Anyone with a camper shell and RTT on top?

did you end up changing the rears?

 

just added airbags still stock leafs, for now...

 

cool. well thanks the advise and insight!

 

anytime

 

Did you keep your RTT on your Rebel all the time? I have a 2017 rebel on my long bed taco and I'm looking at roof rack options (yakima load warrior, gobi, prinsu, etc.) and I'm concerned about weight capacity.
But if you had a tent on your roof, then I'm assuming mine will support me standing on whatever rack I get.

 

I have an A.R.E. camper shell with a rhino rack and camp with my RTT on it! Works great! Sleeps comfy and is sturdy as hell!! Here’s a photo from this weekend!

 

Nice looking rig man!

 

Nice loooking rig man!! Just like mine but white!! I have the same ARE shell!

 

Thanks. Looks great in Quicksand. I've been happy with the shell. I recently added Bed Stiffeners just to be safe but bed was not bowed when I installed them last month. Photos are from a trip to Utah in October

 

Who did you go with on your bed stiffeners? I’d really like to get some!

 

I went with Total Chaos. I think they have an Ama

 

http://store.sdhqoffroad.com/05-cur...ner4wdtotalchaosrearchannelbedstiffeners.aspx

 

Leer 100r, smittybilt tent.

 

I’ve been looking at those because they actually go all the way up the bed, other ones only go 3/4 the way up. I figure they perform a lot better

 

I kept mine mounted on the shell for about a year using 3 Yakima crossbars. The tent was secured to 2 of the bars and then just resting on the one bar crossbar in the the middle. I have noticed my bedsides starting to drift outwards. But that has since been corrected with some of bentrodders bed supports. I highly recommend getting some.

 

I have a CVT Mt. Bachelor Extended. I used to run an ARE V Series shell with yakima crossbars. Currently, run a Snugtop Rebel (Sportsman package - increases strength of roof by eliminating traditional honeycomb roof structure) and Prinsu TopRac. The Prinsu will allow a lower profile but will be more frustrating if you are taking on and off, compared to the Yakima crossbars. You will want to add bed stiffeners and upgrade your rear suspension. I opted for a dakar heavy leaf pack.

 

Nice rig. It’s nice having the tent fold off the the back too. With an annex it made a great area for the dogs to roost in the bed of the truck.

 

Exactly! Switching the orientation of the tent allows me to cook over the tailgate while being covered from rain - more people should do the same.

 

I'll be the dissenting opinion here as apparently I'm the only one on here whos ever had a problem with fiberglass lol. Seriously no one else has cracked a shell?? I've cracked TWO lol.

Plenty of people have used RTTs on fiberglass shells without issue but those people rarely beat on their rigs. If you like to offroad on the more aggressive end of things you'll probably end up ripping your shell off like me.

Shell on my 1st gen tacoma was a generic brand and I didn't even mount an RTT, but I mounted gear on the roof of the inside of the shell, only about 90lbs worth but that was enough for stress fractures to form around the mounting points, the more I offroaded with weight attached to the shell the looser and weaker it became until I had to remove ALL weight from the shell so it would at least remaind functional as a shell.

My 2nd gen tacoma had a Snugtop so I know it was a quality shell, also didn't put an RTT on top but did carry about 120lbs worth of paddle/surf boards stacked on top which was enough to form a large CRACK after a harsher trail down in Baja, had to limp her home to avoid completely ripping it off then had the shell repaired locally to never mount weight up there again.

If you're just hauling the RTT to and from campsites on fire roads you'll be FINE with a fiberglass topper. But if you're planning on actually wheeling and tossing that weight around down technical trails or hitting higher speeds offroad I'd recommend going with something STRONG that will handle that weight effortlessly, in that case I can't recommend the Leitner bedrack enough, I consistently have 350lbs of gear attached to it (RTT, 2 gear boxes, Rotopaxs, and TredPros) and BEAT THE SHIT out of my truck and nothing has moved or shifted at all, no stress fractures or cracks to worry about.

Browse Ih8mud or overland forums you'll see a lot of those guys avoid fiberglass for this exact reason, they'll go with bedracks or at the very least reinforced aluminum contractor shells. But again just depends on how hard you think you'll use it.

 

I like that this thread is shorter. i.e. doesn't take all day to read.

So the consensus is that ALMOST ANY fiberglass camper top will support the weight of RTT and 2 people and may only need to add bed stiffeners if used lightly?