is what the capacity of the ARE cap with rack option is? What type/size/weight of RTT you intend to mount on it (plus any future mounted equipment) and how you intend to use your set-up?

I didn't want to chance that type of weight bolted to a fiberglass cap and the stress offroad driving adds to a load above the truck cab. I also live in the Pacific NW were anything you drill holes into has the potential to leak, given enough time. I tend to over build things anyway.That's just me and my .02 (I tried twice to attach some photos. Sorry, I'm lacking pc skills.)
Good luck and have fun. Once you go RTT you never go back. WASURF63

 

[abeaudin1971]

>I've been running a bed mounted rack, Leer canopy, Colombus XL RTT, Hannibal awning,
>+ other expo gear (incl 15gl water tank) on my '08 Tacoma (full time) for a little over a
>year now, and not one single problem with the structural integrity of the Tacoma bed.
>My rack is mounted to the four corners of the bed and has a 750lb capacity. The
>composite bed is plenty strong.


Is your rack custom or did you purchase it ready made?
Does the rack allow for the fitting of the caonpy without trimming the corners of it?

I looked at the ARE caps esp the commercial one DCU Aluminum - the issue with the commercial one is that the ladder racks have almost vertical extensions on it which limit the width of what I can put on the base rack to 50.5 inches in width.

I could grind down the extensions but I'd be worried about the strength of the welds. I could also get some Yakima Adapters or get a shop to weld flush with the top of the rack to hold the tent as well.

The DCU is rated for 250lbs static so I'm comfortable with the loading..



>The question you might consider is what the capacity of the ARE cap with
>rack option is? What type/size/weight of RTT you intend to mount on it
>(plus any future mounted equipment) and how you intend to use your set-up?


It's only going to be the RTT up on top - I can put the rest of my gear in the back of the truck. Most of my exploration is on two feet - rock climbing and hiking so I'd be a light weight trail driver in comparison to alot of the build up vehicles here.

-a

 

[buldyourown]

I have a ARE DCU aluminum canopy on my 2007 Taco. I ordered mine without the rack and I built my own for cheap using Unistrut. I bolted (2) 6ft lengths onto the canopy lengthwise using 1/4" stainless screws. It has proven very strong. The load is spread out very well. I regularly carry 4 bikes on top. I've also carried approx 1000# worth of OSB and 2x4s with zero issues.

 

[abeaudin1971]

I have a ARE DCU aluminum canopy on my 2007 Taco. I ordered mine without the rack and I built my own for cheap using Unistrut. I bolted (2) ft lengths onto the canopy lengthwise using 1/4" stainless screws. It has proven very strong. The load is spread out very well. I regularly carry 4 bikes on top. I've also carried approx 1000# worth of OSB and 2x4s with zero issues.

That sounds interesting.. - do you have pics of the setup?

I assume that you would have 4 2 foot lengths bolted onto the top of the cap say at the front and back of the cap on both sides...

what do you do for cross bars?

-a

 

[WASURF63]

2009 Tacoma w/ RTT

>I've been running a bed mounted rack, Leer canopy, Colombus XL RTT, Hannibal awning,
>+ other expo gear (incl 15gl water tank) on my '08 Tacoma (full time) for a little over a
>year now, and not one single problem with the structural integrity of the Tacoma bed.
>My rack is mounted to the four corners of the bed and has a 750lb capacity. The
>composite bed is plenty strong.


Is your rack custom or did you purchase it ready made?
Does the rack allow for the fitting of the caonpy without trimming the corners of it?

I looked at the ARE caps esp the commercial one DCU Aluminum - the issue with the commercial one is that the ladder racks have almost vertical extensions on it which limit the width of what I can put on the base rack to 50.5 inches in width.

I could grind down the extensions but I'd be worried about the strength of the welds. I could also get some Yakima Adapters or get a shop to weld flush with the top of the rack to hold the tent as well.

The DCU is rated for 250lbs static so I'm comfortable with the loading..



>The question you might consider is what the capacity of the ARE cap with
>rack option is? What type/size/weight of RTT you intend to mount on it
>(plus any future mounted equipment) and how you intend to use your set-up?


It's only going to be the RTT up on top - I can put the rest of my gear in the back of the truck. Most of my exploration is on two feet - rock climbing and hiking so I'd be a light weight trail driver in comparison to alot of the build up vehicles here.

-a

abeaudin1971,

To answer your questions...
The rack I have is ready made with custom order specs on the leg heights and outward length of the bed mount plates. It's a Crosstread "Renegade" and adjustable in length and width to fit any size truck bed.
I did have to cut out (4) small notches at the bottom edge of my canopy to accommodate the bed mount plates. It was super easy to do.
(I'll try again to post some pics of my rig. So far I can't seem to transfer them from my computer desktop.)
I used the same style rack on my last expo built truck, a 2000 Tundra w/ Leer DCU canopy. The DCU canopies have tons of cool options, but I never cared much for the rack systems available for them either. The DCU caps usually cost more too.
I think your first idea, a fiberglass(?) cap w/rack option would work just fine since your only planning on mounting a RTT. No cutting involved either.
The A.R.E. canopy has lengthwise channels on top that except either Thule or Yakima rack components dont they ? Mounting a RTT to that setup would be a breeze.
There's a guy over at Northwest Expeditions in Yakima,Wa that runs a similar (if not the same) setup with (3) crossbars on the cap to spread out the static load of the RTT. I think he has a Autohome Colombus RTT.
Good luck, and CONGRATS !!! on getting your new Tacoma (Wednesday ?)

