Smittybilt Overland XL fit shortbed?

With an XL on a shortbed, personally I’d prefer a full height rack and balance minor overhang with minor coverage over the cab. Full height does lead to garage parking clearance issues though, if that is a concern.

 

Agreed. Is it too long for my taste as well, it's not my preference to have it hang over so much but I didn't realize how long it was when ordering. I'll be checking with Cali Raised to see if I can just get roof level support arms to extend the bed rack up. I am concerned about wind resistance reducing gas mileage on the highway with that setup though.

 

I don’t really care about the overhang. I needed the biggest one so I can comfortably sleep me plus my three boys. The XL is great I have no complaints. Th zippers have withstood the torture test of children! Mine sits on a DCSB truck that has a long bed KBVooDoo rack.

 

Maybe it is the a hole or longer bed rack... but yours does not look as bad

 

Maybe it is the a hole?... hahaha. Yea it would look sorta odd with a shorter rack. I should admit that I used to look at it and wonder if it looked bad. But with the extra space it is nice and care less now. I like the first truck that posted. It looks nice up there. Looks like he has it attached to just the camper and not the camper and cab. That would cause some issues.

 

Angle.. maybe it the angle.. stupid pbone... lol

 

Should have got a long bed

 

I had the same concern, and didn’t like the look of the overhang. So I rotated 90deg and open the tent off of the back.

 

I pick up my smittybilt xl this week and was getting kinda bummed with how much it will hang off the back.

Flipping it 90 degrees like you did looks great in those pics! How does it look from behind when closed up? Does the tent stick way out on the sides?

 

Not as bad as you would think. It is the same width as the truck at the fenders. Worth it to me, also no problems with opening the awning over top of the truck. I have a Prinsu rack coming, and it will work perfect for stepping out of tent straight onto the roof.

 

Not bad at all. Definitely going this route when I get mine.

 

There are two things that I don’t like about the XL tent on a short bed. First one and the most annoying is a hitch mounted tray bike racks. For example, Thule T2 or like racks. The overhang makes it harder to use the closest to the truck bike mount location. The second would be I don’t think I could fit a swing away spare tire carrier bumper with the overhang. This is with a mid height bed rack. Otherwise the extra room is really nice especially since I have three soon to be four kids that go with me camping.

 

this looks like a great budget tent. anyone have any issues after a few camping trips yet?

 

I have had mine for 2+ yrs now. It’s been through wind, rain and snow. It’s held up great and have not had any issues with it. I was deep in Utah back country when a nasty wind storm came up. I rigged up some guy lines to help support the tent. It worked well. The weather reported 40+ mph gust and it felt like that or more. In the rain and snow there are some spots that collect a little pool. Especially in the front where the overhang is. Not a big deal to me. It just needs dumped. The pad is just okay. I added another inch of foam. Tried memory foam but felt like it did nothing. When you initially get it take the bad out and vacuum it out. There are small aluminum metal shavings. There is also one spot on the cover in a corner that doesn’t seal completely up and mist from the road can get up there. Easily remedied. I would purchase again.

 

thanks for the write up man. feeling stoked about getting one now.

 

I read several people talk about the large awning holding water. I haven’t been in a rain yet, but it appears they have tried to address this with the newer tents. They added 4 more aluminum bars to help support the awning from underneath. They take a few extra minutes to install, so I probably will only use them when I expect rain. It seems like Smittybilt does hear the issues and tries to address them. My boys love the tent, the first time I set it up they played in it like a treehouse. It is a good quality tent for the cost. I added a 2” memory foam to mine, it is still a little hard, but better than the ground.

 

I have thought about rigging a tent pole Side to side to prevent rain from collecting. Have yet to do it. But it’s on the list of things to tinker with

 

Got it!!!

I’m going to fab up a low height aluminum bed rack tomorrow.

 

Built some 2x4 aluminum bars yesterday and got the tent mounted. I was short on time and still need to add some removable cross bars that go front to back so the tent can be mounted to open off the back. Ran out of time and it was crazy hot here in so cal yesterday so I mounted it to open from the side for now.

I don’t plan on keeping the tent/rack on 24/7, so I may just leave it as is. Super stoked!!

 

Looks good. Also like the other pics above, having it open up out the back doesn’t look too bad either. I may go this route as I have a hookup at 4WP who can get the XL for me at around 650- 700 shipped using some codes and deals. Which if you ask me is a great price for a good ten. I don’t plan to use this for extended overnight camping and probably will not use it more than 10 nights a year so its a good bargain IMO.