MTD
New member
If you can fit in your garage and have a nice rack for it just leave it on for the whole season. That's what I'm doing for the most part. I do have to pull it if I want to work in the garage though. (Damn 7 foot doors lol!)
Roof Top Tent (RTT) Picture Gallery & BS Thread
- Thread starter MTD
- Start date
If you can fit in your garage and have a nice rack for it just leave it on for the whole season. That's what I'm doing for the most part. I do have to pull it if I want to work in the garage though. (Damn 7 foot doors lol!)
MTD
New member
So my Thule roof rack that I have had my RTT attached to for the past couple of months has caused a terrible rattle in the roof of the 4runner. The front half of the roof is not supported because of the sunroof so this is what has been causing the rattle. there have been several post where people have stiffened the roof using flat bar from the inside, but I didn't want to pull my headliner and risk damaging it. I decide that I would take a different approach and build a flat rack that will more evenly distribute the load on the roof. I built this with basic materials that can be found at your local hardware store and used a harbor freight welder to assemble it. Now I have no more rattles that tent is secure and it sits lower on the roof. :ylsmoke:
This is what it looked like on the top side before I welded it. Nice and flush, so that the tent sits even on the rack.
This is what it looked like on the top side before I welded it. Nice and flush, so that the tent sits even on the rack.
MTD
New member
you can use the stock flat nuts, I used my thule roof rack hardware though.
AZ3rdGenRunner
New member
Brands
I keep seeing CVT RTTs. Is this like "THE" brand to go with?
Just curious! I am looking for like a 2-3 man RTT for my 3rd gen.
I keep seeing CVT RTTs. Is this like "THE" brand to go with?
Just curious! I am looking for like a 2-3 man RTT for my 3rd gen.
mountain mike
New member
MTD
New member
Nope. The only reason people say it is THE brand is because they have a sale in the spring where they practicaly give them away. "THE" brand would be Auto Home or ARB
I have a Tepui which I really like, If would do it again though, with more money of course I would go ARB, mainly because I know its going to get a ton of use now and I want it to hold up. Time will tell if Tepui and CVT's will be as durable as an ezi awn, or an Autohome.
Ducmonsta
New member
ARB, tepui, cvt, and a few others are all made in China. They all have slightly different deniers of fabric. That's where you'll see slight differences. AFAIK, CVT is the only company that uses the same fabric for the annexes. The others use the lighter tent fly material.
Howling moon, eezi wan, and Hannibal are South African made if I'm not mistaken. They use a much thicker/durable material hence double the cost difference. If I were to go on safari in Africa for weeks at a time, I would consider the cost and quality difference. But I'm a dispersed camper with the occasional camp ground camping sprinkled in. And the Chinese made tents suit me and my family justfine.
Xetabur
New member
The ARB Simpson III is built better than most of the other China made RTTs. The ARB tents are still not in the class as Eezi-Awn, Howling Moon and Autohome tents. I would not call ARB "THE" brand as they are still a cheaper made Chineese tent. There is a reason the high end tents comand a $3-6K asking price. The tent material, zippers and overall construction are overbuilt. "THE" tent brands would be Eezi-Awn, Autohome and Howling Moon. I've owned Campling Labs, ARB Simpson III, Eezi-Awn 1600 T-Top and now I have a Medium Maggiolina Grand Tour (in that order) so I have some experience with tents lol. For most people the Chinese tents are fine and will serve you well for years but just like everything else, you get what you pay for.
MTD
New member
All valid points
how do you like your Maggiolina? I am thinking about upgrading to some kind of a hard pack tent.
Xetabur
New member
All valid points
We love our Maggiolina. We will never go back to a regular style RTT. The setup and take down times are so much faster with this tent. I'm sure my gas mileage has improved with the Maggiolina but when driving an FJ gas mileage isn't a concern.
MTD
New member
Cool good to hear. I don't know if I'll upgrade to an auto home while I'm still in school though. I guess it all depends on how good of an internship I get next summer. I mean dont get me wrong I enjoy my tepui, but like you said the set up times and the quality make it worth it.
And about the FJ I have always wanted one and I still do. I don't know if I couldn't go to one now after this current 4runner. I'm really impressed with it! Even with the roof top tent up there I get 21 miles to the gallon on the highway and wheeling it handles great. My better half still likes them more than the 4runner though so I don't know.
Limbwalker
New member
Is there a write up on the unistrut install somewhere? I cant find it on the Tepui web site and need to mount this thing before next Fridays trip... I have a whitson 3/4 rack on order but need to get it mounted for cheap in the meantime so we can play next weekend. Seasons getting short! Thanks
chasingmagiclight
Member
My ARB deployed somewhere outside Denali. I'm currently working on getting it lower. When I got my Bajarack they didn't have the flat version meant for RTT, so mine has side rails. I'm thinking of chopping the rails down so I can mount the tent right on the base.
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SirWilliamGoes
New member
Great thread. I am planning a trip with my 15 Trail across the us and I want to get a RTT to use on the trip. Due to funds at the moment I would like to get a Smittybuilt and mount to the stock roof racks. Has anyone done this or similar and whats the general feelings other than dont get smittybuilt anything just cause!
RunnerAK
New member
I mount our RTT directly to the stock rails on my 4th gen (with stock crossbars removed). To have the tent open to the side, you need to rotate the tent rails 90-degrees and shorten them a few inches before bolting them to the tent base so that they essentially become your crossbars (very easy to do). It is about the lowest you can mount a RTT, and saves a ton of $$$ on an aftermarket rack.
FWIW, the Smittybuilt RTT looks pretty nice for the money. From the pictures, it looks amazingly similar to all of the other RTTs that are sourced from China (CVT, Tepui, etc.), and probably even comes out of the same factory.
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