WASURF63

 

[buldyourown]

That sounds interesting.. - do you have pics of the setup?

I assume that you would have 4 2 foot lengths bolted onto the top of the cap say at the front and back of the cap on both sides...

what do you do for cross bars?

-a

Sorry for the typo, I corrected it in my original post. The lengths are 6ft long.
I'll try and get some pics later.

The cross bars are 4ft long pieces of strut, attached with cap screw and 1/2" strut nuts. When I have a bike rack on there, I have 58" Yakima load bars held down with custom clamps. You could use the strut clamps designed to attach EMT or conduit to the strut.

At first the system doesn't look all that strong. There are only (8) 1/4" screws holding the whole rack on and they are just through the soft sheet alum. The strength comes from it being tied together as a system. With the cross bars on, the rails can't rock individually.
Considering the weld quality on the rest of the canopy, I would bet my rack is stronger than the optional ARE one.

 

[abeaudin1971]

ahhh ok - I understand now.

I picked up the truck today and what a difference compared to my old 1989 2wd single cab toyota.

I did end up ordering a DCU with some options - ARE said they'd remove the end caps on the rack which will solve the problem for me - a little more expensive but I shouldn't have to worry about a)strength or b)fabricating a rack in the short term.

I leave for my trip on the 11th of so of next month and still have plenty of work left to do yet.

I'll post a pic or two of what I have set up once I get it together.

 

[WASURF63]

abeaudin1971,
Congrats on the new Tacoma !
I see that you chose to go with the DCU cap. Good to hear that ARE was willing to work with you on your rack. That should be a sturdy setup. I had almost every option avail in my DCU that was on my '00 Tundra (previous expo rig). Here's some pics of my current rig that I tried to attach on my reply to you the other day. WASURF63

 

[cwvandy]

Snug tops

I am new to the Portal and also a new owner of a Tacoma crew cab TRD that I am building for extended off road travel. I, too, have been looking for a roof tent solution. I have owned Sportsmobiles in the past and I am sold at sleeping off the ground. My preference has been to mount the tent on the canopy but I have been worried about the ability of the canopy to carry the load of the tent (+ occupants when camping).
In doing research for the various tops I found that Snug top makes what they call a Sportsman addition. Instead of the 1/2" laminate roof (an industry standard with ARE, etc.):tent: , they beef it up to 1 full inch and say that it can carry over 400lbs of dynamic load (meaning, I assume, load "in motion"). The extra cost is about $200 which seems very reasonable to me. This would certainly be sufficient for an eezi awn (or similar roof tent w/ rack) or any autohome model.
I would certainly like to hear about other's experience and would appreciate advice.
cwvandy

 

[abeaudin1971]

ok - back to square one.

I ordered an A.R.E. DCU and it arrived - a couple of scratches and the seals were poking out on both sides and the rack looked a little poorly put together but the deals discounted it $300 so I was ok with that.

I went to mount the RTT on it on Saturday and discovered that the rack wasn't level (was 1/2" lower in the center on one side and 1/4" lower in the center on the other) and in addition to that the welds were starting to crack down below.

The dealer was great and took it off and gave me a refund but I'm back to square one as the first sentence says.

I leave on my trip in about 10 days and need to come up with something.

I was thinking of making adapters to hold cross bars using the sliding tiedowns that come with the truck or building a platform that would sit in the box and support the RTT at about bedside height.

I've seen a couple of posts here.

1 for yakima adapters that attach to the tie down rails but I'm not sure how much weight they can take - I think they come from toyota parts 4 u but they've only got parts for 07's or older.

another option would be to build up a framed plywood tonneau of sorts to mount the RTT to and bolt it down to the tie down rails.

Does anyone have pics/advice on what to do?

It's too late to order a different cap.

-a

another

 

[WASURF63]

ok - back to square one.

I ordered an A.R.E. DCU and it arrived - a couple of scratches and the seals were poking out on both sides and the rack looked a little poorly put together but the deals discounted it $300 so I was ok with that.

I went to mount the RTT on it on Saturday and discovered that the rack wasn't level (was 1/2" lower in the center on one side and 1/4" lower in the center on the other) and in addition to that the welds were starting to crack down below.

The dealer was great and took it off and gave me a refund but I'm back to square one as the first sentence says.

I leave on my trip in about 10 days and need to come up with something.

I was thinking of making adapters to hold cross bars using the sliding tiedowns that come with the truck or building a platform that would sit in the box and support the RTT at about bedside height.

I've seen a couple of posts here.

