Roof top tent on cab or on shell? And why?

I'd vote shell for the simple reason that the roof of the Taco was never designed to hold the static weight of a RTT, much less the weight of a tent and a camper or 2 inside of it. You can stand upright on a hard bed shell w/o any damage, you'd cave in the roof of a Taco. I has going to make short rise bed cross bars to mount my Tepui on the Taco, but now I'm giving very serious thought about a basic sleeping platform inside of the bed and keeping the Leer on the truck.

 

The load isn't in the center of the roof. It it transferred from the roof rack to 4 points on the roof that have a dynamic load rating that is pretty close to the shell. I've never seen the static load rating on the roof or a leer shell, if you have that info please post it up.

 

I’ve tried both, currently running on a Frontrunner rack on the cab. The shell mount made me nervous, always afraid I’d wake up in a fiberglass splinter nest. I was also experiencing sag but have since added airbags and Daystar cradles so probably not so bad now. Mileage is reduced no matter where you put it, maybe a little better farther back?

 

I used to have mine on a rack in the bed. Best place, IMO. Rack was a custom mid-height deal. I sold the setup to fund a trailer base camp, but then spent that money on a high clearance rear bumper with goodies. Silly Tacoma plans...

 

I just wanna see a fat dude (like me) get on the end bike and do a wheelie with the truck!

 

I run my RTT on mid height bed bars, the tent is a couple inches taller than the cab, but it sits flush with my solar panel mount which is behind a wind deflector. Have not seen any real difference in MPG and I have not accumulated dead bugs on the leading edge of the tent.

 

I prefer over the bed...
I had a shell with a soft RTT and it was making already terrible gas mileage worser

 

You can buy a bed rack also too mount the Tent on.

 

I'm running mine on my shell but I still had concerns with the weight on the fiberglass so I have a support system inside to help with weight distribution.

 

Looking to do this same thing - do you have a source for this setup

Think I found it after a quick search - looks great thanks -

https://www.milford.one/LoadMax-universal-roof-rack-support-system-505500

 

Yup, thats the one ^. Easy company to work with and was delivered fairly quick considering it traveled from Australia.

 

Love this and this might make me feel more comfortable w adding an RTT to my shell. Any pics from the top side of the shell and any issues with rain? In my head, it seems the shell with the RTT weight can sway side to side more than the bed itself and the brace below would need some wiggle room to compensate for the sway. Any thoughts on that?

 

No issues with rain or water. Sealed my fixed points pretty well with silicone and the support system came with foam gaskets to make for a good water tight seal. As far as sway goes, the supports have a small amount of articulation from the celling point that might help with that. Hasn't come across as a worry for me.

 

So I had created a home-made version of this for my last truck/topper combo using plywood laminations to transfer the weight of the racks (up to 8 WW kayaks) to the bed rails. Peace of mind.

 

Awesome truck! 8 kayaks you guys are having fun for sure!

 

I definitely dig it. Also, 8 kayaks is an impressive load!

 

I have the Snugtop Topper with Rack Rails installed from the factory. I then added the UpTop Bravo EX Rack, going to purchase the Milford LoadMax system (and see if they will allow me to purchase two more braces - making total of six (6) ) this will provide me a total of three (3) per side and I will bolt down through the rail system on the shell, then add my Bravo EX rack for the RTT to mount to. This should adequately distribute the weight ( a bit of over kill but better to have and not need than need and not have)

Also I am planning on affixing Molle panels to the supports inside to mount my rotopax, MaxxTraxx, etc. I already have my shovel, highlift, spare tire etc. mounted inside.

 

Killer plans! Gotta share the final results once you get everything in place

 

I chose to mount my RTT directly onto my camper shell for an integrated look. Using the tailgate to stand on makes it much easier for opening and closing the tent. I’m running Deaver Expedition Series Stage III as well to carry all that weight

 

@erdub54, what shell is that?

@Cool_Calm_B, any issues with the load on the bedsides? Also, do you have a better pic of how it is mounted?

It'd be great if there was a solution that had supports that run all the way to the bottom of the bed and mounted using the bed bolts.