hey guys.. so i recently got a 2016 tundra and in the near future i want to add a RTT to the bed area.. i searched for a bit for a suitable rack to mount it to and my searches led me to the Tracone Utility rack which i got locally at a Home Depot for $299... considerably less than most other racks, and as advertised, able to support 800lbs... so should be good to go.
mounted it up to the truck the other day and it sat way too high... in my research, i kind of expected this and actually found someone who cut theirs down. right out of the box it sat maybe 8 inches above my roofline... adding a RTT to that and well... it'd be way up there.
so here's where some of my questions come in. I drove it at stock height for a day and man, did that thing bounce around a bit. The roads on my daily commute aren't the smoothest and well, it's a pickup truck, so you get the standard flexion of the bed over bumps. the one nearest the cab stayed pretty stable, but the one nearest the tailgate was bouncing all over the place.
so i cut her down... took 11.5 inches out if it (the most the width of the crossbars would allow) and it's sitting at a MUCH better height. drove it today and it's much more stable, but still a bit of bounce from the rearward bar.
so onto the questions... for those that have a similar setup, when you mount a RTT to the bars, does the tent itself "tie" the bars together in such a way that they act as one and the bouncing subsides? with the way the bed flexes, the bars basically move independently and thus, putting something that connects them together has me a bit worried that that force will then transfer down to my bed rails, possibly damaging them. how will this setup do with a RTT up there on mild off-roading? anyone have any experience with a similar setup?
thanks in advance
mounted it up to the truck the other day and it sat way too high... in my research, i kind of expected this and actually found someone who cut theirs down. right out of the box it sat maybe 8 inches above my roofline... adding a RTT to that and well... it'd be way up there.
so here's where some of my questions come in. I drove it at stock height for a day and man, did that thing bounce around a bit. The roads on my daily commute aren't the smoothest and well, it's a pickup truck, so you get the standard flexion of the bed over bumps. the one nearest the cab stayed pretty stable, but the one nearest the tailgate was bouncing all over the place.
so i cut her down... took 11.5 inches out if it (the most the width of the crossbars would allow) and it's sitting at a MUCH better height. drove it today and it's much more stable, but still a bit of bounce from the rearward bar.
so onto the questions... for those that have a similar setup, when you mount a RTT to the bars, does the tent itself "tie" the bars together in such a way that they act as one and the bouncing subsides? with the way the bed flexes, the bars basically move independently and thus, putting something that connects them together has me a bit worried that that force will then transfer down to my bed rails, possibly damaging them. how will this setup do with a RTT up there on mild off-roading? anyone have any experience with a similar setup?
thanks in advance