1 for yakima adapters that attach to the tie down rails but I'm not sure how much weight they can take - I think they come from toyota parts 4 u but they've only got parts for 07's or older.

another option would be to build up a framed plywood tonneau of sorts to mount the RTT to and bolt it down to the tie down rails.

Does anyone have pics/advice on what to do?

It's too late to order a different cap.

-a

another

abe,

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. 10 days before your trip (huh?)
I"m not sure of the load capacity on your tie down rails either.
re: Yakima adapters for Tacoma tie down rails: shouldn't be any difference from '07 - '09 should there ?
Have you considered the "THULE PRO" Pickup Rack System ?
THULE also makes a "TRACRAC" System, but I don't think it fits '05+ Tacomas.
Do you have a Rack'n'Road dealer near you or anyone else that carries them ?
Try: www.racknroad.com/Thule-pro-truck-racks.html
Good luck,
WASURF63

 

[abeaudin1971]

abe,

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. 10 days before your trip (huh?)
I"m not sure of the load capacity on your tie down rails either.
re: Yakima adapters for Tacoma tie down rails: shouldn't be any difference from '07 - '09 should there ?
Have you considered the "THULE PRO" Pickup Rack System ?
THULE also makes a "TRACRAC" System, but I don't think it fits '05+ Tacomas.
Do you have a Rack'n'Road dealer near you or anyone else that carries them ?
Try: www.racknroad.com/Thule-pro-truck-racks.html
Good luck,
WASURF63

Hey,

I went with the Thule XSporter - they aren't exactly what I want but for now they'll do for the trip.

All I have to do is cut and drill out some plates for larger square u Bolts to mount the columbus to it, put in a tool box and mock up a partial wooden tonneau to keep the curious away and I'll be off.

The trip is a road trip mostly - Ottawa to Monterrey, MX for a week to climb at Potrero Chico and then to Guadalajara for xmas, up to mazatlan to catch the ferry to LaPaz and spend about 5 days on the southern part of Baja before heading up to Moab for a few days and then home to Ottawa again.

Thanks for the advice and when I get back I'll sort out a more permanent solution to the camping/storage issue.

-a

 

[CLynn85]

Sorry about your misfortune. I went with the low-tech method to mount my RTT on my 07. Mounts consist of 1" x 1" x 1/8" steel angle and 1" 16g square tube for cross bars.

It's pretty simple, but worked in a pinch since I didn't have much time to get it together before our first trip in it. I was a little concerned about only having 2 cross bars but the tent when bolted down becomes part of the structure itself and it actually proved to be very rigid.

The only time I got worried was when we were at Big Meadow on skyline drive and the winds were ROCKIN! I woke up a few times in the middle of the night to feel the tent lift and then lower again, it was roughly equivalent to sleeping on a sailboat in port.

I eventually plan to build a more integrated mount with more protection for what's inside the bed and something that will rest on top of the bedsides and not just rely on the clamping force of the bolts on the rails. I also haven't installed it yet since I put my toolbox in, but it measures out that it'll still fit, if nothing else a slight overhang on the rear.

Here's a few old pics. I never did get around to POR-15'ing the rails, they're still that rusty.... I've also upgraded from ground down spring nuts that fit in the rails to machined threaded bars that insert in the rails.

 

[abeaudin1971]

Sorry about your misfortune. I went with the low-tech method to mount my RTT on my 07. Mounts consist of 1" x 1" x 1/8" steel angle and 1" 16g square tube for cross bars.

It's pretty simple, but worked in a pinch since I didn't have much time to get it together before our first trip in it. I was a little concerned about only having 2 cross bars but the tent when bolted down becomes part of the structure itself and it actually proved to be very rigid.

The only time I got worried was when we were at Big Meadow on skyline drive and the winds were ROCKIN! I woke up a few times in the middle of the night to feel the tent lift and then lower again, it was roughly equivalent to sleeping on a sailboat in port.

I eventually plan to build a more integrated mount with more protection for what's inside the bed and something that will rest on top of the bedsides and not just rely on the clamping force of the bolts on the rails. I also haven't installed it yet since I put my toolbox in, but it measures out that it'll still fit, if nothing else a slight overhang on the rear.

Here's a few old pics. I never did get around to POR-15'ing the rails, they're still that rusty.... I've also upgraded from ground down spring nuts that fit in the rails to machined threaded bars that insert in the rails.

That's extremely helpful. The XSporter came off the truck tonight too (two options down, one to go) Issues with the XSporter are 1. only one level to adjust it to on the tacomas and related to that 2. The tent is just too high.

I have a machinist buddy of mine who's going to look at fabbing up something similar to what you have. The tent will overhang a bit (an autohome columbus) but I'll have the benefit of mostly covering the bed which'll let me put a pull out drawer with rubbermaids on it.


This lets me focus on getting the packing done, the pull out drawer built, etc.

The input here with various folks rigs certainly is of great assistance.

I'll assume you're in the bay area mentioning skyline. I used to live in San Carlos and would be up on skyline from time to time (if it's the same skyline were' talking about here)

Beautiful place.

-a