Roof Top Tent Mounting Options

EB12

EB12

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St. Louis, MO, USA
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Elvir
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Begic
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I have a Rhino Rack Pioneer Platform on my Jeep and I am receiving by Smittybilt RTT tomorrow in the mail. Does anyone else have the pioneer platform for their RTT? If so how did you mount it? Ive seen a few options and the best one so far is to use the channel grooves on the pioneer platform because using a bracket to go around the platform is not an option due to the platform being so close to the roof of the Jeep. I would not be able to get a tool under there to tighten it. But i dont know how strong those channels are and I would be worried going off road and risk snapping a bolt.
 
my buddy with a hardtop unlimited rubicon went this route and mounted his tent directly on the pioneer platform. you remove the aluminum crossbars from the bottom of the tent and redrill to install these lag bolts. Hope it helps. he went all over the place in oregon.

Lag Bolt Tent Mounting Hardware | MAXIMUS-3
 
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@EB12 , I just went through this. I installed the Pioneer Platform on my Jeep and one of the FSR Hardshell Power top tents.

My issue was that the Pioneer slats run the length of the top(front to back, vs. side to side) and the mounting rails on the FSR also run front to back, but they do not line up in a way to where you could actually mount them to the rack. I had to get fairly creative, but I don't believe you'll have that issue.

I'm fairly certain that you can install the mounting rails on the bottom of the Smittybilt in either a front to back, or a side to side fashion, because I don't think they're pre-installed(my Tepui's were not-have a Tepui on my trailer). If you can, mount your rails front to back, and measure them to where they are wide enough to fall over the rails that run side to side on the Pioneer Platform. You'll then be able to run your included brackets and mounting hardware over top of the Pionner rails and secure from the bottom like normal. Yes, it's tight between the Platform and the roof, but it can be done.

It's kind of hard to explain exactly what I'm referring to, and if you haven't installed this yet and have some questions, feel free to message me and I'll send you my cell number. More than happy to show you what I did on mine and offer some tips on yours, if you need it.
 
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I recently just purchased the 23Zero walkabout 72 and I have the 72" platform. I ended up just measuring out the existing rails that were mounted to the bottom and driling into the front and rear rails/ through bolting it to the rack.
 
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Scubanickel said:
I recently just purchased the 23Zero walkabout 72 and I have the 72" platform. I ended up just measuring out the existing rails that were mounted to the bottom and driling into the front and rear rails/ through bolting it to the rack.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's probably the most secure way of doing it! Enjoy the 23zero tent! Looked at those at Overland Expo...nice stuff!
 
depends on your rig but for a Wrangler Unlimited i'd go with a full length roof rack that bolts to the rain gutters rather than a crossbar setup. the crossbars flex more under the weight of an RTT and you'll hear it on the highway. i run my RTT on a platform rack and it's solid at highway speeds and on trail. make sure whatever you mount it to has a dynamic load rating of at least 300 lbs not just static since you're sleeping in it. some cheaper racks list high static ratings but way lower dynamic. also consider how it affects your center of gravity especially on a Jeep - an RTT up top with a loaded rack makes tip-overs way more likely on off-camber stuff.
 
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