Southern Style Offroad Full Length Roof Rack

[Louisiana Overland]

Guys thinking about pulling the trigger on this rack, ive been going throu3this thread and have seen some negative views... the ones that have gone through have you been reimbursed or at least resolved your problems?

I chose to do business with SSO for 3 reasons.
1- Great looking product
2- Forum vendor
3- Local Business(to me)

I was one of the first to install this rack after preordering before it was released. I picked up at their shop since they are local and that gave me a chance to meet Kevin and some of his staff. I can verify that these folks, all of them, are as passionate about our vehicles as we are and that they will make every reasonable effort to ensure that their customers are happy with their product and experience. I called Kevin a couple months ago to ask if he knew anyone in town that did body mount chops. He said he could do it for me and thats what we did. Again, as with the rack, I was completely satisfied with the product and customer service. Good people. Good products. Good to go.

The few issues I have seen...
- one guy unable to install a roof top tent due to low profile of rack. I actually arrived at CVT Tents a week after that happened to pick up and install my own CVT tent. I picked up an extra hardware pack from SSO before I made the trip to be sure I had hardware that would fit the rack. Kevin asked for photos and my take on the install as he was very concerned. No one else had reported difficulties in installing a tent. So I made it to CVT and learned from the guy there that the failed install had happened right there. CVT gave me room in their shop to mount my tent and skip an install fee. I admit the low profile made it a ***** to do but no where near impossible. I would not be interested in a higher profile rack.

The remainder of issues seems to be shipping SNAFUs. This can happen with any product that requires shipping. It is very unfortunate. Most vendors, once notified of a problem, will make this right. SSO is no different.

Thats my take on SSO. I plan to buy other products from them as I am ready. My advice, if you encounter an issue, is to pick up the phone and call them and let them know whats happened. They are, or seem to me, to be reasonable people who are just as passionate about your truck as you are. And they want to KEEP you as a customer.

 

[andrew4r]

Can anyone confirm any specific ladders that clear with this rack (without removing the final crossbar)?

 

[T1DEEP]

Anybody have pictures of the extended height side rails?

 

[Agent_Outside]

Can anyone confirm any specific ladders that clear with this rack (without removing the final crossbar)?

Southern Style Offroad roof rack with C4 ladder. They are a perfect paring in my opinion. Black with silver, angular, exposed bolt heads, the clearance between them is perfect, easy to install all of it solo.

Littleman approved!

That being said, I think the C4 ladder is overpriced for what you get.

 

[andrew4r]

Of course the most expensive ladder works, lol.

I actually ordered my SSO rack with black bolts, so I'm not feeling the silver bolts of the C4 ladder. It's otherwise a great looking ladder and my hand may end up getting forced.

Thanks for the pics!

Edit: Actually, I don't know why I thought the hardware color was an issue. I can easily plastidip or just paint them... :crazy:

Southern Style Offroad roof rack with C4 ladder. They are a perfect paring in my opinion. Black with silver, angular, exposed bolt heads, the clearance between them is perfect, easy to install all of it solo.

Littleman approved!

That being said, I think the C4 ladder is overpriced for what you get.

 

[GX4SEVEND]

Does anyone have detailed pics of the light bar installation? I got it with the cheaper brand light bar and can’t for the life of me figure out how this thing mounts up. Unless I’m missing more hardware.

The regular hard ware kit showed up today but all I have for the light bar is what came in the light bar box. And looking at pics on the website there’s two bolts on the fairing and the pieces I have there’s absolutely no way to mount it. Getting really annoyed with this project at this point

 

[dktxt4r]

Does anyone have detailed pics of the light bar installation? I got it with the cheaper brand light bar and can’t for the life of me figure out how this thing mounts up. Unless I’m missing more hardware.

