The back door flips up well past 90 degrees and you should be able to fit big items by leaving it open. I carry mountain bikes hanging front wheel out on the tailgate sometimes and just leave the hatch open. I don’t think there is a quick remove method for the back door.
Thanks! I do this on my alucab for short, local trips, but was worried about damaging the rear hatch on multi-hour highway trips (with it left in the up position).
Looks great. I'm going to order the contour canopy next week. Just wondering about how you mounted your ikamper, could you have mounted it with the lower profile version of cross bars or are those ikamper clamps too bulky for a low profile install?I've had this setup for about a month and it is totally worth it. After reading this thread, yes, there are better looking toppers but in terms of functionality I've been overall happy. Just recently mounted my Ikamper skycamp to try out on the road and I'm really happy with the fitment and ease of taking on off the rack (so much easier than the Rhino Rack Pioneer platform on my old JK). The side doors are really convenient and the overall build is solid. I've sprayed it down a few times and I haven't seen any water intrusion.
I few notes, the keys are annoying. Its 2 per side, and its easy to not get the key in the hole the first time. If they sold an electric lock system that can be controlled from the key fob, I'd consider buying it (first world problems, I know....).
True, the canopy does not follow the jeep lines very well and I think it could look better, but whatever, functionality is key and this topper is pretty damn funcional.
Alu-Cab did provide flying leads for the rear break and led lights on each side, but no good wiring diagram on where to install. I ended up tying in the LED's into the trailer AUX power line which was a pain, and gave up on the break line to save for another day. But that would have been nice if they provided a suggested tie-in.
As a first time truck owner, I drove the gladiator around for about a week without a topper and you absolutely need something for the bed, just for the weather. Overall, I'm really happy with the choice and I'd buy it again.
Might be a little more? More like 150-160ish. I can center it on my back and move it around my truck bed if that makes sense. If you're building a hoist (great idea BTW) I would try and loop it around the rafters than using i-bolts. Just my 2 cents. I've also stood mine up once or twice which also worked.
I am looking at a similar setup to your contour canopy, RTT, and awning. How bad is the effect of the high center of gravity. We would be doing a lot of hiway driving to get from Texas to the west where most of our exploring is done.I bought the load bars from alu-cab with the 1.5 in "spacer". I can't remember if it was the low profile or not, but between the spacer and load bars, the standard iKamper brackets were just fine. It was a little tight but iKamper has a pretty good mounting system. If you can, go as lot profile as you can.
I bought the load bars straight from alu-cab which includes 4 mounts and 2 bars. I found that with the iKamper Skycamp 2.0 you really need a 3rd middle bar, but alu-cab only sells them in pairs and I didn't want to hand over another $200 or whatever. @smlobx I ended up making my own out of 8020 and I had a friend machine me the mounting spacers. Alu-cab is awesome because all attachments are M8 compatible. Bottom line, you can easily make your own load bars if you so choose, it would be very easy if you're somewhat creative and mechanically savvy.
@IzzyO did you buy your contour camper yet? Are you near Colorado? I'm going to end up selling my Canopy camper here soon. I got a new Oru pop-up camper and am running out of storage space, which pains me. If you're interested and in the area, I'll definitely give you a good price if you're ok with a used topper. It's still in great shape and was well loved.
There's some top-heaviness, but I don't think it's too bad. I did a big road trip last year with that setup and averaged 18 mpg, which I think is pretty good. I've done quite a bit of high passes here in Colorado and I've never had a major problem with the jeep being top heavy. Just have to be a little more careful and not drive like a crazy person.
Thank you
