Find the right rooftop tent
Eight steps from today’s roof to a plan you can keep. Leave anytime: your place saves with the plan.
The steps
- 1
Truck and roof
What’s on the roof today?
The roof rating covers the rack and everything on it, so the plan starts from what’s up there now.
- 2
Roof rating
What can the roof carry?
The roof has a driving (dynamic) limit from the truck maker, or from a rack maker when the owner’s manual prints none. A rack has its own driving and parked (static) ratings. Roof rack names whose figure each one is.
Answered byRoof rack and tent
- 3
Pick the rack
Which rack?
The rack’s weight counts against the roof limit, and its ratings set what it can carry driving and parked. Pick one on Roof rack, or keep the one you have.
Answered byRoof rack and tent
- 4
Pick the tent
Which tent?
The tent is most of the load. Roof rack lists tents with their makers’ weights and closed heights, and counts the people sleeping in it on the parked check.
Answered byRoof rack and tent
- 5
Accessories
What else goes up there?
Awnings, boxes and gear count against the same limits. Add them on Roof rack with their weights.
Answered byRoof rack and tent
- 6
Check the total
Is the total inside the ratings?
Everything on the roof against the driving limits, and the tent plus the people in it against the rack’s parked rating. The check closest to its limit sets the verdict.
Answered byRoof rack and tent
- 7
Effects on the truck
What does it do to the truck?
Roof rack works out the center of gravity and rollover margin, and the fuel it costs at highway speed. It draws the height to scale but doesn’t give it as a number, so measure the height before a garage or a parking structure. The build sheet weighs it all against GVWR.
Answered byRoof rack and tentFuel and rangeBuild sheet
- 8
Review
Review and keep
The load against every rating, what it does to the truck, and the open checks.
Each step opens a calculator with your truck filled in. Roof rack and tent has the roof’s rating, the racks, tents, awnings and boxes with their makers’ weights and ratings, the checks against them, and the center of gravity and fuel at 65. Fuel and range gives range per tank, and the build sheet weighs it all against GVWR. With JavaScript on, this page keeps your place and your answers in My garage.
Rooftop tents, answered
Which rating does the tent have to fit?
Three. Driving, the tent and gear count against the rack’s dynamic rating, and the rack plus its load against the roof’s limit. Parked, the tent and the people in it count against the rack’s static rating. Roof rack runs all three, and the one closest to its limit sets the verdict.
Why pick the rack before the tent?
The rack’s own weight counts against the roof’s limit, and its ratings cap what it can carry. A lighter rack leaves more of the roof’s rating for the tent.
How tall is the truck with the tent?
Roof rack draws the truck with the tent closed to scale, but it doesn’t give the height as a number. The path leaves it as an open check: measure it before a garage, a drive-through or a parking structure.
Use at your own risk. These calculators are here to help you plan and to inform your decisions, not to sign off on a build. Many numbers are estimates worked out from factory figures, and some factory figures are not yet confirmed. Check every number against your own truck, its manuals and a qualified shop before you buy parts, cut, weld, lift, regear or drive on it. Long Range Desert Tools is not liable for anything you do based on these calculators or their results. The full terms are in our policies.