Hilux 4x4 Forum

In preparation for our first Botswana trip i finally buckled under Swambo's pressures that "i wont do a ground tent and be eaten tune" and bought a second hand easyawn 2.4m rooftop tent.

Now I have the option to either fit it to my front roofrack over the cab on my IFS doublecab; or on the back roofrack on top of the alucab canopy.

Now the question is where is the best? Front or back? Or what is the pros and cons? Can the roof handle the weight??

Any advise or ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Yes u can put on top of the cab. Thats how i have done it often - no problems and many kms travelled. You just need to get load bars mounted bug they are relatively cheap.
This allows you to load a 2nd spare wheel on top of the canopy. And you can load your jerry cans, wood or any thing else on top of thr canopy too.
Ill try find a pic of my setup so you get an idea of how it looks.

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WayneMan wrote:Yes u can put on top of the cab. Thats how i have done it often - no problems and many kms travelled. You just need to get load bars mounted bug they are relatively cheap.
This allows you to load a 2nd spare wheel on top of the canopy. And you can load your jerry cans, wood or any thing else on top of thr canopy too.
Ill try find a pic of my setup so you get an idea of how it looks.

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Thanks will appreciate it. Do I need load bars when fitting on an Outback roofrack (which is fitted with the rail system on the cab)?
Or os the load bars when not usong the roofrack as base?
Since we are family of four (and although kids are still small) I am even considering two rtt's or is this a bad idea? One front one back...

Also where do I look for the loadbars mentioned if thats a better option than partially dismantling my roofrack...

I bought mine from FrontRunner.

Look on http://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

I found the length and foot height online and asked LA Sport to order only the load bars, because I already had the roofrails and foot packs for my roof rack.

1 x LBSK001 - Roof Load Bar pair 1140mm

But I bought the 1395mm load bar for my 1.4m RTT.

Pieter, I had a RTT fitted on the Cab which then opened out over the bonnet. This allows you to move the vehicle in an emergency and ellies do not use the ladder as a scratchinh post. You then also only use half the ladder as the top part of the ladder can have mounting points on the bulbar...
This also makes it very sturdy (shorter ladder with less movement. If you eventually go the two RTT route then the back one opening out over the tailgate gives shelter from rain and you have shade when working from the back of the canopy...

Haboob wrote:Pieter, I had a RTT fitted on the Cab which then opened out over the bonnet. This allows you to move the vehicle in an emergency and ellies do not use the ladder as a scratchinh post. You then also only use half the ladder as the top part of the ladder can have mounting points on the bulbar...
This also makes it very sturdy (shorter ladder with less movement. If you eventually go the two RTT route then the back one opening out over the tailgate gives shelter from rain and you have shade when working from the back of the canopy...

Thanks! Some nice points to confuse me more. I like the idea if shade at the back fir the drawer system/ fridge.
Just need to see what I can do to access the tent from the bonnet...

If it opens over the back of the car, it convenient for some cara like land rovers or where the back doors open side ways. If u got a bakkie with a canopy its mot practical to have the tent hanging over the rear to create shade unlesa u r a midget it is way too low to work under. Hanging over the front works well if u can set it up like that on your vehicle. Bit dont stress about the rubbing post for ellies, 95% of the rtt hang over sode ways. Ill still send u some pics when im in the office tmrw

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WayneMan wrote:If it opens over the back of the car, it convenient for some cara like land rovers or where the back doors open side ways. If u got a bakkie with a canopy its mot practical to have the tent hanging over the rear to create shade unlesa u r a midget it is way too low to work under. Hanging over the front works well if u can set it up like that on your vehicle. Bit dont stress about the rubbing post for ellies, 95% of the rtt hang over sode ways. Ill still send u some pics when im in the office tmrw

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Thanks Wayne,

I saw this upon investigating this afternoon. Especially with the fridge on top of the drawer system its not gonna work for us...

Sorry i meamt to say its least practical to have the tent hanging over the back. My fridge is also on top of a drawer system and if i couldnt open the rear canopy door all the way i would not be able to access my fridge. So id definitely hand tje tent over tje cab sode ways. This also allows you to access both side canopy doors without any hinderance.

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A RTT on the cab of the vehicle distributes the weight more evenly between the axles than on the canopy. This is a very important factor to consider.

Opening it towards the front is a novel idea, but I have seen cases where the ladder caused some dents in the bonnet, when something slips while opening/closing the RTT. Mine opens to the left hand side (the living room side) of my vehicle and supplies some shade and shelter. Been touring like that for years and wont have it any other way. But that is my personal preference.

Also putting it on the cab frees up the roofspace on the canopy for stuff like spare wheels and jerries which is much easier to get to there than on the cab of the vehicle as you can use the tailgate and rear wheels as a step to get up there.

Try it in different configurations, it is easy to mount it differently every time, until you find the way that suits your needs best.

Pieter... in my experience is die beste plek vir 'n RTT bo op die voertuig... onder werk nie so lekker nie

CasKru wrote:Pieter... in my experience is die beste plek vir 'n RTT bo op die voertuig... onder werk nie so lekker nie

Dankie Cassie. Wat sou ons sonder jou hulp maak!! :-)

Thanks all. Think I will try it first on the cab. Its the easier roofrack for me as well. Just need to see if i can fit 4 sardines jn there or if a 2nd rtt is a must.

And now for he fun part. Trying to figure out how to get this thing onto the roofrack. How do you get the bolt in under the rtt?? I assume it goes throught the rack and bolted on. First fit the rtt to the rack and then tje rack to the roof???

Everyday is a new learning day... Skoolgeld en al !!

Put eerste the dakrak on the roof.. dan die RTT on top of daai.. otherwise you are definitely going to scratch the roof... To attach die bolts you must maar wikkel op en af the tent on the rack....

There is only one way to put a RTT on a vehicle and that is with many hands and baie versigtig...