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Roof Top Tent


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Hi everyone,

 

Just bought a 2004 SE with the factory rack. Planning a 4-6 month road trip with my brother, sleeping in a roof top tent we are getting from Free Spirit Recreation.

 

The tent we are getting weighs 150lbs. According to my owners manual, the factory bars have a 100lb limit. I'm trying to decide whether I should just add cross bars from Thule or Rhino (which each have approx. 165lb weight limits) to the factory bars, or if I need to pull the whole factory rack off and replace with a new rack that has closer to a 220lb limit.

 

Does anyone have experience with using a roof top tent on the factory bars? I know I need to add cross bars at a minimum in order to support the width of the tent which is wider than the factory rack, but just not sure the factory bars will hold up.

 

Any insight would be incredibly helpful.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Max

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I haven't used a roof top tent but I did put a piece of plywood on my roof rack and slept on that before (don't ask) it was fine for me though (I weight 145lbs)

 

Sent from my HTC6535LVW using Tapatalk

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The tent we are getting weighs 150lbs. According to my owners manual, the factory bars have a 100lb limit. I'm trying to decide whether I should just add cross bars from Thule or Rhino (which each have approx. 165lb weight limits) to the factory bars, or if I need to pull the whole factory rack off and replace with a new rack that has closer to a 220lb limit.

 

 

The aftermarket load bars won't actually increase weight capacity. Might have to fab up a custom roof rack with more anchor points for it to be sturdy. The factory rails might hold up for a little while, but over time, they will bend.

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Part of the weight of the tent is supported by legs that go to the ground right?

yes when the tent is open. I'm less worried about the static weight of the tent and more concerned about the rack holding up when the car is in motion.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Could you not add another stock cross bar (or 2) to distribute the load more evenly? That should give you 8 points of contact rather than the stock 4. Should be cheap enough from a local wrecker...

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  • 3 months later...

I have a Tepui Ayer on mine I went with a Thule rack with square bars, I would never had tried it with the factory bars just not sturdy enough. I think the Thule does a good job for support and versatility what I do not like is that it sits a little high about 4.25in over roofline the aerodynamics is horrible with a juice box on top.

 

I am looking at either ponying up and buying a Rhino-rack or go crazy with a Gobi but most likely I will have a local fab shop build me one that bolts to the factory tracks and is more low profile and exactly to my specifications, the advantages of going with a platform rack from those manufactured racks is that they are usually made of aluminum and weigh significantly less then a steel one I can have fabbed up.

 

I would not advise using the factory rack, the Thule/Yakima route is very versatile with being able to use other accessories when you have the RTT not mounted and I think the best option but more expensive is buying a platform rack or having one custom made.

 

I hope that helps

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