The regular hard ware kit showed up today but all I have for the light bar is what came in the light bar box. And looking at pics on the website there’s two bolts on the fairing and the pieces I have there’s absolutely no way to mount it. Getting really annoyed with this project at this point

Unless someone can get a detailed picture before I do, I'll try to snap one after I get home from work tonight and will try to post it.

 

[dktxt4r]

Does anyone have detailed pics of the light bar installation? I got it with the cheaper brand light bar and can’t for the life of me figure out how this thing mounts up. Unless I’m missing more hardware.

The regular hard ware kit showed up today but all I have for the light bar is what came in the light bar box. And looking at pics on the website there’s two bolts on the fairing and the pieces I have there’s absolutely no way to mount it. Getting really annoyed with this project at this point

Hope these help.

 

[GX4SEVEND]

Yes thank you. They didn’t ship the light bar brackets so now I’ve had 4 separate shipments. The 40” light bar they sell has a bolt that goes into the bar itself for mounting. There’s no spacers or anything to make it fit that doesn’t look like garbage. So now I have to figure out how to mount it.

I’m going to wait until I’m not completely annoyed with the whole process of this before I review anything.

 

[jdm-v35]

has anyone mounted rear light on the SSO rack yet? I was thinking of mounting 2 baja designs small lights or a bar on that angled bar facing the rear to light the area for camping or reversing while on trails at night. may be harder to secure them onto the T-slot rack.

I am not sure how helpful they would be either way since the spoiler would probably block light from helping the lower area. I currently have 2 S2's under the bumper so I would run them in conjunction with these.

 

[jdm-v35]

Unless someone can get a detailed picture before I do, I'll try to snap one after I get home from work tonight and will try to post it.

do you get a lot of hood glare with the light bar?

 

[chuffaluffigus]

For anyone curious about current lead times I'm sitting at almost exactly 12 weeks and crickets. I finally emailed them a couple of weeks ago because the tracker still showed "material ordered", and I got a reply and it suddenly magically updated. Now it's been sitting at "preliminary QC" and showing powdercoating as the next step for over a week. I'm pretty much fed up. If it ever shows up and I have any of the missing hardware issues that others have had that may send me into orbit. I had originally intended to order one of their slimline bumpers next, but this experience is leaving a pretty bitter taste in my mouth. There isn't even really any fabricating to be done on this stupid thing. I'm sure they're sending out the side rails and wind fairing to be laser cut by some third party, the cross bars and hardware are all off the shelf components, and another 3rd party does the powder coating. Ridiculous that it costs as much as it does and laughable that it takes them this long to produce and ship a product. FFS.

 

[GX4SEVEND]

For what it’s worth, the staff was super nice to work with when I called them and were on top of sending out items........

However.........it took 4 separate shipments to get my entire roof rack. Four. Cross bars were drop shipped out of a place in NY and had zero tracking info for it. Side rails and light bar landed first then the cross bars finally showed up. Guess what? Zero hardware. Had to call yet again for that. Hardware finally shows up.....no light bar brackets. Forth shipment I finally had it all. Was over 12 weeks.

Like I said I like the company but I’m not a fanboy like some members on here nor will I defend them to the end of the earth like some will. I paid $1800 for a product and I shouldn’t have to get four separate shipments while having to call the company explaining what I need. I expect a lot more for my cash.

The product is great but it will be the only thing I order from them. It’s just not worth the hassle in my opinion. Especially with companies in the off road community suddenly closing shop and people being out thousands of dollars. I just expected more for my money. That’s all.


I think it’s Margen is her name.....she was great and on top of things about where my stuff was at but at over 12 weeks the frustration levels are pretty high while waiting for it to show up and having to contact them and wait for a reply.

 

[generald]

The previous two posters make good points.

All I can add is to give them a call to understand what's up. I have had good phone experiences.

I come from a small business family so I have high levels of patience here, no matter the item cost, but I do understand that these are larger sums of money and expectations get created. All I can offer is to call and research *before* you buy to understand what you are entering into.

