Roof top tent on cab or on shell? And why?

It's the RLD Designs USA bed cap

https://www.rlddesignusa.com/p/toyota/gen2-toyota-tacoma-truck-cap-canopy/

 

I might look at welding a square flange or sleeve another piece of pipe with a flange to bolt to the bed mounting points - when I get the kit I will assess and get with my muffler shop or local welding fabrication shop

great idea for additional support/weight distribution. I have bed brackets on mine already

 

Looks good. I assume that's the V1 or 2...looks like it fits better than V3 that's on their site.

 

My only concern is the weight bowing out the bed near the tailgate. Sounds like it's a common issue with these composite beds. I have some bed stiffeners in route to address that before it becomes an issues.

I have seen some folks fabricate some skeleton systems that mount to the bed floor. If you have the skill or a friend that can fab, it might be a good route to go. For me, a bolt on kit like this will fit my needs.

I'll get some pictures of how I have it mounted later today.

 

yup, it's the V2. V1 didn't have a 3rd brake light and V3 hinges are internal so you don't see them from the outside anymore

 

Is it possible for you to take a up top picture? For my canopy set up, or what i'm looking at doing. Is getting an uptop rack for the canopy, and I already have a track system that was installed when canopy was manufactured. I am just trying to picture how that would work. Although really great idea, just looking at how to make it work for my application.

 

You'll like your upTop rack.

 

Do you mean the top of my shell? A few comments back I provided that picture

I can take a picture of how they mount to the celling too, if that's what you mean. I'll include some video links from the company, they were helpful for me when I was preparing to make this a reality with my setup.

Overview
https://youtu.be/4nsO8doe2v0

Install
https://youtu.be/lNqzqZDHHZI

 

Have a roofnest condor mounted on top of my snug top shell for over a year. Shell is reinforced I believe they call it the sportsman package. No bed stiffeners because I like to live dangerously.

 

I just ordered a set of Milford cap support arms…thanks @Cool_Calm_B for posting the pictures and video links and @dpf88101 for posting the product link!!

I have an ARE cap with a Prinsu rack, bought a CVT from a local member and have be procrastinating mounting it due to my load deflection concerns. This looks like perfect solution!!

 

Love your setup and looking to do something similar.
- how did you mount the RTT directly to the camper shell? Any issues encountered here as opposed to going with another rack on top of the shell?
- what rack are you running on top of the cab? Do these level out the RTT well?

 

I have the same set up and I added more feet and more cross bars for better weight dispersion

 

If you are curious I can take more close up

 

yeah, can you take a picture of the cap rail, and spacers and how the tent attaches? Did you just drill the tent floor and put the bolts where you wanted?

 

Hopefully this help give a better idea of how I have it set up. It started to rain so I went back in to work. I ordered four pairs of feet and two extra cross bars for the Prinsu.

 

Forgot to mention as well that the washers are to help compensate for the curve of the rails that are on the topper so the topper rails dont have as much stress pulling up through the fiber glass

 

That helps a lot!!!! Thank you!!!

 

Thanks man! I ended up relocating the tent rails (had to drill new holes in the tent) to match up with the existing holes on the RLD bed cap. This allowed a direct mount to the camper shell and keeping it as low profile as possible. So far, I haven’t had any issues and I’ve checked the nuts/bolts to make sure the hole isn’t getting any bigger. I did have to trim my roof rack where the tent hovers above it so that it wouldn’t touch when I’m flexing off road.

I’m running the victory 4x4 access cab rack

 

@TimberTiger I have the same setup as far as the hi-liner shell and I've been searching for which setup to pull the trigger on, would you say you would rather have it on the shell vs the cab? I would assume getting racks installed on the cab would be less of an ordeal than the shell.

 

I realize this question wasn't for me but wanted to chime in to maybe help out. With the tent on the cab you're going to get worse gas milage having the tent up front with nothing to help push the wind out of the way. as far as the racks on a second gen they are about the same as far as installation as long as your shell has pre drilled holes. You also have to think of opening the tent over one of your front/ rear doors. It might not be a problem if the tent comes out far enough and you're tall enough to stand under it but just something else to consider.