Saturday daydreams

bob91yj

bob91yj

Adventurist
Founding Member
We have a GMC Canyon in our future...

My mental build/purpose keeps shifting around on me. I "think" I want it somewhere between the comfort of my truck/camper and tenting it out of the Jeep. It will also be Machelle's daily driver/grandma car.

My biggest issue is the shelter. I like the idea of a RTT, but I hate the fact that I have to "break camp" to take the vehicle anywhere. In my head I want to build a bed rack that supports the RTT, but that I can drop some jack legs down and drive out from under like a camper. Bonus points is I can adjust the RTT height as needed with the jack legs, don't have to haul the "look at me" stuff to the store, could probably fit it in the garage. Anyone ever seen such a contraption?
 
I like what you're thinking.. I can imagine it, but I have never seen it. I have been thinking about an rtt as well, but it's the whole breaking camp to go anywhere thing that sucks...

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I would be cool if Bernard could incorporate the jacks/legs into his existing design. I think telescoping aluminum legs would be an easy option., its the "jack" portion that would be complicated/heavy. That's why Bernard is an engineer and I'm not, he can figure out how to make things work!
 
The only issue I see is this.. to take the rack off currently it's 6 to 8 clamps and a few bolts shouldn't take long to do as long as you haul battery powered drill or power tools with you..

On a sort of side note, curious if you're going with the diesel or gas version of the Canyon? I assume 4x4 is a given??

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Not all of us have a football field for a truck bed!:cool: On a 5.5 foot bed I'd think that 2-3 quick release clamps/latches per side would work.

I despise the DEF systems on the newer diesels...NEVER buy an 11-12 Dmax, their emissions won't stay healthy even on American fuel.

I've had several customers come home from Baja in limp mode or on a tow truck because their particulate filter can't regenerate fast enough on Baja diesel. From the research I have done, Baja Norte generally has ULTRA low sulphur fuel, DEF trucks run OK on it. The further south you go, the better the likelihood of getting LOW sulphur diesel. From what I understand, Baja Norte gets their fuel trucked in from the north, Baja Sur gets their fuel shipped in from the mainland. For some unknown reason, Mexican's can't buy diesel pick ups at all, so it isn't an issue for them.

My '06 Dmax runs like a scalded dog on Mexican fuel.

I have a customer that lives in Julian (5000'), commutes to Oceanside everyday (sea level), he gets 22-24 MPG without trying in an extended cab V-6 4x4, I can live with that...my Jeep gets 15MPG off a cliff and the Dmax gets 13MPG with the camper.
 
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I'm not sure but a dedockable (? Is that a word) RTT rack would seem to be much more off a pain to deal with than just dealing with the closing and opening of a tent. Removing hardware, activating actuators, mounting stabilizing legs, finding a level enough spot to disengage the armature and than reversing all that to mount it back up sounds like more work than it's worth.

On the other hand if you utilized a quick opening RTT, low mounted over the bed with a bed storage system you could deploy and than reverse it all with a lot less entanglement. The crazy thing about gearing up for this hobby is that there is no excellent way of doing things, every option had its pitfalls.
 
^^^^Agreed. Even if I had such a contraption I'd probably only use it a small percentage of the time. It's easier for me to borrow a truck than it is to get the camper out of the back of my Dmax.

I think a modular option for an existing rack system is the only way it would make even a little bit of sense from a production standpoint. A good ground tent solves the whole problem, it's kind of like a titanium spork but at an industrial level.
 
bob91yj said:
Not all of us have a football field for a truck bed!:cool: On a 5.5 foot bed I'd think that 2-3 quick release clamps/latches per side would work.

I despise the DEF systems on the newer diesels...NEVER buy an 11-12 Dmax, their emissions won't stay healthy even on American fuel.

I've had several customers come home from Baja in limp mode or on a tow truck because their particulate filter can't regenerate fast enough on Baja diesel. From the research I have done, Baja Norte generally has ULTRA low sulphur fuel, DEF trucks run OK on it. The further south you go, the better the likelihood of getting LOW sulphur diesel. From what I understand, Baja Norte gets their fuel trucked in from the north, Baja Sur gets their fuel shipped in from the mainland. For some unknown reason, Mexican's can't buy diesel pick ups at all, so it isn't an issue for them.

My '06 Dmax runs like a scalded dog on Mexican fuel.

I have a customer that lives in Julian (5000'), commutes to Oceanside everyday (sea level), he gets 22-24 MPG without trying in an extended cab V-6 4x4, I can live with that...my Jeep gets 15MPG off a cliff and the Dmax gets 13MPG with the camper.
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Hey I love my football field bed! I hear you on the newer Def trucks.. I'm keeping my old 04 until I drive the wheels off of it.

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It already exists.

Contact Bobby at CVT, he developed a drive out rack. I don't see it on his site, but he probably has info.
 
My buddy Ed got one of, if not the, first Canyon diesels. He loves it. Good fuel economy, 4x4, and is also his daily driver.
 
^^^^That's a bitchin' looking truck! Pretty much what I have in my head. Carrying 4 complete jack assemblies around would suck. In my head, I would use telescoping aluminum tube legs, jack each corner one at a time with a Hi-Lift to clear the truck bed. It would be a bit of a pain/time consuming, but if you are base camping for a few days and want to get around, it would be worth it IMO.
 
Yes it is. I saw it on Instagram (79series) and was instantly jealous of utility nature of it. I was thinking the same thing about the jacks as well. Footed tubes with some 1" spaced holes would work as well.
 
that's the same issue I have.. .as soon as my camp is made I'm not putting it away until I'm ready to leave.... It has been said before I do remember bobby at CVT has something you might consider....
 
KSL22 said:
http://www.outbackcustoms.com.au/thumbnaillarge/20160730_102353.jpg
The Australian's have this setup on their ute tray. Receiver tube on all 4 corners and camper jacks.
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That's a pretty slick utilitarian setup. With those slide-in campers, I'm surprised nothing is really out there that is like that for bed racks and RTT's, especially with all that custom work that's out there already. Use an existing rack system and you could add the arms onto it. Then for removal: back out a few bolts, swivel the arms down, lock-pin in place and jack up... Don't even bother collapsing the tent either. I'm really curious to see what CVT has prototyped up. Those legs and cross bars better by sturdy and/or gusseted though.
 
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