RTT overhang from bed to cab

Good morning fellow yota heads. So I really wanted to try this route, bit the bullet, pulled the trigger, installed and still trying to figure out the best way to mount the tent. I was a little surprised on how short the Mobtown rack was once installed. It meets the minimum requirement for the Ikamper (by 2 inches) which still seems short so I moved the tent a bit forward so it will rest on the rear crossbar of the roof rack for additional support when loaded with my family.

I secured the tent to the bed rack bars so the tent is not “tied” to the cab to allow for the bed to flex and jiggle. However the tent sits on the rear bar flush.

I have not pushed the truck in it’s current form in the rock gardens as my backyard is burning currently, but before I do, I’m wandering if you all have any input as to how much flex there is between the bed and the cab.

Should I remove the rear cab bar while wheeling and reinstall for camp?
Should I move the tent back into the roof rack and avoid the bed rack all together?

Thoughts, ideas, opinions?

 

Either way should work. There will usually be some flex but each truck is going to be different. Find somewhere to flex it and take a look at if the tent makes contact.

It doesnt look like it should be an issue unless you start getting crazy

 

My set-up is similar. I have about 1" clearance between my RTT (mounted to the bed) and my cab-roof rack and have not had any issues.

 

The tent is sitting on the rear cross bar of the cab rack as it is level with the bed rack.

 

Thanks for sharing. I will be going for the same setup once the bed rack and tent ship. I currently have a @victory4x4 roof rack which will have to take some of the load from the overhang. I was nervous I would have to put some sort of spacer on the @Mobtown Offroad bed rack in order to clear the roof line, but looks like from your experience it should line up without issue. Just curious when did you place you orders for the bed rack and tent? Thanks

 

It took no almost 20 weeks to get the bed rack. It took 5 days for the tent to show up. I have Martin Roof Rack and it’s dead level with the Mobtown bed rack. (Got lucky). I currently have the forward Bart of the tent resting on 2 cross bars of the roof rack to help support and share load. I added foam pads (surfboard grip deck) to cushion the bars it’s resting on. (Has helped eliminate rattles and clanking) from the bed/tent moving around.

 

Awesome looking setup! Hopefully it doesn't take 20 weeks for mine, I'm going on 7 weeks right now and was told my steel just showed up yesterday after inquiring about an update since it was told it was most likely going to ship this week. iKamper said they should be getting the next shipment of tents in by the end of September so fingers crossed mine gets shipped out in that batch. Hope my @victory4x4 roof rack lines up with the bed rack.

 

Did you ever try running it just like that?

 

hard to tell but how close is the front of the tent to the front rack? With some heavy wheeling that likely is going to hit the rack. You need a good 1.5 inches from tent to track to prevent that. With it being that far back it could be okay. My wedge setup hits but it is much farther forward then that.

 

My RTT hangs over my bed cap to the cab. I haven't had any issues.

 

yah its more about overhand with a rack and the distance from tent to rack. If it doesn't flex much its likely find but the beds to flex a lot. If you have no rack or its lower then the tent def would be no issue. Initially I only had 1/2" of space and had to cut my rack down.

 

could you get a different style of bar for the rear of your rack? don't most of those come with like a double wide bar? so if you got a narrower one and only attached it to the bottom portion of the cab rack in the rear, you should still have that lateral support but a bit of extra clearance for the tent?

 

I did before my bed rack came. It worked fine but looked a bit silly

 

The tent has .25 inch clearance to the front rack. I put some high density foam pad on the front cross bars to soften the bumps and I wheel hard and have had no issues.

 

I did something similar but still gets some good knocks but mine is closer to the front doors than yours so I could likely be getting more movement on my setup. Keep an eye on your tent since that will be taking the brunt if the bed flexes too much. Likely only if you are doing more high-speed stuff though.

 

Hello I’m looking to put a tent on my roof. What rack and tent did you buy? Was it easy mounting the tent on the rack?

 

So how did your setups do over time now that you've spent some miles on your setups? I'm looking to mount a RTT on a camper shell rack, where the overhang would freely rest on 2 of the cab rack bars. Is giving .25-1" clearance using some sort of risers/spacers for the tent mounts the best solution so there's no touching of the cab rack?

 

it would be your best bet. I have a camper shell too and I never had this issue because there’s always enough room between the RTT overhang and the cab. If you don’t want your bed to flex left and right, you can box your frame. Another option is JD fab’s frame brace.

 

How much space do you have between your cab rack and the bottom of the tent? Got any pics of your setup?