The product is solid to me, was worth some of the adventure...and now I get compliments from the Gobi folks who wait even longer, so my ego feels great xD

 

[jtice]

I am at 3 MONTHS and 1 day now waiting on mine.
It has shown as shipping label created for weeks now.
I emailed them about it, and got a response a few days later, saying that some parts were cut bad and being fixed, and re-powdercoated.
This is no doubt due to the same issues that someone on here posted, he got his rack and it was cut HORRIBLY with jagged sharp edges.
Now I also fear this re-powdercoating is going to be a mess also, powdercoat can be junk alot of the time, cant imagine re-coating it helping matters.

I do hear that its a nice rack and it damn well better be, but GX4SEVEND said, this will be the last thing I ever order from them.
NOTHING should take 3+ months to ship.
Especially since there is little to no assembly and welding involved on their end.

 

[chuffaluffigus]

I do hear that its a nice rack and it damn well better be, but GX4SEVEND said, this will be the last thing I ever order from them.
NOTHING should take 3+ months to ship.
Especially since there is little to no assembly and welding involved on their end.

Exactly. This is the part that's so frustrating.

 

[jtice]

I get lead times, I do.
Like my C4 Fab bumper, made to order, it took alittle while, but at least they were cutting, bending and welding it together.
These racks are cut, and powdercoated, thats pretty much it.
The front fairing has a couple bends to it.
And I get that sending parts out to be coated takes time, etc.
But, over 3 months? come on.

 

[SR5Bart]

I just received mine last Thursday and put it on today. AWESOME product. my lead time was 10-14 weeks and it showed up in 13. I knew the wait times so I was in no rush. Rack is really good quality. I had a couple questions so I called and they were super helpful on the phone.

 

[andrew4r]

I get lead times, I do.
Like my C4 Fab bumper, made to order, it took alittle while, but at least they were cutting, bending and welding it together.
These racks are cut, and powdercoated, thats pretty much it.
The front fairing has a couple bends to it.
And I get that sending parts out to be coated takes time, etc.
But, over 3 months? come on.

I'm fine with the 2-3 month wait for the rack. I'm not going to pretend to know what the actual process is for SSO with regards to the rack. I'm sure there is more than you're pretending there is. For example, my order currently says it's at the grinding station.

I am a little curious why the mounting hardware is taking so long to arrive, but I don't have the rack yet, so it's inconsequential at this point.

 

[SouthernSS]

For anyone curious about current lead times I'm sitting at almost exactly 12 weeks and crickets. I finally emailed them a couple of weeks ago because the tracker still showed "material ordered", and I got a reply and it suddenly magically updated. Now it's been sitting at "preliminary QC" and showing powdercoating as the next step for over a week. I'm pretty much fed up. If it ever shows up and I have any of the missing hardware issues that others have had that may send me into orbit. I had originally intended to order one of their slimline bumpers next, but this experience is leaving a pretty bitter taste in my mouth. There isn't even really any fabricating to be done on this stupid thing. I'm sure they're sending out the side rails and wind fairing to be laser cut by some third party, the cross bars and hardware are all off the shelf components, and another 3rd party does the powder coating. Ridiculous that it costs as much as it does and laughable that it takes them this long to produce and ship a product. FFS.

We sincerely thank each of you for choosing SSO for your offroad products. We have been experiencing exponential growth since August of last year which has proven to be a learning experience for us. We have recently (within the last couple months) have replaced and are adding to our shipping department. We have hired a new shipping manager and are taking great strides to speed up our processes. The roof racks are tedious to pack much less to put together and get ready to ship. It takes about two hours for each roof rack to just box up from start to finish. We thank you for your patience and are going to be working late hours this week to get all these roof racks shipped out to you guys. Again, we do apologize for the lead times and are working hard towards lessening the wait times.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us via email ([email protected]) or give us a call (225-726-7979 CST) to check your order or to get more information.