Question of clearance between Fleet & Tacoma Access Cab rooftop

[Bosque Bill]

How much space between underside of Fleet overhang and Tacoma Access Cab roof?

I want to get a carrier fabricated to hold a couple 2 gallon Rotopax gas packs for emergency fuel, plus room for a few other items. I like the basic mounting concept in Jeff Wanamog's post, but have a couple ideas of my own to customize it for my use - such as hanging it completely from above and not to the side wall, and a locking door/end-cap. See photo below of his setup.

My camper is currently off the truck in my garage, the perfect time to build and mount the carrier under the overhang. But this means I have no way to measure the clearance between the crown of the Access Cab roof and the underside of the Fleet overhang. Jeff said there was about 3/4" between his carrier & the middle of the cab roof, but I don't know what model Tacoma he had - looks like it may be a crew cab.

If anyone has a Fleet mounted on their late model Tacoma Access Cab, I would appreciate knowing the distance between camper and the peak of the cab about 15 or 16" in front of the forward camper wall.

Thanks!

 

[Captm]

While my Taco is a '05 Dbl cab the arch of the roof would be the same as the Access cab. 3.5" is what I have at the "crown" to the underside of the overhead, hope this helps.

 

[RC Pilot Jim]

I just measured - 3-1/2 inches from rounded roof rear of Tacoma above the cab brake light approximately 8-1/2 inches forward of the camper where the front wall of the camper meets the bottom of the bed.

Be advised there is decorative "bulge" in my 2013 roof about 10" forward of the forward wall of the camper. So the distance between the bottom of the camper bed and roof decreases about a quarter to half an inch.

 

[Hittheroad]

There is some play in the system - the distance varies. I would make your carrier out of something that can give a bit and will not scratch the roof.

 

[Argonaut20]

You can always put a little more height on the camper by putting plywood or platform under the camper.

 

[Bosque Bill]

Thanks for everyone who took time to reply.

You can always put a little more height on the camper by putting plywood or platform under the camper.

That sounds like a good way to get a tad more space.

While my Taco is a '05 Dbl cab the arch of the roof would be the same as the Access cab. 3.5" is what I have at the "crown" to the underside of the overhead, hope this helps.

Hmm, 3.5" sounds kind of tight as the Rotopax are 3", then adding the carrier material plus a quarter inch leeway to allow the pack to slide in and out.

I just measured - 3-1/2 inches from rounded roof rear of Tacoma above the cab brake light approximately 8-1/2 inches forward of the camper where the front wall of the camper meets the bottom of the bed.

Be advised there is decorative "bulge" in my 2013 roof about 10" forward of the forward wall of the camper. So the distance between the bottom of the camper bed and roof decreases about a quarter to half an inch.

And another measurement of 3.5" this time with an Eagle and your truck sounds like the same model as mine, though I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "decorative bulge"? The roof of my cab has four "ribs" (for the lack of a better term) running longitudinally, I assume for stiffening. Is that what you mean?


I spent some time in the garage this morning with a carpenter's level, a yard stick and a tape measure...

I measured 42.5" from bottom of camper to underside of camper overhang.

I balanced the level at what looked like the high point of the truck cab (on top of one of those "ribs") and taped the yard stick to align to its bottom edge & pointed at the truck bed, and verified it was level - my thinking this gives me the height of the roof.

I measured from the top of the FWC mounting bracket, on which the camper sits, to the bottom of the yard stick and came up with 38".

Now, unless I've made an error in my measurements or my thinking is wrong, then that would give me 6.5" of space between the cab roof and bottom of the camper overhang. This does not match the measurements of Jim or Captm.

According to the specs, there shouldn't be a difference in height between the Access Cab and Captm's Dbl Cab.

Jim's "bolted-on" mounting would cause his camper to sit about an inch lower than mine on top of those FWC brackets, but that still leaves a couple inches of discrepancy, sigh.

I'll do my measurements again tomorrow. Anyone see any fallacy in my measurement methodology?

[UPDATE: I found a high-res photo of my truck and camper taken from directly in front and level. By measuring a feature on the nose of the camper and counting pixels in the photo via Photoshop, I calculated the space between the two as 4" - much closer to Jim and Captm's measurements. I still plan to remeasure the truck and camper.]

 

[Platano]

All these approaches sound logical, but I suspect if it were me, I'd put the camper in the truck and then measure it. Wouldn't have to anchor it, just measure and take it off again. Could probably do that in the time it takes to read and write this thread. Just a thought.

 

[BFH4N]

Hey B.Bill,

I was out working on my truck (2007 Tacoma access cab) this afternoon and realized that I have the perfect tools for taking one of your measurements with good accuracy: a couple of drywall squares. I don't have a camper on my truck so it was easy to measure the height of the cab. I put the head of one square on the truck bed so it was sticking up perpendicular. Then I put the head of the other square next to the blade of the first one, with it's blade on the highest point of the cab (one of the ribs closest to the center). When they were both in position, I clamped them together with a couple of spring clamps and then measured. From the top of one of the ribs in the bed to the highest point on the cab was 38 3/8". Factoring in the FWC bracket, this seems to confirm your measurement. I hope this gives you a little more confidence...

- Bernard

 

[Bosque Bill]

All these approaches sound logical, but I suspect if it were me, I'd put the camper in the truck and then measure it. Wouldn't have to anchor it, just measure and take it off again. Could probably do that in the time it takes to read and write this thread. Just a thought.

Yes, that would be definitive, however for reasons I won't go into, not practical for me at this time.

From the top of one of the ribs in the bed to the highest point on the cab was 38 3/8". Factoring in the FWC bracket, this seems to confirm your measurement. I hope this gives you a little more confidence...

Thanks for taking the time to do that, Bernard. Glad to hear I was close to your measurement. At the same time you were doing that...

I took a scrap sheet of compressed particle board and marked, it in several places, with the distance from under the camper to the underside of the overhang. I then used screw clamps to attach a straight 2x2 with its edge aligned with those marks, essentially creating a scale model of the overhang.

I stood that in the truck bed and measured from the bottom of the 2x2 to various places along the cab top. The tightest clearance was 3-7/8" along the "rib". The better news for my scheme is that the carrier will only extend about 16" out from the front wall of the camper and at that point the clearance is 4.25"

The Rotopax is 3" thick, so allowing for leeway and material, I'm thinking about 3.5" thick - this would leave about 3/4" of space, exactly what Jeff posted he had. I think I'll be ready to put a half inch plywood sheet in the bed if I need a little extra room.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to reply to my question.

Bill