Southern Style Offroad Full Length Roof Rack
- Thread starter Louisiana Overland
- Start date
TodiN
New member
Email sent. What's the fix?
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baldrik78
New member
My rack hasn't shipped yet, but it is going on a 2017. Should I email you guys now, or wait for the rack to arrive?
SouthernSS
New member
For folks who already have their rack, another 2" cross bar will be shipped that should allow you to bolt up in whatever configuration necessary. Of course, this is why we'd like to speak to you first to determine the best solution for each customers individual needs.
For new orders made after 4/23/18, we have slightly adjusted the hole locations to try and accommodate these different antenna locations.
TodiN
New member
I don't have a rack yet but I would suggest to figure out which cross bars you want to mount the tent to. Take those cross bars off the rack and bolt them to the tent while it is off the truck. Then put it back on the truck and bolt down the cross bars.
3wbdriver
New member
This is what I did for my trailer setup. I have 2 crossbars attached to the RTT that are exactly spaced so all I have to do is remove 12 bolts, move the tent to the SSO rack, and install the 12 bolts again. I'm using 24" centers on the 2 crossbars and the tent will still be resting on 2 middle and 2 outer bars in addition to the ones it is bolted to. I will just leave those 2 positions open on the SSO rack when I am trailering the RTT. I did use shorter bolts than my Tepui came with because I was afraid the longer bolts would contact the roof below the crossbars. You just need about 1 3/4" to 2" below your CVT bars to clear the 1" thickness of the SSO crossbars and have room for the bottom clamp plate and nuts.
I did loosen all the crossbar to side rail bolts so I could spread the side rails slightly while dropping the tent onto the rack.This method also makes it easier to mount the RTT because the tent will be resting on other crossbars while you are lining up the holes. Let us know if this helped.
Pictures of your tent to visualize it would be helpful too. Especially the area underneath where it mounts. I'm not seeing any hardshell tents on the CVT website.
SOMETIMES YOU JUST GOTTA LOVE BEING A BETA TESTER!!!
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It is the Mt St Helens. The bottom rails on the tent are recessed so at the back of the rack it touches the side rails. I need some sort of spacer. I am still trying to come up with a way to mount the crossbars on the tent then get it onto the rack without a fork lift to hold it while I bolt the crossbars in.
3wbdriver
New member
Ok. Thanks for the picture. That is a very similar bar system to my Tepui's other than the overhang you are referring to. It still appears to me that you should be able to mount the crossbars while the tent is off the vehicle and then drop the tent on the rack. Yours is larger and obviously heavier than my little Tepui, but I mounted my crossbars with the tent upside down. Just be OCD about your measurements as you position the crossbars and remember to allow for overlap at the rear so the back of the tent doesn't extend past the back of the rack (so you can still open the hatch).
If you still need spacers Lowes and Home Depot sell flat aluminum stock in various lengths and thicknesses that you could use. The pressure of clamping the tent down to the SSO crossbars will prevent the spacers from any movement once everything is tight. They can be cut to about 3" lengths to fit under the rails at each clamp. But if you use them on one crossbar you should probably use them on all 3 to prevent flexing the tent floor.
I wish I was closer so I could be more helpful. I know saying it and simply describing it can be lost in translation. Here is a closeup of one of my crossbars and the attachment to the tent rail if it helps. This is on the trailer, but it's the same concept. You can see how it sits on the crossbar forward of the mounting point to the left, so if you can do it without spacers you won't need to hold the tent up while you start the screws. The other crossbars on the rack will support it while you get it positioned properly. I really hope you can do it without spacers because then the RTT will be supported the full length of the tent rails.
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ElectroBoy
Banned
Sure. The aluminum cross rails are plenty strong by themselves supported on wood blocks. But this is not an adequate test of the cross rail bolted to side rail system. The failure mechanism would probably be at the side rails where the bolts and/or cross bars threads deform, strip, and fail.
Have you tested an actual assembled rack to the point of damage or failure?
SouthernSS
New member
That was just a demonstration of the weight we've actually placed on an installed roof rack cross bar. We only rate the cross bar for 90lbs yet you can see it is capable of 3 times that weight. We have not tested one of our racks to failure, but I guarantee the rack can hold more weight than the roof structure can support. We use .25" aluminum, which is the same material any aftermarket skid plates are made from. You could source the specs from 8020.net for a measure of thread deformation capacity.
Our design and capacities meet or exceed that of any other aftermarket roof rack manufacturer. Also the principle of distributed force amongst several cross rails nearly eliminates any concern of the sort of deformation you speak of. That point is why each individual bar is only rated at 90lbs.
What exactly weighs so much that needs to be placed on a single cross bar?
TodiN
New member
I think what he is trying to say is that the "most likely" failure will be at the cross bar mounting points, on these 3 screws.
ElectroBoy
Banned
The original concern of [MENTION=169146]sactown[/MENTION] was about him (at 200+ lbs) standing on one cross bar which was rated at 90 lbs. Presumably this would be him walking on one cross bar on top of a full rack system installed on his vehicle and he wants to be comfortable that he won't break it and damage his vehicle.
Load limits are usually based on knowing when components fail, then derating by an appropriate safety factor. I still don't understand where 90 pounds comes from.
IIRC, the 90lbs was when it started to flex.
That reminds me, it would be cool if the crossbars sat on a little ledge in addition to the screws, more work (cost) to do that though
SouthernSS
New member
Like I said earlier, we have tested it in the real world many times over with no issues, but I'm not going to destroy a $1,000 dollar rack to find exactly how many thousands of pounds it takes to make it deform when Toyota lists the max capacity of their roof to 160lbs. We use common knowledge of material strengths that are already well known to us as well as material data sheets from our suppliers to come up with a safe load limit. We dont need to destroy a rack to set a safety limit for it.
Better yet, all of our products are warrantied for material defect and workmanship and if it were to fail using a load within the safety range, we'd replace it.
If you'd like to delve deeper into the engineering specifications of yield strength or modulus of elasticity, I'd suggest visiting 8020.net and looking up their specs on the 1030 bar. The rack is also all .25" aluminum for your reference in case you'd like to research that yield strength as well.
SouthernSS
New member
Just for the record, we regularly walk on our roof racks and have customers with every kind of roof top tent and accessory on the rack without a single reported case of failure or damage. We've been selling this exact same design in the GX470 market for many years and have this design on all of our shop vehicles.
