CallMeJoe
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- William
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2020
- Threads
- 8
- Messages
- 78
- Reaction score
- 133
- Location
- Boyceville, Wi.
- Vehicle(s)
- JTR
- Occupation
- Retired
- Thread starter
- #1
Thought I'd post a quick opinion piece about my roof top tent mount saga for those contemplating that direction... The tent we have is the Smittybilt gen II standard (not XL) mounted so it folds out over the back, not the side. Reason for the tent is to add a bedroom for our 13 year old monster crumb snatcher. Our small teardrop was getting too small for the three of us. FYI: We all absolutely LOVE this tent! Rock solid. Easy to use. Tons of room. IMHO, a super nice tent for the coin.
My current configuration: mount is super simple. 3 each lengths of 1"X1"x16 gauge square steel tubing around the front and sides of the bed. For mounting, I welded 2 tabs at the front and 1 tab on each side. The tent bolts to 2"X1"x 16 gauge crossbars. I recently added the mounts for rotopax cans.
Here's the guts: you can just see the front mount tabs that go to the pre-tapped bed holes. For the rear tabs, they are positioned to use the corresponding rear bed tapped holes. The 2" crossbars are perfect for mounting the tent. Note: I modified the tent mounting rails by turning them 90° relative to their predrilled location, then cut a few inches off to fit them. Easy. I really like that the tent opens back rather than off the side. It's still easy to access the bed for stuff and the tent takes up much less room at campsites. For power and lights, we just run the tent-supplied USB cable out the sliding window on the Jeep and into the tent.
Working backward, this is the original mount I made. It's 8" taller than the current configuration with removable crossbars. It was still low enough to afford easy tent setup and had lots more room underneath. I liked this one better, but for some reason, DW didn't. Sigh...
Without sticking the tent up above the cab height, it's about a thousand times easier to put the tent up and take it down. You can simply do everything with both feet flat on terra firma. No steeplejacking necessary and no extra ladders etc.
Here's everything set up:
We can use the tent easily without disconnecting the trailer. That's handy for a quick overnight on the trail or in the woods. (Yes...we use it all year-round)
Here's a photo of the rear mounting tabs. The rear tab on this side shares the bed bolts with my homemade rotopax mount.
Overall, I am super happy with the mount system. It attaches in a few minutes and make it so easy to put the tent up and stow it. Having the stowed tent lower than cab height also makes for better gas mileage. The tent mount cost less than $100 bucks to make if you have a welder...
One thing to mention: with the tent set up below cab height, it's not possible to use the front steel spring rods for the rain fly. To get around that, we simply use 2 bungee cords.
We hook the bungees to the rain fly, then attach them into the open rear doors to the jeep backseat grab handles. Super easy.
My current configuration: mount is super simple. 3 each lengths of 1"X1"x16 gauge square steel tubing around the front and sides of the bed. For mounting, I welded 2 tabs at the front and 1 tab on each side. The tent bolts to 2"X1"x 16 gauge crossbars. I recently added the mounts for rotopax cans.
Here's the guts: you can just see the front mount tabs that go to the pre-tapped bed holes. For the rear tabs, they are positioned to use the corresponding rear bed tapped holes. The 2" crossbars are perfect for mounting the tent. Note: I modified the tent mounting rails by turning them 90° relative to their predrilled location, then cut a few inches off to fit them. Easy. I really like that the tent opens back rather than off the side. It's still easy to access the bed for stuff and the tent takes up much less room at campsites. For power and lights, we just run the tent-supplied USB cable out the sliding window on the Jeep and into the tent.
Working backward, this is the original mount I made. It's 8" taller than the current configuration with removable crossbars. It was still low enough to afford easy tent setup and had lots more room underneath. I liked this one better, but for some reason, DW didn't. Sigh...
Without sticking the tent up above the cab height, it's about a thousand times easier to put the tent up and take it down. You can simply do everything with both feet flat on terra firma. No steeplejacking necessary and no extra ladders etc.
Here's everything set up:
We can use the tent easily without disconnecting the trailer. That's handy for a quick overnight on the trail or in the woods. (Yes...we use it all year-round)
Here's a photo of the rear mounting tabs. The rear tab on this side shares the bed bolts with my homemade rotopax mount.
Overall, I am super happy with the mount system. It attaches in a few minutes and make it so easy to put the tent up and stow it. Having the stowed tent lower than cab height also makes for better gas mileage. The tent mount cost less than $100 bucks to make if you have a welder...
One thing to mention: with the tent set up below cab height, it's not possible to use the front steel spring rods for the rain fly. To get around that, we simply use 2 bungee cords.
We hook the bungees to the rain fly, then attach them into the open rear doors to the jeep backseat grab handles. Super easy.
Sponsored
Last edited:
