Roadie's Birthday RTT

[cbbryan]

I understand the vehicle is designed to withstand rollover(s). But basically nothing should go directly on the roof is self; all weight should be supported by the rail distributing the weight to the edge so that it can be carried through the frame (hence the arc in the factory crossbars). Also, factory cross bars should be replaced with sturdier more rugged hardware to mitigate the potential damage to the vehicles roof and loss of equipment.

[Gordinho80]

Factory cross bars are garbage. Anyone with a roof rack that uses it should at least upgrade to aluminum tubing from HD/Lowes. The factory rails themselves are not "garbage" but they are nowhere near as sturdy as what Bill put up there now. The factory rails are good for racks, skis, etc... but for something like the RTT, I really like Bill's approach. Not as aesthetically pleasing as the factory rails, but Bill doesn't factor any of that mumbo jumbo in to is mods.

[Trail X]

Hey Bill, how was your gas mileage affected with the addition of the tent?

[The Roadie]

Around town and the mountains, undetectable change around 11-12. On the one freeway trip I took, I might have lost 1 MPG so I was at 15. But I took off the Surco, and that puppy's turbulence was always present. Not sure at all how much I lost because there's no control experiment.

[Philberto]

Just realized that I have the equivalent of 4 or 6 SuperStrut bases in my garage... got them when I was working at the dealer, I think they came off a Tahoe or a Hummer or something...

[NC_IslandRunner]

Bill, where did you get the neoprene? I looked all over Lowes today and couldn't find anything close.

[The Roadie]

My daughter used to work at an industrial supply house. She shares my love of dumpster diving.

Old inner tubes should work. Otherwise hit up Granger or McMaster-Carr.

Or slice up an old wetsuit

[gps4]

did you use the factory nuts and bolts that held the factory rails to mount the superstrut rails?

[The Roadie]

I used the factory metric screws with added stainless washers to hold the rails to the factory nutserts that were in the roof.