Finally at home for a weekend, which I guess is a good thing. Time for some more details to accompany the spring weather flurry to get MT's mounted and such.
First, the other 19" 3U server rack drawer now has neoprene and foam in it. A nice discreet place if I want to lock up something that breaks down into two parts to fit the foam. That something often looks like the one on the left that takes glock mags.
Is that necessary? Almost certainly not-but it falls into the better to have and not ever need vice need and not have. Not to mention the kids tend to enjoy shooting enough that we spend time doing that given opportunity so being able to lock it up discreetly is nice. To the point about the kiddos, a recent favorite from their spring break.
Thus the truck is being used as intended.
The Maxtrax on the rack has been one of those things I've dwelled on for months. Really since we got the RTT. Autohome has the fit kit that allows you to mount things on top, and last summer I first mounted traditional bars on there-then realized I hated the inelegance of how high they were. So I made my own out of steel & l track. That worked great for putting the MT's on top.
Downside; gas rams in the Autohome couldn't quite lift two pairs of MTs + the 'bespoke' crossbars. I would guess total weight is ~35lbs given each MT's weight of 3.4kg. Autohome told me they don't recommend more than 30; meaning you can carry more but if you are planning on leaving it on the tent when you raise it keep it under that threshold. I thought that taking the MT's off every time we want to sleep defeated the purpose.
Thus I went on a multi-track approach. Options include:
-Don't take MT. I didn't like that for a variety of reasons.
-Store MT's inside. Feasible, and started me down the path of a second shelf to allow the MT's to sit centerline in the back of the truck. That said a lot of space is already spoken for in the truck as she gets tailored. Ultimately that killed this idea.
-New gas rams. The internet is magical...pulling one of the rams from the tent revealed its specifications, the key one being that the stock rams have 360n of force for lift (or about 81lbs of lbf). So I found some
alternate gas struts of identical proportion but now with 400n (100lbf) of force! Concurrent with this idea was the idea of mounting the MTs on the rack, using L track I'd mounted there to hold them in place. Creating an adequate bracket was a lot of trial, error, bending, failing, etc-but the prospect of getting it right meant a lower profile, the MT's easier to access for stucks (and easier to access to pull to help level the truck when using the RTT). It also facilitated the opportunity to offset where the ladder mounts. As is often the case, after the gas struts were ordered a breakthrough in the bending took place. Thus I went with option four.
-Rack mounting the MT's on the side.
So there's a lot to unpack, for that small population of folks with a hardshell RTT on top of their prospeed roof rack who want to get their maxtrax on the side...
Perhaps its best to just have a quick overview, and if someone else in the world is in that position they can message me for ideas.
The setup does rest on the truck just above the rear doors, I wrapped the mounting bracket in pipe insulation and also took a square of self-adhesive neoprene and put that directly on the truck to mitigate damage to the paint and rattling.
That shot does a good job laying out the overall mounting to the L-track (bolts into
double stud l track fittings which use 3/8 bolts with FINE thread for anyone still reading and intersted). The special sauce is the flat stock between the two that has two metal triangles that offset the MT mounts. That was the bending, cussing, cutting, and such. Once one was crafted it got a lot easier.
A lot of time building in the ability to change the cant to get it to sit well on the truck.
Final phase of that process underway now, which is making a second bracket for the passenger side where we'll offset the Autohome's ladder to give a second ingress/egress to the tent. With where the tent's entrance is on the side the ladder that it comes with blocks the rear passenger door. Annoying to say the least. Now with the MT's mounted on the sides you can add a small piece to move the ladder aft slightly, allowing access to the whole truck while retaining the ability for me to get in/out via the FR ladder on the rear hatch while the wife tends to prefer going out her side. Little things you pick up on after spending a few nights in the tent.
So that's that major minor project in some detail.
As noted earlier this week she passed 150k. Time to get the transmission fluid changed (filter kit from AB on hand) since the little faint wobble is there on hills under low throttle. Beyond that she's doing great. Since we're building in all the mods for the truck with RTT on it full time I think her weight will remain static, and thus the OME HD coils in the back may not be quite what I want...so I've got an order in with Dobinson's from AUS to get a pair of their coils which should ensure no sag and better performance laden/towing. I'll also be moving the sirius antenna up to the RTT to unmask it, and mount a solar panel at some point (thus the gas struts may still come in handy).
More than that, the truck has work to do this summer both in terms of camping, exploring, and the prospect of getting a new house has emerged. Since that's only under contract, more to follow after closing.
r-
Ray
