Newbie

Hey,

I’m Kevin, thanks for allowing me to join your group, I’m suffering from covid cabin fever in the mountains of Colorado and am considering up building my 2013 crewmax 4x4 TRD with an ARE bed cap, into an over lander, I want to be able to travel around without using hotels etc and thought I’d add a Roof rack and rooftop tent, I want to keep the bed topper for protection of bed contents and want to know if anyone has installed a rooftop tent on the cab of a crewmax? The topper came with the truck and isn’t strong enough to support a roof rack and tent. Having real problems finding any info about roof weight limits on line, Thanks!

 

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Depending on how handy you are and not worried about getting your hands dirty and don't mind working with fiberglass. You can re-enforce the area where the rail are going to be mounted on with 3/4 plywood strip. Tailor your rail and pre-drill it first. Use a step-bit for less chances of chipping the gel coat. I used the bed rail system as my topper track. It's beefier than most aftermarket rails and did a custom cross bar to carry loads. Use a topper clamp to secure the topper on the bed instead of the bed rail mount. Temporarily secure the plywood with screws and with fender washes for the plywood to contour to the shape of the topper. You can use a hi-bonding adhesive or fiberglass resin to bond the plywood to the bottom of the topper. After it cures, remove the screws and lay some fiberglass to encapsulate the plywood. Then, drill through the plywood from your pre-drilled holes, 3M double sided tape, mount your rail, (used an aluminium flat bar running the length of the rail instead of a fender washer with my application). Fab at least 3 bars to even the weight distribution.

If you want more support. You can add and encapsulate EMT tubing like a roll bar, base to base of the topper to help carry the load even better. (I will be doing this with my next topper)

Hope that that helps.

 

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