Alu-cab cabin canopy on a daily driver?

[FinnYyatt]

too too heavy? Too much weight?

Sponsored

 

[Blade1668]

Just depends on how much you want to haul around daily. Or how far your trips are.

 

[Rokon]

You should clarify what your asking. Are you asking about an awning, or a topper or the slide in camper? Alucab has them all.

 

[FinnYyatt]

You should clarify what your asking. Are you asking about an awning, or a topper or the slide in camper? Alucab has them all.

this thing….I updated my post

 

[Rokon]

That’s the camper.
Can't give input on that exactly but pretty close to my setup. '20 Rubicon. I have the Alucab topper with their RTT and a OVS 270 canopy. Bed slideout that is loaded depending on what I'm doing. Daily 2/3 of the year. A lot of 3hr highway trips.
Aero more of an issue than weight on the highway. Added airbags inside rear springs mostly to stiffen roll some. Rubi suspension is soft. Around town driving it was a little wallowy but solid on the highway. Airbags were a positive effect and adjustable.

 

[Gee]

I’ve got the Alucab Canopy Camper on a 2022 Rubicon. Daily driver for me. Higher fuel consumption but I use the gear I have in the camper all the time - fridge particularly. Adding airbags and Hellwig sway bar to tighten up suspension a bit. Rokon very glad to hear that helped yours.

 

[813 Fabrication & Design]

Mine is a daily driver. It has most of the options added to it. Whether you plan to daily drive it or not, you will need to upgrade the suspension, stock is not stiff enough. I'm running Fox 2.5 shocks, Dobinson HD springs, Hellwig rear sway bar. At least shocks/springs/sway bar are a must in my opinion. I also have several Steer Smarts items as well as the Powerbrake front kit. I love the way mine drives. I don't feel my gas milage suffers much more than stock with just the Mopar 2" lift and 35s that I started with. I'm very impressed with the Alu-Cab

 

[FinnYyatt]

Mine is a daily driver. It has most of the options added to it. Whether you plan to daily drive it or not, you will need to upgrade the suspension, stock is not stiff enough. I'm running Fox 2.5 shocks, Dobinson HD springs, Hellwig rear sway bar. At least shocks/springs/sway bar are a must in my opinion. I also have several Steer Smarts items as well as the Powerbrake front kit. I love the way mine drives. I don't feel my gas milage suffers much more than stock with just the Mopar 2" lift and 35s that I started with. I'm very impressed with the Alu-Cab

I was going to put it on a mojave. They run fox shocks but I’m not sure which model.

 

[813 Fabrication & Design]

I was going to put it on a mojave. They run fox shocks but I’m not sure which model.

Not sure which ones come on the Mojave. Most everyone I know that has a Mojave and Alu-Cab has changed their shocks.

 

[FinnYyatt]

That’s the camper.
Can't give input on that exactly but pretty close to my setup. '20 Rubicon. I have the Alucab topper with their RTT and a OVS 270 canopy. Bed slideout that is loaded depending on what I'm doing. Daily 2/3 of the year. A lot of 3hr highway trips.
Aero more of an issue than weight on the highway. Added airbags inside rear springs mostly to stiffen roll some. Rubi suspension is soft. Around town driving it was a little wallowy but solid on the highway. Airbags were a positive effect and adjustable.

What is the RTT? I put the topper on as well….do you know if the 270 will go on without a tent. Only topper and 270 awning?

 

[Rokon]

The RTT is Alucab also. I had the OVS awning installed on the canopy before getting the RTT. You need roof cross rails for the canopy topper and the awning came with brackets to attach to rails.
After the RTT install the awning was moved to brackets coming off the RTT.

 

[smlobx]

What is the RTT? I put the topper on as well….do you know if the 270 will go on without a tent. Only topper and 270 awning?

Yes it will work just fine. My 270 awning attaches to the crossbars on top of my Alu-cab canopy. The zRTT attaches to the same crossbars but separately. Hopefully you can see a bit better here…

 

[fourfa]

Hm, major question not addressed here:

The OP was asking about Alu-Cab's Canopy Cabin: https://www.alu-cab.com/product/the-alu-cabin/
Note "Cabin" not "Camper"
This is a newer, longer product designed for ~six foot beds (note all the fitments listed are full sized trucks; not even Tacoma is listed, neither is Gladiator). Looks like they have two versions, 5.5 feet and 6.5 feet. Note there are two separate doors per side. Base weight listed is 500 lbs, and you can bet that real-world installed units are north of that ("Camper only – excludes mattresses and awning"), as in my experience with Alu-Cab their listed weight doesn't even include the truck-specific install kit.

Alu-Cab Canopy Camper: https://www.alu-cab.com/product/canopy-camper/
This is the one that some of us here in Gladiator-land are running (I'm one of them). Designed around ~five foot beds. Note: single side doors. Listed base weight is 462 lbs (mine measured 480 on the local recycling center scale, that I wouldn't trust to be better than +/- 25 lbs). But that's utterly empty - basically no one has seen a built-up ACCC install on a Gladiator that isn't 1000 lbs over GVWR. Can it be done under GVWR, technically just barely yeah - but people don't buy these things to live like backpackers counting ounces.

(Just for completeness, there is also a jumbo slide-in Alu-Cab Khaya that's over six feet long and is designed to hang over the rear bumper: https://www.alu-cab.com/products/alu-cab-khaya-campers/
At a bare minimum of 900 lbs, you'd be a fool to even look at these on a Gladiator. Plus these are designed to accomodate a lot more gear and equipment than the others, so real-world I bet these will be north of 2000 lbs. 250/350 class only)

 

[Jhall1981]

Mine is a daily driver. It has most of the options added to it. Whether you plan to daily drive it or not, you will need to upgrade the suspension, stock is not stiff enough. I'm running Fox 2.5 shocks, Dobinson HD springs, Hellwig rear sway bar. At least shocks/springs/sway bar are a must in my opinion. I also have several Steer Smarts items as well as the Powerbrake front kit. I love the way mine drives. I don't feel my gas milage suffers much more than stock with just the Mopar 2" lift and 35s that I started with. I'm very impressed with the Alu-Cab

Which Dobinsons springs did you go with on the front and rear? 2.5 or 3.5”, weight class?. Also considered the hellwig swaybar. Just installed my setup and can definitely tell it needs a little support!

 

[813 Fabrication & Design]

Which Dobinsons springs did you go with on the front and rear? 2.5 or 3.5”, weight class?. Also considered the hellwig swaybar. Just installed my setup and can definitely tell it needs a little support!

Yes, I recommend the Hellwig sway bar.

I have 35's (will never go to 37s)and did not want to go too tall. I almost swapped to the 3" AEV springs until I saw a Gladiator in person that has them installed. For the Dobinsons, I have 3" in front and 2" in rear and it sits awesome. No sag, even when fully loaded.

(C29-228V) - Front, 3" in black. I had teal and they were very visible.
(C29-245V) - Rear, 2" in teal. I was going to paint them but decided not to. 2" only comes in teal.

Sponsored