Roof top tent on 4cyl SR

Hey y’all,

My Christmas bonus was burning a hole in my pocket, and I finally pulled the trigger on the Datin Fab bed rack (softopper compatible) and the Roofnest Meadowlark XL RTT. The bed rack weighs 78lbs, and the RTT weighs 100lbs. 178lbs isn’t a huge amount of weight, however I am curious how my 4 cylinder SR will handle it.

we go on a ton of back country camping trips, and usually haul a fully loaded 60L yeti and 3 large plastic bins with a combined weight of probably 120lbs.

would love to hear some feedback from anyone rocking an RTT and bed rack on the somewhat gutless 4cyl.

side note: it is a 4x4 access cab 6ft bed. Running fox 2.0 performance series coilovers and rear shocks. 1.5 inch eibach blocks under the leafs.

thanks!

 

You’ll be fine. It will be slower, handle worse and get worse fuel economy than before but it’s not the end of the world.

 

This was my setup, I only used it a few times. Even with the zero rise bars ( to keep the tent below the roof height) I could feel a big difference in "power", I was using the manual mode in the transmission to pick gears that kept the engine revved higher. Mileage dropped about 4 MPG just by hauling the tent and the support gear in the bed. The downside to the zero rise bar is that it was impossible to open one of the windows, as the back of the cab interfered.

If you have a mid-rise bar, the tent will be in the wind stream while driving. I would imagine it will impact power and economy a bit more than my old setup. The truck will do it, you will just be very aware that the tent is there.

 

Ended up going for it. Truck is slow, but I didn’t buy it for speed lol. Only thing that I forsure needed was new leafs to support the weight. Went with the icon RXT in option 2. Love it so far.

 

Sweet setup! Definitely worth it with the upgraded support. I like how the rack allows you to keep the soft topper installed- convenience and function.

 

If you get the supercharger it will make a huge difference