Conflicted with my camping set up. HELP!

Those look real solid! I still see way too much benefit in a RTT though lol. I imagine that still takes longer to set up and in a RTT I have a giant 3+ person set up me and the pup can sit in when it starts pouring rain. Saved us a few times

 

Oh man lots of replies here!

I love the idea of a soft top, but sometimes I carry rifles, ammo, etc in the bed so something "solid" was the main reason I ended up with the DB cover.

I guess I don't NEED a lift, but it would definitely help. I have enough armor on the truck I'm pretty confident dragging bottom to get over something it's just not super ideal lol (see pics attached, ignore the doggo)

Not camping in the camper, in a short bed that seems even worse lol. The camper idea was mainly because it was secure storage that allowed more volume to do more "truck" things. I would still do a RTT on top, but something super thin like the GFC or roof nest...falcon? I think.

Honestly I'm kinda feeling this option. It's the cheapest at 400 bucks shipped for the lower bars. I just have to pull everything off the truck and reassemble the rack. I'll be a bit bummed I likely won't be able to store much on top of the DB cover as before with the 14 inch but that's not the end of the world.

I thought about getting hitch pins for the rtt ladder too since that adds 2-3 inches up top. Giving me something like 5-6 to lift and do tires but I'm worried the new leaf pack will raise it higher than the quoted 2 inches. (Dakar HD's) as my 3 Inch clearance now only exists because my leafs are not actually arched. Currently sitting a bit past flat lol

 

I camp 2-3 times a month in the warmer months and maybe once a month when it's nippy but still do-able. Basically whenever the ski resorts close, so taking on and off 200+ pounds of tent and rack isn't really feasible for me.

 

Interesting. And, sorry for my lengthy reply. You can tell I am struggling and thinking things through.

Really dumb question. Is it the height of the garage inside or the height of the garage door. A garage door opening can be made larger without much work.

 

It's the actual door! The ceiling height is 9 ft at the lowest. Hrmm I wonder how much that could cost all in...assuming that header board isn't load bearing

 

Always pays to look at every single option. . Worth asking a framer. Might not be terribly expensive to raise the door -- depending on the actual door.

 

Though I really think you should just get an off-road ready tear drop and park it in the garage, why not get a simple soft roll up tonneau that’s will roll up under the rack bars?

 

you could always put airbags all the way around and just drop the entire truck to get it in your garage.

 

I use a hard shell cap. Sometimes I sleep in the bed of the truck. Sometimes in a standard tent, and sometimes in a pull behind camper depending on the situation. If something is too big, or too heavy to fit in the bed I load it in a utility trailer. Been working for me since the 1970's.

I wouldn't have a soft topper or RTT as a gift. Both are a solution looking for a problem, but all the cool kids think they have to have one to impress the other cool kids.

 

Sold my KB voodoo mid height rack for the same reason. Sold it to a guy that had one of the automatic bed covers that rolls up into a compartment at the “head” of the bed. I thought it was pretty cool. Made his bed mostly useable again. Only works as long as you have the tonneau brackets obviously.

 

Mount the Frontrunner tracks and bars to your Diamondback. Keeps the tent low and you can easily remove the tent, at which point the panels on your Diamondback can be removed in a few minutes.

 

I was going to suggest this same thing

lots of guys also get the garage lifters so they can just back in and pull the tent off and let it hang until next time.

 

Can't speak to an RTT but, in my experience, the Softoppers are very versatile and there are plenty of valid reasons to get one. I've run a Softopper for a few years now and have driven somewhere around 50,000+ miles w/ it on in various configurations without any issues to speak of. A big reason I got it was for our dogs. In the winter it buttons up and stays 99% dry and in the summer the sides roll up and I run it like a bikini top so they get an open bed w/ shade. I can take it off and put it back on in a matter of minutes or fold it forward in a pinch to take advantage of the bed. I've also slept in the bed w/ it up a few times when out and about in the mountains. They cost $700 - $800 so I could get a second or maybe 3rd one before I get to the cost of a quality hardshell(not that I think I'll need to replace mine anytime soon). Has nothing to do w/ impressing the cool kids and everything to do w/ function.

 

Does the soft topper have a load rating for anything above it? Or is it strictly frame to hold it up

 

I couldn't say if it has any documented rating but I can say that I wouldn't put anything on top of it. It looks to me like it's built just to hold it up.

 

It’s just to support itself. There are companies that make racks which surround the softopper which you can use to mount RTT and other things and still retain the softopper.

 

I had a lot of the same issues. I used to use an 8 person Cabela's wall tent with a wood stove and had a soft topper. That worked well for a while, but we wanted to do longer trips with multiple stops, and we were running out of room in the bed. We moved to a "4+" person RTT on mid height bed bars and keep most things in "weather tight" bins. The ladder is the only thing that sticks above the roof line of the truck and we can still stack bins 2 high underneath of it. This is a bigger tent than I usually see on Tacomas and it hangs over the rear a little. Reason being is I'm 6'3", wife is 5'10" and we travel with 2 dogs. The RTT is obviously much faster to set up and rear down than a ground tent, but once you set it up you can't go anywhere.

My garage is also low. I added a roof rack and maxtrax and had to modify the garage door bracket to clear everything. I have a few inches to spare, but I'm more interested in preserving my driveline angles and suspension travel than gaining a couple inches of clearance. I have offroaded as hard as I care to and did not have any clearance problems. My truck has 1/2" spacers on the front to help compensate for the winch, and airbags on the rear.

After all that, we are thinking of moving to a teardrop trailer and adding a cap to the truck. Secure bed storage is an issue we haven't solved yet. I would consider putting the RTT on top of one of these new metal caps, but it would be way too high to fit in my garage.

If you want to go the RTT route, check out harkenhoists. I can get the tent of my bed bars in about 1 minute.

 

Definitely wat hint to see what everyone’s experiences are. Have been ground tenting for many years, both kids have there own small tents and again have been for years. Just took a trip cross country and pulled a pop up with us. Granted it wasn’t off road worthy, but no way I want to pull a trailer like that again.

the real question is, what kind of camping do you do. State parks and campgrounds, the ground tents are awesome (with cots). Traveling every day, camping where you park, may not be tent friendly.

I plan to get a hard shell roof top, and keep my softtopper. I want a set up that has an annex that allows me to access the side of my truck via lifting the soft topper side. Or atleast over the tailgate.

 

Any further comments on why you would not want to pull a trailer again? I'd love to hear your reasons as they might be helpful to me as I sort out my strategy. Thank you.

I have two basic concepts going forward: 1) Leitner bed rack (1,400 static weight load) and hardshell roof top tent or 2) Pull along a pop up trailer. Been looking at this one from Opus which is now available in the US:

https://www.opuscamper.us/2-sleeper/