New CVT Mt Hood First Impressions

I think what he is talking about is how the bed shifts independently from the cab (flexes).

I'm thinking about getting the same tent. I've also got the prinsu racks and was thinking of mounting the tent to a 1" riser so that it sits above my cabrac. Hopefully 1" is enough so the tent wont bump and hit the cabrac.

Are you still happy with your purchase? Is the back windows on the rainfly plastic or mesh? Do you happen to know how thick the mattress is? And how thick is the tent closed without the rack? Trying to figure out if my truck will still fit in my garage with the tent attached. Thanks.

 

I helped a buddy do that exact thing and it works perfect. Talking about using 1"risers on a prinsu cap rack.

Still curious about the guy that bolted his to both racks though?

 

I took the tent off my truck and it is on a pull-behind, camping trailer now. I’m not sure about the bed flex issues, but that’s a valid question.

if I were to put it back on my truck, I would definitely do it with the 1” spacers. It is so difficult to bolt directly to the crossbars and provides no benefit besides being an inch shorter, that it makes no sense not to.

I don’t have the measurement answers for you unfortunately because my trailer is in storage. Sorry man, but I’m sure if you called CVT they could provide them.

 

I just picked up a Mt. Hood for my 4Runner and planning the install. This thread has great info.

If the Prinsu 1" brackets are used, it raises the tent support rails so that they only contact the Prinsu brackets. As opposed to the tent support rails being in contact with all the rack cross bars. Do you folks have any concerns with there not enough support under the tent rails?

Thanks in advance.

 

@RUSSELLTACO basically has the exact same truck as OP

 

I have mine mounted to the 1 inch prinsu tent risers to avoid contacting the cab when the body of the truck flexes.

 

I run the one inch risers on the prinsu and im a heavier guy, ive had no issues with my tent and that setup what so ever

 

Thanks for chiming in. I'll check out your build thread!

 

when you go offroad, the bed moves independently from the cab (on the frame). So if both are connected then something will break - weakest point, like a bolt or a fiberglass shell

 

Just picked up a med mt hood very lightly used. Very low profile and mounted quite nicely on my RSI smart cap w front runner load bars. Don’t even notice it’s there In my view no room for any extra bedding. The 2021 are supposed to be another 6ish inches tall and allow for the ladder and some bedding storage but I think that defeats the original low profile benefit.

 

Source on the 2021s?

 

Thanks for the reviews on this. looks like RSM-Smart+CVT MT Hood is a great combo for <10k and all set.. off course molly and gear is extra I wish SmartCap has vertical sidewalls so you can have more room inside and can attach an window AC to the outside of the unit

 

I like the smart cap a lot. The angle mirrors the cab and the side access is awesome. Don’t think I’ll ever pack it so full to notice the angled side walls. Very happy w the set up. You will see some rear end sag tho after the shell and the mt hood. All in it’s just over 300lbs I think. I’m level now and going to do icon 1.5 AAL to help when loaded + the bilstein adjustable shocks front and rear and front coil to get a bit more lift, keep a bit of unloaded rake and, from what I hear, better overall handling on and off road

 

So I know this an oldish thread but as I’m also looking for a rooftop tent to put on my leer camper shell, so I thought I’d chime in here.

Currently I have Front Runner roof rack on the cab and camper shell both.


I absolutely would not mount the tent to the rack on the shell and the rack on the cab at the same time. The reason is the flex that JeffP213 asked about. Because Tacomas frames are open C channels in the rear, the frame flexes when you off road. When rock crawling or even driving down super washboard roads or big whoops.

I couldn’t find a good pick of the flex with my camper shell on, but if you look close at the pic below, the bed is flexed an inch or more from the cab. ⬇️ In fact, in this pic, the frame is flexed so much, with my access cab it was actually hard to open and close the door in this position.



So in this case if I had a clamshell roof top tent mounted on the shell rack and the cab rack at the same time, that torsional force would be in the tent or pulling on where it mounts to the cab or shell.

If you off-road, these trucks flex a lot. Mounting a hard tent across the two racks may cause damage to the tent or the racks or the mounts on the shell or cab. Mounting the tent only on the shell rack only or a bed rack only would the way to go.

 

I have Mt hood on factory racks with rsi smart cap. Have done some moderate off road in Baja and utah. No complaints at all. TRD with total chaos bed stiffeners

 

Just for anybody interested, CVT is having a 20-25% off sale and buy one get one half off sale this week.

Amazing thing is wife and I ordered a Mt Hood tent yesterday, and it is being delivered freight tomorrow. 2 day freight shipping is bananas!

Meanwhile the mounting bars and feet I ordered are looking like two weeks ship date .


I will be posting our impressions on this tent as soon as we get it mounted.

 

So just a quick thought… I have a leer shell with front runner roof racks and have carried the full size spare tire, pelican case with recovery gear, firewood, maxtrax, shovel etc on long dirt road adventures (300 miles of dirt in a weekend) up to trails rated difficult in Moab and Colorado.


I put the TC bed stiffeners before all those adventures. The bed is still showing a little separation, maybe 1/3” difference between the bottom of the tail gate and the top.

I will say a guesstimate of the weight of the roof racks and gear I’ve carried on the roof was about 265 lbs. so it’s something to consider for people that have mounted their heavy tent to an already heavy roof rack rather than a few light slats.

As I have just ordered a Mt Hood, I am going to pull both of the roof racks off my truck and mount the tent on low profile feet and two prinsu 48” slats, to keep the weight as low as possible and the tent as low as possible to keep the center of gravity down, as I plan to continue to off road hard with the tent on


The reason I bring this up is that I have noticed issues elsewhere that people need to keep an eye out for.

Just below the plastic bed cap at back of the bed, the rivet holding the sheet metal above the tail light has broken off and the sheet metal is now pressing down on the tail light housing and actually cracking one of them.


I also noticed that that there is a crack in the sheet metal next to TC bed stiffener


As well as a crack in the sheet metal along the bottom of the back of the bed.

 

I've not seen any issues with the TC stiffeners, but haven't lookd and rig is only 8 mos old with only 3 legit trips so far. Only lookouts I'd point out

• Make sure you diligently seal right behind the cab. I'm a dope and should have done more before putting the cap on. RSI cap is fine but was leaking like a sieve due to the bed design. Ended up gettting some butyl to fill gaps in between the collar on top of the bed behind the cab and the bed itself which did the trick.
• CVT is a tight fit. Closing it and getting all the tent in can be tedious and, when hot, the cause for some f bombs since the black top gets scorching hot in the sun and some bits of tent just don't want to cooperate. Picked mine up second hand and can see where the tent didn't make it back in the shell and has some sun damage. Not a huge deal but it's not just a shut it and all good. You need to pay attention or will be looking at rot in exposed areas. No way to leave anything of substance in the tent when down.
• Just used Front Runner load bars on the RSI to mount the tent on the factory RSI runners. Super stable and only a few lbs in weight from the bars. The shell was more expensive but super solid. I can load more gear on top of the tent with the CVT bars and the side hatch windows are legit.
• Def lost some rake but, since the truck is new, just did an AAL with Bilstein 5100s and gained it back plus a bit so raised the front to first notch with 256/70/16 Maxxis Razr tires. Good ride, ok MPG and still capable for what I need off road