I use to own a Surco, but have since thrown it away and bought a Con-Ferr. My
personal opinion w/ the Surco rack:
Pros:
1. $250 bucks (Bought @ local 4x4 shop)
Cons:
1. It didn't sit very close to the roof of the truck. I could stick my arm underneath the rack and above the roof. A problem when lifting heavy objects on to it and trying to still fit into tight places. This rack sit's 4-5" higher than my Con-Ferr rack and it had the same 4" wall height as the Surco.
2. The floor system is very weak. I could bend it by applying pressure w/ my hands.
3. Too wide. It stuck 4" out from either side of the vehicle. It looked very out of place on the truck.
4. I wanted to add lights to mine, and the Surco was not very "light bracket" friendly.
I've since thrown that mangled piece of *#$% away and bought a Con-Ferr basket. My opinions of the Con-Ferr:
Pros:
1. Sits very tight to the roof of the truck. Only an inch of room between the floor of the rack and the roof of the truck.
2. Very strong. It's impossible to bend this rack by hand. You can pull on it and you end up shaking the whole truck by hand.
3. The floor system (which is optional, but I did opt for it) is awesome. The Surco only as 3 or so slats, but w/ the Con-Ferr floor system, it has close to 15 slats.
4. It fits in line w/ the body of the truck. It doesn't hand over the sides like the Surco did.
5. This rack has tons of accessories to add to it and that was another reason I bought it. I bought 4 light brackets for the front and 2 for the rear. They were not a complete snug fit, but w/ some rubber spacers I bought @ Lowe's to fit in between the brackets, it fits nice and tight and no rattle. Plus how the light brackets are made, the lights themselves have a low stance on the basket. Yet another feature to take away exta hight that's not needed.
Cons:
1. $615.00 including shipping. (They are located in CA. From there to AL was almost $150 just in shipping.) If you don't opt for the optional floor system, you'll save about 100 bucks.
2. Took 1 month to receive since they were backed up on orders.
3. Granted I've had mine for over a year, but my # 1 problem with them that almost made my cancel my order was, THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS!!! When I placed my order, the guy tried to sell my a rack that was already made, but wasn't the dimensions I wanted. It was 4" too wide and 2" too long. In the next month while I waited on mine, that same guy called me 3 different times trying to sell me this same rack! So finally when I got the one I ordered, I called him back to talk to his boss about trying to sell me something I didn't want, he tried to give me the run around and I finally just ended up leaving a message on his manager's phone.
After I received the rack and had used it a few times, I'm glad I didn't cancel my order. I love this rack and will probably buy another one if the time arrises. Granted it was a little over doulbe the price of the Surco, but as far as durability goes, it will probably out last my '95 T4R. The good thing is, if I ever do part w/ my '95, it will bolt right up to my '99 T4R. It utilizies the factory frame rails up top.
I know Garvin Industies also makes a basket, but it was about $100 more than the Con-Ferr.
Visit Con-Ferr at:
http://www.conferr.com/
My deminsions are: 39" wide by 53" long. I've got 4 square KC driving 100wt lights on the front and 2 square KC fog 55wt lights on the back. I plan on adding 2 more KC fog 55wt lights to the side. (I enjoy riding @ night and these lights really brighten up the area.)
AND BY THE WAY, THESE ARE MY OWN PERSONAL OPINIONS. YOURS WILL PROBABLY BE DIFFERENT.
