Off-road with a topper

If you're into some serious frame flexing where you have 1 or even 2 wheels in the air it is possible for the cap to hit the cab. Of course by the time you do that the bed will also be hitting the cab too. It's gotta be some extreme off road driving to do any damage.

 

With any kind of off roading you risk damage no matter what you have on your truck. I'm one of the taller vehicles when I go off roading and besides the height issue having a topper in back has never been a problem. I off road with the tent on and only had to clear a few widow makers to make it down the trails in NH. Obviously I don't hit super high angles since my center of gravity is much higher than a normal truck but my topper has never given me any issues.

 

You got a heavy rig there!

 

Weight maybe?

 

What color alucab topper is best for offroad? I want to paint match my truck but I also need to stand out in the mall lot.

 

Tiger stripes.

 

With my limited experience offroading with a camper shell on my old Sierra -- it had a tendency to slowly slide backwards over bumps, with 4 traditional camper shell style style c-clamps. (It's do it on washboard too) I didn't have the sticky stuff between the bedrail and the shell, that may have made a difference. Also makes rear visibility worse, of course. And one off-camber situation over some tree roots nearly had it smack into said tree. Other than that, fine.

Nice to be able to park, crawl into the back and go to sleep though

 

I have additional camps on mine to alleviate this, for longer washboard trips I do have to loosen them and adjust it back into place but not as bad as when I only had 4 clamps.

 

Those windows are stupid expensive to replace. If I was going to go with a topper I’d go commercial style with aluminum doors / Alucab. For me a bed rack is cheaper, nothing to break.

 

Someone say tiger stripes?????

 

Lol must be from Seattle, I lived by that guy in Fremont for years.

 

How about slippage?
My shell slips every time I go up something steep...Not even that extreme I'm not in 4 low but I paraglide and the launch sites are often top of some hill [ Reno / Carson City area ]. I have 2 clamps that came with it when installed. I was surprised the first time it happened. I have small chips at the rear corners now from it shifting and the corners hitting on the truck corners.
Installed professionally and they used a flat weatherstripping material
I found this thread searching for what others do to secure theirs
I am considering something with adhesive...surely you are not just using the 2 clamps like I am .. do tell
Here's some photos.

 

I have six seriously beefy clamps on mine, 3 on each side. Could probably use just four since they are so beefy, but six is very confidence building.

 

What rack did you put on your shell? Looks nice! I made my own to match my Prinsu.

OP- we had some bed side shifting off-roading after going on a steep sidehill with my loaded ARE MX shell, which put the tailgate off square until I pushed it back, so do get some stiffeners as mentioned above. But I don’t think you can do much for it if you drive sideways like @rngr does with his!

 

I have a front runner rack with a prinsu bed rack. I plan on swapping out for a front runner rack though, I find that the prinsu side panels give too much flex and is causing my gas tanks to flop around more than they should. I could reinforce the rack with more extruded aluminum but it would be nice to have a matching front runner rack as well.

 

I do some wheeling with mine, and intend to do more. Now that I have a huge awning attached to my cap, I intend to get bed stiffeners just to be safe.

That said, I have had severe water and dust infiltration issues with my Leer 180. Its been a disappointing road and if I could do it over, I might have saved for an Alucab, or just gone a bed rack with an RTT.

 

Yes VERY expensive, I had the frameless glass on the backtailgate peice and it was $1100 to replace, the topper was only $2100 new. The frameless looks better but if I go with another topper it will be framed glass all the way around.

 

I previously had a Leer topper which had the frameless rear window. It looked great, kept all my stuff under lock and key back there and kept everything dry but I always worried when I was out in the bush that I’d jab a branch through some glass if I was in somewhere tight.

Don’t have to worry about that with the bed rack but for everything there are pros/cons.

 

Teetering on pulling the trigger on my first topper with Alu Cab from OK4wd.

1. How was the install?
2. How did you seal your canopy?
3. Is the brake light wiring messy? How did you deal with that?
4. Leaks! I live in Seattle and as most people know, we get a lot of rain. Any issues with water seepage?

 

Call mule expedition in Issaquah. They are alucab vendors and can do the install right there. @Jon@Mule will hook you up!