ARB Rooftop tent - roof rack options

[keencdk Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close keencdk]

Hi guys,
I have a 150 series GXL on the way and want to mount my ARB rooftop tent to the roof. Has anyone done this, and what roof rack/bars did you use? I don't want to carry anything else on the roof and am hoping to keep it as light as possible so was thinking a pair or rhino roof bars to attach to the factory rails.

[rob_macca67 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close rob_macca67]

I would be interested as well.....

I'm not sure which way to go as in whether to to remove the existing bars and buy Rhino Bars or use the existing bars and buy bars to fit them ??? I believe one has a better carrying capacity than the other....
rob

[charlie Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close charlie]

Hi

I Mounted the Howling Moon camper to the light duty (Aero?) bars that I fitted to the standard GXL roof rails on my 120 series. I'll shift the bars over to my 150 when they deliver it! I needed to shorten the bolts that are used to clamp the bars to the rail. Then I could put the camper mounting bolts all the way through the bar with a locknut and flat washer. It works fine, but because the bars need to mount so far forward on the roofrails, I decided to mount the camper opening to the side not the rear. I think the ladder would obstruct the rear door if it opened to the rear. We love our camper, it only weighs 35Kg so I think weight is not an issue. Weight ratings are for the car being driven so I think they can be exceeded when the car is parked. Have used it on 2 trips to exmouth and other shorter trips without issue. Boy it provides some drag at country speeds, the Prado feels it more than the camper trailer.

[davo Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close davo]

I've got an ARB tent and ARB Touring Rack. I regret the ARB touring rack, and would look at an alternative like a rhino or some other. When you have a roof top tent you are immediately excluded from a lot of parking and places within cities, which can be really annoying. To get the ARB Tent off the touring rack is a real pain. Some friends have a Rhino with their tent, and you can access the roof rack removal points much easier, and therefore just lift the entire rack (with tent) quite quickly. Secondly, the ARB touring rack has the raised rails at the front - these, for me at least, have proved a challenge for storage as you cannot fit an additional spare wheel in there and I've had to get creative with getting everything i need up there (see pic). I've ended up using Rhino fittings to create an additional level on which to put the 2nd spare.
Cheers, Davo

[tassie tiger Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close tassie tiger]

If its only to mount the tent and nothing else then why not try a metal fabrication shop. They may be able to make a a very simple base for it. It would only need to be two crossrails that mount into the factory mounting holes.
They should be able to get it as low profile as possible - probably much lower than anything off the shelf.

Would save some $$ on a rack and $$ on fuel consumption.

[Walter Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Walter]

Due to height issues (garage height) I used steel unistrut. These mount to the rails with the normal rhino clamps, and the rooftop tent attaches to the unistrut. I have mine rear opening and yes the door does impinge on the ladder but you just lift the ladder out of the way (you don't open and shut the back door that often... I mounted mine back on the rails as far as possible. Finished it by mounting the awning onto the passenger side. To remove simply undo the Rhino clamps from the roof bars and lift the whole lot off.

[rastabacko Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rastabacko]

Hey all,

I am also keen to see replies to whether retaining the factory rails are worth it, or is it better to remove- I have my mind already set on the Rhino Alloy tray, but don't know what is the best options for it-

Thoughts for anyone who has done this?


Cheers

Brett

[nickchap Member Find all posts View Profile Close nickchap]

Guys

I have my RTT on a Rhino pioneer platform.

Being alloy it is lighter that steel,cheaper, lower and makes it easier to mount the RTT

I have mine coming of the rear of my 120 but it should be about the same for a 150.

Photos-

Roof top tent on Rhino pioneer platform

Nick

[keencdk Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close keencdk]

OK I bit the bullet and picked up a pair of Rhino rails for the 150. I had a look at the ARB dealership and the mounting kit for the Simpson III rooftop tent is just a couple of bolts in the track with a thin crappy piece of flat steel maybe 15mm wide that goes under the rhino bar. The one they had on display had been over tightened and the piece of flat steel was all bent.

Anyways, they don't do the tent mounting kit for the sports bars, only the tradie bars and my RTT is an older Simpson with different mounting tracks on the bottom designed for 8mm bolts to slide in the channel, so I headed to go to my scrap steel bin and got out a big hammer and cleaned off the bench vice and got cracking.

I bent up a couple of brackets to roughly the contour of the bar out of thicker steel than the ARB mounting kit and bolted them to the mounting tracks with 4 pairs of stainless 8mm bolts with nylock nuts. I made the brackets a little bigger than the bars and cut up some flat rubber matting to make a good tight fit and reduce the chances of having a small contact area and denting the rhino bars. Also helps reduce vibrations going through the bars etc. I fitted the rack to the bars on the ground and all went on nicely

A couple of hours building some brackets in my carport had a pulley system rigged up so I can comfortably raise and lower the RTT at will, with the only help needed to get the tent on the car being someone to reverse the Prado into position.

I dropped the tent onto the car and bolted the racks into place and it sat there very nicely, I could shake the entire car by pushing hard on the tent so it feels very secure. I took her for 30-40km of driving on the rest of the weekend and everything was still tight and secure when I took the tent/rack set up back off the car yesterday arvo. The only thing I was unhappy with is that I meant to have the tent open over the passenger side but forgot that I would need to reverse the Prado into the carport as I have a project FJ40 Landcruiser in the carport that won't let the Prado all the way in.

Going to Stanthorpe this weekend and will be staying in the RTT so that will be a good test run before central Australia for 3 weeks in August/September

[charlie Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close charlie]

Sounds like a slick solution keencdk. I tried to move the roofbars from my 120 to my new 150......... I should know better. The 150 roofrail is a slightly larger profile so they dont fit. (I'm sure that the Toyota marketing department has a checklist to make sure nothing changes over easily). Now i am determined to make something custom. Sometimes these moods can last for days on end. We like our RTC and Im sure you will too. The handiest accessory I have for it is a 60cm piece of broom handle with a hook like a cuphook in the end. It makes closing the cover zippers over the roof easier while only standing on the sidesteps.