What do you like/dislike about your roof rack?

[tjones2k9]

I'm in the process of designing and building my own roof rack. There are obvious differences between a Gobi style tube rack, a Front Runner platform style rack, or something like the Prinsu in between.

What rack do you have? And what do you like about it? What do you wish was different?

 

[Bandit Runner]

I prefer the tube style roof racks. I designed and built my own also. Its exactly what I wanted.

More pics in my build thread if you are interested. Good luck!

 

[JohnTheLuck]

I have an Eezi-Awn 2.2m full aluminum rack. I use it mostly not to have fuel can inside the truck on long trails. It is convenient, versatile, light, and not too noisy. On the negative side, there is some impact on fuel consumption.

The only thing I would change is get the shorter 40mm legs instead of the 60mm I end-up. The installer said that the shark fin antenna make it impossible to use 40mm but by looking at the installed rack, there is plenty of space. I don't mind Sirius XM reception since I am not using it.

I saw that RCI now has a similar rack. If they offered it at the time I purchase the EEzi-Awn, things might have been different.

 

[Grug556]

Have Sherpa Crestone. To date i like it alot. Very functional with add on areas with T bars. Side grip bars are nice and sturdy. Have light bar on it. Really nothing I dont like about it.

 

[Metal Head]

Someday I am going to build a Gobi style rack out of aluminum. I like the tube style and feel the rack design and mounting options are much more robust for carrying heavy loads than the extruded rail racks. I like my Gobi (stealth no-rise) except for a few things.

1. Wish it was aluminum to cut down on some weight
2. Wish it was aluminum to eliminate the rusting where the coating gets chipped or rubbed through.
3. Wish they would have done a better job cleaning out the tubing before welding it up solid. There are pieces of weld slag inside the tubing I can hear roll around when cornering with the windows down or sunroof open.

 

[jp.vegas]

I have the Sherpa Crestone on my rig. I adapted the Scepter fuel can holder from Baja Rack so I get my gas up there, secured in place, when taking longer offroad jaunts. I'm using Sherpa's hi-lift mount and I have a few of their adapt plates to allow for all sorts of flexibility for holding and lashing stuff down.

I love the modularity and flexibility of the rack. You can slide/add/remove crossbars as needed to fit your loads. I'm getting their little Baja Design rock light mounts that go into some of the handles on the side rails so that will provide a super clean solution for camp lights too without a bunch of crap looking like it's hanging off the side of the thing.

Overall I'm super pleased with the design and construction of it. I've also dealt with their customer service dept a few times to ask questions, order components etc. and they've been hyper responsive. Shipping times were as quoted, even though I ordered during their Black Friday sale last year.

 

[SuedePflow]

I Like the look of the ones with the flat sides, like pictured above. But I really enjoy the strength of the Gobi on my r4unner. I'm 260lbs and can walk around on my roof without it even flexing. It seems to be very well built, which is what matters the most to me. I also really enjoy that it has a strong mesh floor across the entire rack.

 

[comtn4x4]

I've had both an ARB and a Gobi no rise. I prefer the sided racks generally. I tend to load at lot on my roof so that style works well for me.

The one thing most notably was the floor on the ARB. The ARB that I had some years ago had a different style floor than the expanded steel that both ARB and Gobi seem to use now. It was a cross hatch of thin steel rod (Maybe 11 gauge) welded together about 2" apart. This was easier to strap things down to because you could just hook a compression strap to it or run the strap through it to your next item.

The hooks that Gobi provides as a solution aren't great and they're expensive like all their stuff. And also, on the Gobi, if you crank down the compression strap it'll bend the expanded metal and pop the powder coat off and as well off their hook. Never had that issue with the ARB so I'm thinking that floor was stronger.



I attached an image I found that shows the ARB floor. It's kind blurry but I think you can see what I mean.


Other than that I'm of the opinion that as low as possible to still do the job is best. I felt the ARB sides were too tall and it stood very high off the roof. I think when I went from ARB to Gobi I lowered my vehicle height by 3".


Last, I'd figure on removing the shark fin. If you don't you either have to mount the rack on taller legs or some other workaround. I'm not fond of Gobi's solution, on that rack you loose 5" of storage space to accommodate the shark fin.

 

[stingd21]

I have a Prinsu - it's a badass rack but it's a bit noisy (wind), cross braces bend a little bit, etc. If you could solve the noise a bit, that could be a winner! but good luck.. haha Aerodynamic and roof rack are typically not in the same sentence. lol

 

[2021nightshade4x4]

Do all racks rattle (even when empty)?


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[Grug556]

Do all racks rattle (even when empty)?


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Mine has zero rattles ever.

 

[SuedePflow]

Do all racks rattle (even when empty)?

Zero rattle or even wind noise with my Gobi.

 

[apc9199]

I prefer the tube style roof racks. I designed and built my own also. Its exactly what I wanted.

