Mounting RTT on Topper

First off, I know that there is the *THE RTT Owners Thread(With BS)*, but there are so many posts in there at this point it's hard to find specific answers.

I'm moving my ARB Simpson III from a KB VooDoo bedrack to a Leer 100XR, so what I would like advice and recommendations on is how do people that have fiberglass toppers mount their RTTs? I have Thule tracks but I don't know if it's best to just put on Thule feet/bars or go Rhino HD feet/bars or go the Prinsu (or some other brand) rack system route? What have people done and had success (or failures) with?

Thanks for any and all help!

 

Good question. I also have a Leer topper. I added Yakima tracks and cross bars. And I have the OEM cab rail system arriving tomorrow. I'm curious what it's like to mount a RTT to the cap or the cab system, and how. Consider me sub'd.

 

I'm going to run Rhino Racks HD bars on this to hold the tent to start, just not sure if I should be looking into reinforcing the inside somehow? Didn't want to go with a contractor style top, so this obviously doesn't have as big of a load capacity.

 

Some RTT manufacturers have different views of RTT on a fiberglass shell. Smittybilt said not recommended. Tepui and Cascadian said ok.
I decided not to.
Just saying.
You might want to take the time to read that long thread anyways.

 

I had my Tepui mounted on 2 Yakima crossbars with whatever Yakima landing pads fit the Thule tracks which ARE fits on their toppers. My topper is an ARE Z Series with the reinforced top for racks ... which appears to maybe be an extra layer of glass and some core between the layers. I probably put 15K+ miles on it with this setup, plus maybe 20-25 nights camping (RTT off for the winter), mostly pavement but 100-200 miles off-road, with no loosening, visible cracks etc. funny thing is, I'm considering ditching the canopy and getting a bed rack, just for more flexibility.

 

Thanks for that info, I'm hoping this Leer holds up ok, from the sounds of what you did with your topper, that's pretty much what I'm going to be doing. The topper I've got isn't reinforced so hopefully with light use it'll be fine. I'll make you a deal on a KB VooDoo mid-height rack!

 

My dealer said ARE doesn't reinforce their tops.

I got this from ARE.

I got this from Smittybilt.

 

Did your Leer come with the tracks? If so, I assume that it's sufficiently reinforced for an RTT. One note, I am considering adding a 3rd crossbar. Everyone worries about the weight of the tent, but between wind and bumps, plus any load on the overhung portion of the unfolded tent in case the ladder isn't well placed, can also pull UP on the rack. And the attachment between the towers and tracks is two small screws in each tower. So adding 50% more attachment points as well as distributing the load (up or down) on the topper tracks, seems like good insurance. By contrast, your KB Voodoo is pretty securely mounted to the truck bed tracks.

 

My Leer came with the tracks. I will most likely be running a 3rd crossbar as well, it's still winter in Michigan so I haven't mounted it up yet, and probably won't for awhile.

I will say, the KB VooDoo was really solid and I wish I could keep using it, but I need to be able to keep stuff locked away when I travel and I want to have a dry place to keep my bikes when I travel instead of on the bike rack, especially when traveling through salty road conditions.

 

Thanks for the info, it seems to be that there just isn't much of a definitive agreement between tent companies and topper companies. From what I've seen, people with tents on their toppers seem to generally be fine, especially if they're only being slept in occasionally.

 

There are post in the RTT thread, IIRC, that members reported cracks.

EDIT:
I asked ARE if my topper is reinforced.

 

I do recall seeing some people with complaints about cracking, but also plenty that haven't. Who knows haha

 

So, is the cracking from an idiot user, or just users? Hard to say.
RTT seems to be a new thing, maybe too new to really know.

2 people with gear, is 400 a low ball weight? Plus the RTT. And then the movement of the people getting in, out, around, is what I call somewhat dynamic weight.
Dynamic weight limits are not very much.

I decided not to. I'm not trying to talk anyone out of it, just sharing what I found.
It's not worth it to me to be half way across the country on a trip and have a cracked topper.

 

I'll be taking the risk, if it seems to be too much for the topper, looks like I'll just have to get a Prinsu cab rack and it'll get mounted up there.

 

I don't understand what the cap rack will change if the problem is the fiberglass.

 

If you're referring to my last post, I said "cab", so it'd be located over the cab of the truck, not on the fiberglass topper at all.

 

I just ordered a prinsu toprac for my ARE v-series which isn't reinforced. Zach from Prinsu said he's mounted an RTT on both a snugtop and leer shell with a toprac and hasn't had any issues.

 

Thanks for that info, that's good to hear!

 

Sorry, my mistake

 

I was just informed by ARE that they had this to offer.
http://www.4are.com/product/hd/