Hey yall,
I recently picked up a Gen3 raptor 37pp and have been looking at outfitting it for some overlanding. Im torn between ordering a GFC or just going with leitner Forged ACS with an iKamper on top. Im struggling to decide and would love to hear from some more experienced folks in here. Im looking to do some weekend adventures here in CA. However, I still want to go fast and take advantage of the off-road capability as much as possible. Would appreciate anyone’s thoughts.
I love my Platform Camper on my Rubicon. However, if I had a Raptor I might be looking at doing a GFC Chase Frame and a Superlight? 50% of the functionality at what I’m guessing is almost half the weight.
I guess it depends on if you’re more concerned about camping comfort or absolute performance. That said, I’m not sure I have the confidence to push a Raptor to the edge of its capability.
The options you present have pretty different priorities in my mind.
Do you want an enclosed shell and plan to rarely remove the camper: GFC.
Do you want the ability to take the tent off and like having an open bed: rack+iKamper.
You could also run the GFC Topper and a Platform RTT. But honestly unless you’re planning on caging and upgrading the Raptor, the GFC camper will handle anything the Raptor can handle. And it’s hard to beat the pass through functionality of the camper compared to an RTT if you plan to camp out of the rig.
I’m obviously biased, but we’ve run Raptors and a long travel Tacoma (with bypasses and hydraulic bumps) down in Baja with the campers all day long. It’s what we designed these for after all 
Thanks for the insight Wiley! Would love to speak further on this!
As of right now Im not sure. Which is the tough part. I come from a background of racing but want all the comfort at the same time… I dont think I would be removing the rack and ikamper that much. Im torn. This will be my first build for camping.
As someone who had a Gen2 and 3 Raptor, get the GFC camper. There’s absolutely no reason not to. Tons of room, can still use the bed, and the trucks performance isn’t limited at all.
What do you have now? I just also love the Leitner Forged System with Gear pods. Both super rad potential builds
TRD Pro Tacoma.
I’d be happy to answer any questions you have. Fire away!
I’ll also say that even though the Leitner is a good product, it has a lot more side to side sway than the GFC because it has a lot less diagonal bracing. That’s why we designed the camper (and the Chase Frame) the way we did. It’s overkill for a lot of applications but if you want to haul the mail off road with a lot of crap, I think you need a lot of triangles. Especially if you want to keep the weight down.
I get my money’s worth out of my carli pintop on a ram 2500 as many weekends as I can. I was sold on the gfc after seeing a fellow nutjob jumping his 2500 and the gfc was none the worse for wear. Wouldn’t worry about losing offroad capability. Payload issues on a half ton probably be the achilles heel.
You’re not losing any offroad performance with a Raptor running a GFC. Like stated, I’ve had two. Check out @tacodust on YouTube and Instagram. He’ll prove what a Raptor can do and how the GFC handles it. Rest easy.
Great question and I asked my self the same thing. I have a Gen 3 Raptor and I opted to go with a GFC Platform Topper and a Ikamper Skycamp. The main reason for the Ikamper was the added space when camping. It’s me, wife, 2 boys and 2 dogs. I love the platform topper and the storage it provides for camping. I still off-road a bit and have had zero issue. I have also had no issues with road noise or drag.
I will say if it was just me and +1 I would have went with the platform camper. With that being said I have been a happy camper thus far 
I have the gen 2 raptor with the topper and love it. I drive a lot of very nasty fire roads and forest service roads at a decent speed and I’ve had zero issues with my GFC topper. So, +1 all the other raptor folks on here.
Do you guys experience wind noise and rattling? That is the reason some folks have told me to steer clear from GFC.
I never had any rattling. Wind noise was minimal. However, you will get wind noise with any tent setup. I just picked up my tent Saturday for my Tacoma, and my maxtrax make more noise than the camper.
Thanks for the info man. Enjoy the taco!
