RTT Annex! need some help

[Mitch65]

First of forgive me if this is in the wrong section.

I just purchased my first RTT for my Tacoma and I’m super excited. I got the TuffStuff Ranger w annex! We absolutely needed the annex because we have a dog that’s too large to go up in the tent.

my question is in regard to the height of the RTT for the annex. I’m looking at a mid height bed rack that would put the floor of the tent about 64-65” off the ground. Is this enough for us to use the annex? If I went with a full height rack the tent floor would be 70-71” off the ground which is better but I much prefer the half height rack.

to those who own this tent or similar what should I do?

 

[Ichibahn]

Me and my buddy just talk about it yesterday and his 2020 Taco going to have the same RTT w/annex......lol

 

[Ichibahn]

Your annex wall will be sagging with that height. I have the same RTT w/annex but my WJ rack is 74" off the ground which is just enough height for annex wall to get tight.
I told my buddy to save that annex room and get cheap 3 person pop up tent for his dog. That way he can move around the dog tent where ever he want and have a room under the RTT for cooking or hang out.

 

[Dave K]

Yours is with or without the floor? Either way I would have it modified to match the desired height of the rtt.

 

[Mitch65]

I decided to go with a half height bed rack so I’ll be about 9-10” to low for the annex. There were to many cons to get a full height rack for me.

I’m going to see if I can modify the annex to work. I have a fabric shop in town that may even be able to shorten it for me so it’s not flapping around and looking like sh*t

 

[Ichibahn]

My buddy told me the same plan he has in mind. He is going to try to shorten the height of the annex as soon as his RTT arrived.
I told him the annex room is not just a simple square box cut, it will be hard for the alteration shop to shorten the annex.
Let see what he can come up with the solution as his parent owned dry clean shop and able to do some alteration.
Four years ago with my stock jeep, I have to stack a rock under the tires to get a right height for the annex. For a couple month I got tired with it and lifted my jeep with bigger tires then solved the problem...lol

 

[Mitch65]

My buddy told me the same plan he has in mind. He is going to try to shorten the height of the annex as soon as his RTT arrived.
I told him the annex room is not just a simple square box cut, it will be hard for the alteration shop to shorten the annex.
Let see what he can come up with the solution as his parent owned dry clean shop and able to do some alteration.
Four years ago with my stock jeep, I have to stack a rock under the tires to get a right height for the annex. For a couple month I got tired with it and lifted my jeep with bigger tires then solved the problem...lol

I won’t know for sure until I try! I’m going to try to clamp it at the top first and see if I can come up with a temporary solution but I’m not doing anything until I get the tent mounted and see how far off it is. If it’s not too bad I may just live with it.

 

[Ichibahn]

My buddy has 2020 Tacoma TRD Off Road with RCI mid bedrack, according to him is about 60" from the top of bedrack to the ground.
He is also waiting his TuffStuff Ranger RTT to arrived.

 

[Mitch65]

My buddy has 2020 Tacoma TRD Off Road with RCI mid bedrack, according to him is about 60" from the top of bedrack to the ground.
He is also waiting his TuffStuff Ranger RTT to arrived.

Same set up as me! I have about 3” of lift plus if I use the rails on the bottom of the tent that will add another 2” or so. Thats how I was figuring about 64-65” for mine.

my tent will be here Friday and the rack sometime next week so I’ll report back. If you buddy does any mods to his let me know for sure!

 

[OTH Overland]

Your annex wall will be sagging with that height. I have the same RTT w/annex but my WJ rack is 74" off the ground which is just enough height for annex wall to get tight.
I told my buddy to save that annex room and get cheap 3 person pop up tent for his dog. That way he can move around the dog tent where ever he want and have a room under the RTT for cooking or hang out.

Freddy, looking at adding a RTT and annex to my WJ, did you mount yours to the stock rails and crossbars? or did you have to make any changes to support the weight? Thanks

 

[Ichibahn]

Freddy, looking at adding a RTT and annex to my WJ, did you mount yours to the stock rails and crossbars? or did you have to make any changes to support the weight? Thanks

I removed a stock rail and the crossbar. I build my own a low profile roof rack from electrical strut. Then bolt it on the roof with an additional metal plate support inside the head liner.
The factory roof rack mounting point just a metal rivet insert on a thin metal roof.
I don't want to kill someone with my stuff flying off the roof if I got an accident.

 

[Ichibahn]

Same set up as me! I have about 3” of lift plus if I use the rails on the bottom of the tent that will add another 2” or so. Thats how I was figuring about 64-65” for mine.

my tent will be here Friday and the rack sometime next week so I’ll report back. If you buddy does any mods to his let me know for sure!

Yeah, he want to lift his truck then I told him to load it up everything he want to bring on the overland adventure then decided how many inches lift and the spring rate the truck need.

 

[OTH Overland]

I removed a stock rail and the crossbar. I build my own a low profile roof rack from electrical strut. Then bolt it on the roof with an additional metal plate support inside the head liner.
The factory roof rack mounting point just a metal rivet insert on a thin metal roof.
I don't want to kill someone with my stuff flying off the roof if I got an accident.

Freddy, Thank you for the input. I will look into doing something similar, defiantly do not want to trust something attached only to sheet metal.