Going fast off road with a RTT

[gascapkevin]

I have some questions for the guys sending it off road with RTTs mounted (@theycallmeWALLY @01SilverSender and any others). I was running a cheapo amazon bed rack that was not up to the task off road, and enabled my RTT to wiggle quite a bit. I am now getting ready to have a friend build me a stronger rack with some triangulation, but would like some pointers on how to mount the tent on top.

The first time off road with the rack I made sure it was tight before starting and retightened halfway through the trip. Second time I made sure it was tight initially but by the midway point it had already gotten loose and shifted so much I couldn't get the tent back to the holes I had drilled through the rack to tighten the bolt

After just two trips off road my tent had shifted quite a bit to the passenger side


The top of my rack, you can see the hole I drilled and had it mounted is about 4 inches to the right of where the bolt decided it wanted to be


CVT sent me a setup like this with the tent but I didn't know how well they would work so I hadn't used them. Should I try these straps?


I tried to study @theycallmeWALLY rack as close as I could but I can't figure out his mounting situation. Is it the bar with two bolts in and bungee going across?







Any tips or pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

Yep!

Instead of going on the outside of the square tubing I decided to go through it so it would not move around. Basically tried to make it as rigid as possible.

I've always liked what this guy has produced as well.

RTT Security Mounts

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All of the tubing on the truck is 120 wall as well. I needed as much weigh out back to help with the leaf springs and I just wanted to make sure the tent wasn't going to eject.

 

[85Yota]

Basically the bed rack that you have flexes a lot and it will always cause issues with the RTT because of that. The RTT isn't very rigid either so combine them and it's a recipe for fatigue and failure.

My tacoma I beat on the truck numerous trips with a Front Runner RTT. I had it bolted onto 1" x .120 tubing that was mounted solid to the back half. SO it didn't flex at all. Flex is death when offroading. If mounts or racks flex it will cause a failure somewhere in no time.

 

[dwphoto]

Correct, Flex is death.

@85Yota and @the_fablab_ built the rack on my pile years ago... this run-of-the-mill basic Tuff stuff tent has held up to thousands of miles of abuse.

For one reason it's solid mounted zero flex to the rack that the tent bolts too.

Post #69 of course it was haaaaa

Toyotally Awesome 94 pickup

Damn. Lawn darted my ranger in Pismo a few years ago as well. Collapsed cab mounts, bent spindles, busted radiator, etc. It's always Pismo... lol

forum.badlinesgoodtimes.com

 

[Motiracer38]

I built a 1in square structure, hose clamped it to the bedcage and used the factory clamps to mount my RTT. It has survived a few trips now without moving around. I was a bit nervous as the clamps are wider than the tube so the flat plate bends a bit. Wally's method may work best with the single bolt you can crank down, not relying on friction as much

 

[Endless Trails]

I use the factory CVT strap style as they are fairly easy. I always make sure the outside bolt front and back is snug against the cross bar and tight. The long part of the strap on the other side of the crossbar angles the strap as it is tightened down. I have never had the tent move. My rack is scrap metal using stuff I had. If i was going to build another I would make sure my cross bars are sized to work with Wheel Every Weekends mounts.

 

[01SilverSender]

I use the factory CVT strap style as they are fairly easy. I always make sure the outside bolt front and back is snug against the cross bar and tight. The long part of the strap on the other side of the crossbar angles the strap as it is tightened down. I have never had the tent move. My rack is scrap metal using stuff I had. If i was going to build another I would make sure my cross bars are sized to work with Wheel Every Weekends mounts.

I used to run the standard flat plate mount on my bed bars but now i have 8 bolts that go straight through the track that my tent has for mounts and then through the bedrack, so the only way for the tent to slide/move is to have those bolts fail which isn’t gonna be an issue

 

[Turboyota]

My tent is attached to a fairly rigid 1.5” square tube frame with the little aluminum straps that bridge the tube. 1000’s of hard&fast dirt miles with no issues. The frame my tent is mounted on pivots via 5/8” heims and is secured at the aft end of the truck with Carr Lane tooling clamps. I’ve done a couple setups like this with great success.

@Motiracer38 ‘s setup can be seen on the left side of the last pic.

 

[DesertGoat]

I had an OG smittybilt XL tent on a .120" wall sq tube rack that I built myself for a gen 1 raptor.
the issue wasn't the rack but was instead the chinsy construction of the base of the tent. Mine had 4 little M6 bolts that ran through the aluminum sheet/honeycomb bullshit base. Those mounted the base rails to the tent, and then it had the straps connecting the rails to the bed rack.

The M6 bolts just ended up tearing through the alumnium base. I ended up adding like 20 more and mounted them all up with fender washers and it was problem free after that. even with the flexy strap clamp jobbers.

 

[85Yota]

The RTT on turboyota truck is my old one. I took that thing down to Baja before offroad from Daiblo Lake bed to San felipe on the norra 1000 course. Numerous trips down and back on Mojave road etc. No flex is key.