GFC Superlite RTT on a Sherpa Crestone

[Jon4RSD]

Has anyone mounted a GFC Superlite RTT on a Sherpa Crestone rack on a 5th gen? Wondering about access and bolt length, thinking the sunroof and rear of the rack might allow access..

 

[TheJokingExplorer]

Not sure how the prinsu compares to your racks cross bars. I mounted my superlite with 5/16-18 x 1-1/2 from Home Depot. they fit perfectly.

4:08 talks about how I mounted it.
GFC Superlite Initial thoughts (5th gen 4runner) - YouTube

 

[rageandlove]

Has anyone mounted a GFC Superlite RTT on a Sherpa Crestone rack on a 5th gen? Wondering about access and bolt length, thinking the sunroof and rear of the rack might allow access..

I think the hard part is finding the GFC tent!

 

[slprciv]

My GFC Superlite on the Sherpa rack:

 

[TheJokingExplorer]

My GFC Superlite on the Sherpa rack:

Did you use the hardware that GC provided?

 

[Old Tanker]

That's a lot of weight on a crossbar held on by four 1/4" bolts. The bolts go through a long slot, not holes, in the side panels. Under heavy load, the slot will expand and the head of the bolt will pull into the slot. This happened to me with an OVS awning - I thought I had a good setup distributing the weight through three mounts and six crossbars, but the middle mount overstressed the Sherpa side panel.

 

[slprciv]

Did you use the hardware that GC provided?

No I did not. I used the Sherpa tent riser brackets and hardware. I wanted it as low as possible.

 

[slprciv]

That's a lot of weight on a crossbar held on by four 1/4" bolts. The bolts go through a long slot, not holes, in the side panels. Under heavy load, the slot will expand and the head of the bolt will pull into the slot. This happened to me with an OVS awning - I thought I had a good setup distributing the weight through three mounts and six crossbars, but the middle mount overstressed the Sherpa side panel.

I walked on the cross bars when I'm cleaning the roof. No issues. Also no issues either when I had my ARB awning mounted at 3 points on the Sherpa but then again I didn't mount to the side panel. I mounted it to the cross bars using the sherpa awning mounts.

 

[Old Tanker]

...I I had my ARB awning mounted at 3 points on the Sherpa but then again I didn't mount to the side panel...

Each of my three awning brackets is secured to six carriage bolts - three on one crossbar, and three on the adjacent crossbar. The awning weight is therefore spread across six different crossbars. I was shocked to see that the center bracket had caused the two crossbars to pull into the side panel.

There must have been some twisting force applied while the awning was extended - poles down, with side wall attached and guy lines in place. I moved the awning to the opposite side, and reset the bars on what is now the weak side of the roof rack. I also added 1 inch fender washers to better distribute the force of the end bolts and keep them from pulling into the side panel.

Sherpa pros - flexibility, light weight, non-corrosion. But maybe not strong enough. I'm contemplating putting a Gobi rack on order.