More pics in my build thread if you are interested. Good luck!

This is EXTREMELY close to the design I have been working on in my head. I also love that look. I modified an image of a 4Runner with the new TRDP roof rack on it and just extended the front of the rack to meet the front of the cab like yours. I decided I didn't like the double row of tubes so I was going to delete the top row and enlarge the remaining tube a bit. I think the result would be almost exactly what you built!

 

[1100 Remington Man]

Well I like the looks of factory TRD Pro rack. I really don’t see a need for a larger rack.

 

[Old Tanker]

I'm happy with my Sherpa. It provides a solid, tailorable platform to build on.

Attachments:
1. OVS 180 awning on the driver side. Mounted using three OVS plates, each with six carriage bolts on two adjacent crossbars (so three plates, six crossbars, and 18 bolts in all). Sherpa now makes HD brackets and I may switch over to a few of those.
2. OVS privacy shelter on the passenger side.
3. A stack of recovery boards, mounted to two crossbars right above the sunroof.
4. Two Zargas boxes, each mounted with a Zargas mounting plate on each corner, each corner secured with three carriage bolts.
5. Three crossbars have a pair of Sherpa Smiley tie-downs, allowing me to secure a Gazelle T4 along the center of the rack (between the boxes and behind the boards), strapped down with three Rollercam straps.

Additions: Extra crossbars - I think four more than stock. Smileys. Maxtrax mounts. A lot of 316 stainless bolts and washers.

Experiences (with a 2020 version of the Crestone)
(1) Be very careful not to over-tighten the mounting brackets to the roof - stop as soon as the domed bonded washers start to flatten.
(2) The primary lengthwise plate on the passenger side twisted under off-road stress when my awning was on that side and wasn't as securely fastened as it is now on the drivers side. I compensated by moving the awning to the drivers side, and on both sides I now use oversized washers at the end of each crossmember to reduce the likelihood of the bolts pulling through the open channels. Sherpa has redesigned better plates with shorter slots, but I have not upgraded.
(3) One of the front mounting brackets broke after a couple years of use. Sherpa had redesigned a better brace, and they sent one to me free.

Overall impressions:
(1) Well engineered solution for mounting to the roof. No water infiltration.
(2) Many possible points of failure with bolts and connections all over the place. Check everything before every major trip and after every few days offroad.
(3) Very customizable.
(4) Lighter than the Gobi. No rust. Wider overall roof surface. Possibly not as solid.
(5) First-rate customer support. They answer the phone, respond to e-mails, ship things quickly, improve their designs based on feedback and experience, and they back their product.

 

[mrblah]

the only thing i dont like about my prinsu is that its made by CBI.

 

[T4R_Canuck]

I have the Sherpa Crestone on my rig. I adapted the Scepter fuel can holder from Baja Rack so I get my gas up there, secured in place, when taking longer offroad jaunts. I'm using Sherpa's hi-lift mount and I have a few of their adapt plates to allow for all sorts of flexibility for holding and lashing stuff down.

I love the modularity and flexibility of the rack. You can slide/add/remove crossbars as needed to fit your loads. I'm getting their little Baja Design rock light mounts that go into some of the handles on the side rails so that will provide a super clean solution for camp lights too without a bunch of crap looking like it's hanging off the side of the thing.

Overall I'm super pleased with the design and construction of it. I've also dealt with their customer service dept a few times to ask questions, order components etc. and they've been hyper responsive. Shipping times were as quoted, even though I ordered during their Black Friday sale last year.

Any chance you have a picture of your fuel can holder on your rack? I've got the same fuel holder and a Prinsu rack but just can't settle on a solution to mount it securely.

 

[T4R_Canuck]

I have a full length Prinsu (no drill) and the only negative I really have is that it's such a low profile that it's a bit of a pain to get a roof top tent mounted nicely on the bars because of the limited clearance between the roof and the bottom of the cross bars. There are solutions for this though, my temp solution is to remove crossbars in front of the bars i'm attaching the RTT to so I have room to work and use shorter hardware. The long term solution is to use Prinsu 1" riser spacers between the bars and the tent.

Absolutely no rattles and hardly any wind noise front my Prinsu when empty. Obviously as you start adding gear the wind noise increases. I currently have Maxxtrax, a long gun case for recovery gear, short shovel, axe and an awning mounted.

 

[97BlackAckCL]

I love the look and function of my Baja Rack, love that it has the moon roof opening, it definitely lowers gas mileage a bit, but it makes up for it in form and function, it's a great roof rack, I'm a big fan, and I got it in a group buy so the price wasn't terrible

 

[tjones2k9]

Thanks for all the feedback! Lots of great things I need to take into consideration that I hadn't thought of. My goals are low profile, low weight, functional and adaptable, and it can't be ugly :nod: