jareda80's Non-Bro Pro Build and Adventures

jareda80 said:
I had Rack n' Road install the tent since they are the local dealer and the tent ships to them anyway. They had 4 guys to throw it up on the rack so it didn't have to touch the sides of the rack. If you are going to do it yourself, I highly recommend having 3 other guys to help. The tents are heavy and you would definitely scratch your rack and likely your rig if you tried to do it solo. To remove it, I will be installing a crank lift with two straps in my garage to be able to lift it off by myself when I need to. I will be keeping it on my car until winter and possibly year round. Having a RTT is great but definitely not something you would want to be taking on and off regularly without a lift in your garage to do so.
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I really dig the low profile of your rack but concern with loading and unloading my rtt. I don't even have clearance to get in or out of my garage let alone with a rtt on top. Currently with my gobi, I can unload by my self but needs at least 2 people to load them. The Gobi has the round tube so at whichever angle I can still slide it into the rack but I really like the looks of the Prinsu and how each of the bars are removeable and adjustable.
 
wild_turkey said:
Great build so far and awesome photos!

The lift is the way to go for solo loading and unloading of the tent. I bought the Racor lift off Amazon for <$100 and it's been great. Keeps the tent up and out of the way when not in use, too. You must have a decently high clearance garage to drive out with the RTT loaded. I barely clear my 7'6" garage (probably 7'5" to the bottom of the door) and I haven't installed a lift, yet. But there are a couple of tricks for gaining some additional clearance, such as removing the ladder, full tank of gas and full load, and my least favorite is airing down tires to get another inch.

A suspension lift is next for me after the roof rack. I love the Prinsu design that you installed. For suspension, I'm leaning towards the OME BP-51, too.

Looking forward to following your build!
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Thanks! I will have to look into the Racor lift. I'm currently building a house and made sure to go with 12' ceilings in the garage to allow for room to a lift where I can keep the tent stowed up and out of the way when not in use. If you get the BP-51 before me you will have to post up your thoughts on it. My buddy Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters has been really impressed with that setup on the FJ's he's installed it on.
 
Magnetic4R said:
I really dig the low profile of your rack but concern with loading and unloading my rtt. I don't even have clearance to get in or out of my garage let alone with a rtt on top. Currently with my gobi, I can unload by my self but needs at least 2 people to load them. The Gobi has the round tube so at whichever angle I can still slide it into the rack but I really like the looks of the Prinsu and how each of the bars are removeable and adjustable.
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Yea that would be much harder to do with the configuration of the PrinSu. I don't think it would slide over the side plate nearly as easily as it would over the round tube of your Gobi. You could always set some 2x6 boards up against the rail of the PrinSu and slide the tent up the boards and onto the crossbars. This may also prevent a mishap of the tent slipping out of your hands and hitting your rig. Given that I'm only 5'9" and my rig is fairly tall, I wasn't going to risk trying to load or unload myself without a lift. I'm sure it would end badly.
 
T4Ranger Installed BP-51 Already

jareda80 said:
Thanks! I will have to look into the Racor lift. I'm currently building a house and made sure to go with 12' ceilings in the garage to allow for room to a lift where I can keep the tent stowed up and out of the way when not in use. If you get the BP-51 before me you will have to post up your thoughts on it. My buddy Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters has been really impressed with that setup on the FJ's he's installed it on.
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I will for sure put some info out if/when I get them. [MENTION=102009]T4Ranger[/MENTION] already installed the BP-51 on his TE. I'm looking forward to his review once he gets some time in. He installed the FJ version, which supposedly works on the 5th gen T4R's, too. Although he ran into a little trouble with the KDSS interface. I just have the SR5, so hopefully it will be a straight forward install.

T4Ranger BP-51 Install

Well if Kurt is impressed, then I'm sure I would be, too!
 
How did the ride feel with the extra weight up top from the RTT? Did you notice it being up there with how it felt on and off road?
 
Mistaken said:
How did the ride feel with the extra weight up top from the RTT? Did you notice it being up there with how it felt on and off road?
Click to expand...

Yes, it is noticeable but I wouldn't say it's significant overall.
On-road at 75mph with no crosswind, hardly noticeable.
On-road at 75mph with crosswind, fairly noticeable.
Off-road low speed trail, hardly noticeable.
Off-road at 40-60 mph dirt road with turns, moderately noticeable.

blkhwk said:
Rack really looks good!

Any issues with the front mounts during installation?
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Other than it being a b!tch to drill through all the metal it was pretty straight forward. I actually centered the rack and tightened the other four mounts and drilled through using the bracket as my template. It did scuff the rack some but nothing some touch up paint can't fix. I was in a hurry and didn't have an extra set of hands to take it on and off.
 
jareda80 said:
Yes, it is noticeable but I wouldn't say it's significant overall.
On-road at 75mph with no crosswind, hardly noticeable.
On-road at 75mph with crosswind, fairly noticeable.
Off-road low speed trail, hardly noticeable.
Off-road at 40-60 mph dirt road with turns, moderately noticeable.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks for the detailed response. I'm not going with a ruggedized model so I would assume I would notice it even less.
 
So I got some new gear mounted (Pelfreybuilt hidden winch mount, Warn M-8000S, Baja Designs S8 40" light bar, Rigid D2 fogs, and MaxTrax) and set out for a 4 day adventure through the deserts of Utah.

Day 1: Headed out from Salt Lake around noon. Stopped for lunch in Green River and then cruised down past Crystal Geyser and camped back into White Wash Sand Dunes.

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Day 2: Headed out from White Wash and dropped into Moab through Pucker Pass. From Moab we headed south to Canyonlands NP and got permitted up for the trek from Elephant Hill to Beef Basin. This road is absolutely amazing. It's fairly challenging but a lot of fun. The scenery is spectacular and there are Indian ruins everywhere. We ended up camping in Beef Basin.

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Untitled by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Day 3: Our trail leader discovered a u-joint going on the end of Day 2 so instead of heading over the pass (forget the name) toward Lake Powell, we made our way back down to the highway so we could drop his rig off in Monticello since there were no part stores open. We got a good 4-6" inches of snow at about 8000 ft. so it made for a slippery descent. We hit the pavement from there and made our way to Lake Powell. It was about an hour of off-road from the highway to get to the spot.

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Canyonlands Trip by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Day 4: Broke camp around 10AM and started the 5.5 hour trek home.
 
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Decided to take the fiance on a trip through Colorado to get the Hefty Fab bumpers and skids installed. We went from Moab to Telluride, over Ophir Pass to Silverton, over Engineer Pass to Lake City, up to Crested Butte, Crested Butte to Aspen, Aspen to Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs to Breckenridge, Breckenridge to Steamboat Springs, and Steamboat back to Salt Lake. The passes were easy and the scenery was beautiful so it kept her happy. And the guys at Hefty Fab did an awesome job on bumpers and skids, can't wait to go really use them now!

Untitled by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Untitled by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Untitled by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Untitled by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Untitled by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Untitled by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Untitled by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr

Untitled by Jared Armstrong, on Flickr
 
Beautiful, awesome build!

How are Hefty Aluminum Skids working out? Their products look pretty awesome and if they work for you they would be plenty for me...LOL!
 
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