RTT on a factory rack - new hardware needed?

MTgirl

MTgirl

Member
I want to get my tent set up and getting an aftermarket rack just isn't in the budget right now. I know the factory rack will be fine (load limit is 132, tent is 120) for now but I'm not sure the hardware that I've been using/what came with the tent will work. The roof crossbars are 2-1/2" wide and about 2" from the top of the bar to the roof for clearance. the bolts that came with my tent are 2" and the steel plates that go under the crossbars are only 1-3/4" to the edges of the holes. So either the bolts will be hitting the bottom plate at an angle (not good) or the bolt ends could be touching the roof (really not good).
Anybody with a RTT on their factory rack: did you need new (shorter) bolts? Did you fab new (wider) plates? Give me some pics! I wanna go camping!
 
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I am thinking of doing the same thing, there is not a perfect rack out yet [emoji19]. More options are starting to come out on our trucks, so hang in there.
 
Mikey01 said:
I am thinking of doing the same thing, there is not a perfect rack out yet [emoji19]. More options are starting to come out on our trucks, so hang in there.
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Well perfect roof racks exist...but I'd have to sell a kidney to get one!

What tent do you have? I have a CVT Bachelor. I talked with them and they say they've had folks put the tents on the factory racks with no issue - just not sure how they got it up there in the first place!
 
I just got the okay to get one, I am getting in the group buy.

I have heard that also, I am taking the summer off for camping if I can so I don't have the time.
 
MTgirl said:
I want to get my tent set up and getting an aftermarket rack just isn't in the budget right now. I know the factory rack will be fine (load limit is 132, tent is 120) for now but I'm not sure the hardware that I've been using/what came with the tent will work. The roof crossbars are 2-1/2" wide and about 2" from the top of the bar to the roof for clearance. the bolts that came with my tent are 2" and the steel plates that go under the crossbars are only 1-3/4" to the edges of the holes. So either the bolts will be hitting the bottom plate at an angle (not good) or the bolt ends could be touching the roof (really not good).
Anybody with a RTT on their factory rack: did you need new (shorter) bolts? Did you fab new (wider) plates? Give me some pics! I wanna go camping!
Click to expand...

Factory crossbars are not something I'd use. Get a set of Thule or Yakima crossbars and you won't have either problem. You could even borrow some of you needed to. The factory ones are not rated for anything heavier than a Christmas tree.
 
MTgirl said:
did you need new (shorter) bolts?
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I don't have the factory rack, but the Baja flat utility rack is actually shorter than the factory rails. I didn't have any issues with the ARB bolts touching the roof, but it was a real pain in the ass to thread the nyloc nuts with so little clearance. I replaced with shorter bolts (stainless) and used lock washers with regular nuts instead of nyloc. I can't remember the length of the bolts I ended up with but I just grabbed one each in a few different lengths, went out to the truck and eyeballed them against the rack, then went back and bought a bunch more in the right length.
 
I use the Thule cross bars on the factory rails. Works perfect, yes its a little higher than it could be, but its perfectly fine.

Thule 45058 is the part number I used.
 

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I agree with the above:

- get shorter bolts (or cut your current ones)
- get better cross bars so that the original mounting hardware still works

happy camping.
 
*sigh* thanks guys....

I was still holding out hope that I could use my factory rack but now I'm 99% sure I can't/won't. The RTT is 120lbs, the rails are stamped at a max load of 130lbs but the owners' manual says not to go above 120lbs. I really don't want to max out the rack so I've researched all options. You'd think they'd have engineered the rack a little better...
Anywho... I'm between getting some Thule crossbars (figured they'd be easy to resell once I can upgrade to a real rack) or just biting the bullet and getting a more permanent solution now. I think the Front Runner racks are my favorite - they seem to be the lowest profile which is what I want. That's the biggest downside to the Thule bars - the height - I wanted to keep things as low as possible. Gaah!
 
The Rocky-Road system which utilizes the factory roof rails may be the option you are looking for-
 

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So are we talking 120lbs on the factory crossbars or the front to back rails? I'm curious as to how a 130lb w.l.l. with a tent works once you put a human up there?
 
