What upgrades do I need to carry a RTT and other gear?

Hi guys,
I have a '19 TRD OR DCSB that I plan to use for transporting kayaks, camping gear, bikes and a RTT.

I currently have a Prinsu roof rack and a Diamondback HD bed cover. Ideally I'd like to be able to carry a RTT over the Diamondback using the Max Modular bed rack system that allows for a bed cover. And carry two 40# kayaks on the Prinsu rack. The truck is my daily driver and I don't intend to leave the RTT on all the time. I will be driving on rough dirt/gravel and rough broken mountain trails, but not really hardcore rock crawling. No towing. I likely won't be adding any other heavy bits like a winch, aftermarket bumpers. I might add rock sliders if I get a lift and bigger tires in the future.

I have some questions about things that I might need to do to:

1. Bed stiffeners--- Hype or do they really work? I've seen photos of cracked Taco beds that do not have stiffeners but the cracks appeared to be in areas not anywhere near where a stiffener would have been placed.

2. Suspension upgrades--- Do I need to upgrade the TRD OR Bilstein suspension for this kind of gear? I don't want to drag ass on trails with a RTT and kayaks, but I also don't want to dump $3K for a new suspension on a truck with 500 miles. Can I get away with just adding a leaf if I sag?

3. Wouldn't mind a lift kit at some point but I was hoping to get some use of the current stock parts and tires before dumping it all. I've been eyeballing the ToyTec BOSS kits and the Headstrong Bilstein-OME kits. Any strong preferences or cautions? FOX, KING, ADS look pricey and seem overkill for the stuff I'll end up doing with the truck.

Thanks for any words of advice. I'm excited to finally have a Tacoma. I crossed over from the Volvo Cross Country world. Such a big aftermarket with these trucks compared to Volvo. This is going to get expensive.

 

You'll be able to do all the stuff you want with your truck as is. The only issue that may come up is the kayaks might poke the RTT. My set up is reversed and with heavier toys. RTT on roof dirt bikes in bed. Truck performed great. Good luck have fun. Check all bolts for tightness

 

Yeah you’ll be fine stock.

 

Reviving this thread - I'm looking to do the max modular 10 inch rack with an RTT and tonneau cover and hoping stock should be fine. How did your build turn out? Did you have to modify rear suspension to accommodate constant load?

 

I did change the suspension.
There was some rear sag with the DB bed cover, KBVoodoo rack, RTT and rest of the camping gear. Still drove fine but I was worried about hitting bump stops on rough roads.
I ended up replacing with a stage 2 ironman kit with constant spring load springs and leaf pack.

 

Here is before/after...

Ironman 4x4 Foam Cell Pro

 

Any info on RTT mounting brackets? I currently have the KB voodoo bed rack system, but the crossbars are about 3 inches thick. Seems pretty hefty. Should I look into getting something skinnier? or are these mounting systems pretty interchangeable?

 

I bought an ikamper skycamp mini. I put a longbed version of the MaxModular to put on my shortbed truck. Ended up using a simple framework of 8020 extrusion bars mounted on top of the bedrack to mount the RTT to. That way the ikamper locking mounts would work.

 

Look up Last Line of Defense on YouTube. He has his RTT on a DB.

 

Front runner. Now sells the "Last line of Defense" style kit for the Diamondback on Tacoma.