Car Camping / Trip Reports / Photos / Buildouts / “Overland” / Expedition Rigs Area (homeless?)

Yeah - that's what I have now, but an RTT is next up on the list and I'm gonna have to do something. My hope was to not lay the tire down and take up lots of bed space.

 

get a taller bed rack so you can still stand a tire up in the bed, I'm going through the same thoughts now and getting a custom bed rack built for this very reason

 

Swingout bumper or gtfo #EAF

 

your other concern is if your rack doesn't connect to the floor you should put the money into the TC bed stiffeners that have been BIG talk on the forum lately because the weight of the RTT and racks that only connect to the C channels will spread apart your bed sides.

 

Looks like he has bed bars already. Cost of custom rack + hitch tire carrier is getting close to the bumper and swing out he wants.

I vote save your nickels till you can do the bumper.

 

You can stuff a 33 in the stock location. Just hammer down the little fins there.

 

yes, my thought is to sell the bed bars, build a custom rack connecting the bed rack to the floor so you don't worry as much about spreading apart the bed sides putting that much weight on something that isn't designed for it. Or pay the $$$ for Total Chaos bed stiffeners and hope they help slightly with the current bed bars and RTT that will be purchased.

 

Makes sense. I haven't had any issues with my besides but I have heard it's a problem. I don't think a RTT at ~100 lbs will be enough to damage the bedsides, but a rack like you described is definitely stronger. I think both of our suggestions are reasonable.

As for the taller bedrack idea so spare can be standing up, that has pros and cons. I went with a taller bed rack and I'm thinking of switching to something lower profile to save a little weight, lower center of gravity, and get the tent out of the wind a bit more. Taller does offer more storage space though!

While bed bars are obviously going to be lighter than a full rack, the rack doesn't have to be as heavy as mine. If you're going to go full rack I'd recommend considering weight.. it's up high and I notice the rack and rtt quite a bit. My rack is 200+lbs of steel to hold up a 120lb tent, so you could obviously do that a lot more efficiently.

 

Good talk so far, except for not hearing what I wanted to hear... I'm inclined to keep the rack low for all the reasons above. I could mount the RTT slightly back on the bed and leave the tire where it is. If I need it I can roll it out one side.

 

If you have a RTT model that fits with the tire like you've described, do that! Those hitch tire carriers are kind of lame; departure angles in our trucks are bad enough already.

 

They are. I ripped the rear bumper skin off the back of my truck my first time out. I was actually wondering if the hitch mounts would've helped mitigate that damage by hitting sooner and lifting/pushing the truck off the ground.

 

I guess it would help a bit. My hitch keeps the center of my bumper from hitting the ground, but both corners are so banged up and bent it's completely embarrassing. I'm not sure if 3rd gen has the same issue but I've gone through a couple sets of tail lights because dragging the rear bumper over things bends it upwards, breaks tail light. I've ordered a high clearance plate bumper with swingout to solve my issues

 

3rd gens have plastic 3 piece bumper, so it just breaks.

 

i mocked up a design of my bed rack but its very different from things on the market so i won't post a photo its gonna be STRONG

 

And its unnervingly loud when it does. Or so says my wife. Who, apparently, doesn't like off-roading.

 

that's a really big round rock!

 

Lol, I'm not sure which is worse.

 

lol I laughed when I saw it in full daylight. It was huge!

 

That's what she said.