The factory rails may be good for 130 and tent may weigh 120 but once you put 1 or 2 people in there you're up around 400 lbs pretty quick. My TE factory rails were garbage, I wouldn't try to put a tent on those. I have an ARB simpson III mounted to my gobi rack and I definitely wouldn't want to try to go much less beefy than that. The loads that it sees getting in and out of the tent are well in excess of the limit of the factory rails. You will likely end up with problems over time. I went through the same thing, I really didn't want to shell out money for a rack, but ultimately got one, then got the tent. It's been great so far.

Good luck.
 
I believed that factory roof "crossbars"(horizontal bars, purchasable accessory) are rated for only 130lb.

The factory roof "rails"(vertical rails that comes standard with the vehicle) are able to carry MUCH more. I don't have any numbers or reference handy. I am mounting mine on a Gobi anyways.
 
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AZrunner11 said:
The Rocky-Road system which utilizes the factory roof rails may be the option you are looking for-
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I looked at those but the issue I have with them is the height. I want to stay low profile. And the Rocky rack is more expensive than the Thule bars which has the same issue - height. If I'm going to go the "cheap" route then I'd opt for the Thule bars over the Rocky rack as the Thule would be easier to sell down the road.

guitarsail said:
So are we talking 120lbs on the factory crossbars or the front to back rails? I'm curious as to how a 130lb w.l.l. with a tent works once you put a human up there?
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The 130lb limit is the dynamic load rating - basically the total dead weight of objects that can safely be stowed on the bars while traveling. Think about the wind resistance, the stress the roof rack is under while traveling down the road. The static (stationary) load rating would be considerably higher than the dynamic load but the question is how much higher? Its not noted anywhere. How well did Toyota engineer that rack and are those numbers actually lower than what the actual capacity of the rack is? Basically did Toyota purposefully mark a lower weight limit on the bars to allow for a buffer zone before the rack failed completely?

jrob said:
The factory rails may be good for 130 and tent may weigh 120 but once you put 1 or 2 people in there you're up around 400 lbs pretty quick. My TE factory rails were garbage, I wouldn't try to put a tent on those. I have an ARB simpson III mounted to my gobi rack and I definitely wouldn't want to try to go much less beefy than that. The loads that it sees getting in and out of the tent are well in excess of the limit of the factory rails. You will likely end up with problems over time. I went through the same thing, I really didn't want to shell out money for a rack, but ultimately got one, then got the tent. It's been great so far.

Good luck.
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again 130 is the dynamic load, the static load is much higher. From the Gobi site: 300lbs. safe driving load limit, 800 lbs. static load capacity. (Static load capacity typically for roof top tents and occupants)

so the Gobi racks can support a static load 2.66 times higher than the dynamic load limit. Can the Toyota racks do the same? That would mean the static load limit of the factory rack would be around 350 lbs - plenty for me and my tent
jicko said:
I believed that factory roof "crossbars"(horizontal bars, purchasable accessory) are rated for only 130lb.

The factory roof "rails"(vertical rails that come standard with the vehicle) are able to carry MUCH more. I don't have any numbers or reference handy. I am taking mine off for a Gobi anyways.
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I think the weak link in the factory rack system is actually how the bars tie into the rails. If you look at the thule/yakima/rocky road, etc roof racks/baskets they all use the factory installed rails. And most of the complete roof racks use the same factory mounting points for (using Gobi as an example again, 800 lbs) loads higher than what the stock rack is rated for. So the connection of the rack to the vehicle is adequate, the rails are adequate, the bars are adequate for static loads, that leaves only the connection of the cross bars to the rails as the structurally questionable component.
 
...my other issue with the Thule/Yakima systems is that their max load rating is 165lbs. So I'm only gaining 35 lbs over the factory bars. Is that enough?

As somebody else said in here - the factory roof rack (130 lbs) is only good for carrying a xmas tree. OK, so, what's thule (at 165 lbs) get me? a tree and the ax to chop it down with?
 
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