Comprehensive Roof Rack Comparison 5/2024

[PEGB]

Appreciate you taking the time to gather the info and assemble the spreadsheet. Would you consider adding a column for how much each rack weighs and another column for their max payload weights?

You’re welcome. If you would like to collect the data I’d be happy to add it. I didn’t prioritize the static and dynamic load rating a because they’re very suspect. For example, any rack that mounts solely to the top (most of them) is technically limited to Fords rating: “Max load 110 lbs dynamic and 450 lbs static evenly distributed." So yeah, there’s that. Throw in the lack of standardized testing or enforcement and you get a bunch of shit marketing in most cases. Weight also wasn’t going to be a relevant data point for me. It’s what it’s made out of and how the weight is managed that matters to me. For example, Gobi and RTR are heavy and steel. But their weight is carried by mounting to the body, not the roof. Anyway, it’s the materials and design that are important to me, not the weight. So yeah, you get em and I’ll add them.

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[PEGB]

What is a TOR?

I use the Trailrax with a PakRax and it's been so fun to play with.

One thing I'd like to add: I've now gotten my timing down to
under 20 min to remove the rack and roof,
and almost the same time to get it back on.
The main thing is to leave the wind deflector on,
and remove the roof rack from the sides of that.

Roof off with wind deflector and light bar still on:

Fylly loaded without the RTT on:

RTT with Awning:

The RTT takes about 10 minutes to put on with the
Front Runner quick connects.
It took about 5 trips to dial in the location for the mounts.

TOR= Turn Off Road Hardtop. Single piece targa is reported to make removal impossible with the Trailrax on. Your removal times are impressive and watching your posts on the topic over the past year have been informative. Especially your discovery about leaving the wind deflector on.

 

[DUSTYcazOREGON]

I'm completely happy with OEM.
I don't like the appearance of the flat aluminum meccano set options out there, I've personally seen one brand break on trail.
I've found solutions to everything I need to attach to it, even though it would be nice to have more support.

I like my OEM as well. I would like to see a list of brackets, attachment options and items that can be attached to the OEM rack. I have the 2 door.

 

[mikeeshim]

TOR= Turn Off Road Hardtop. Single piece targa is reported to make removal impossible with the Trailrax on. Your removal times are impressive and watching your posts on the topic over the past year have been informative. Especially your discovery about leaving the wind deflector on.

Thank you for the explanation. Good to know that somebody saw my post! I figure things get lost in the heap and posts and I use this forum to help any way I can from my experiences.

As for the targa, I think it may be possible to remove the top my lifting up to release, sliding out 1/4 way, and the rest through the passenger side door with window down, as long as there is no ceiling molle panel.

 

[PEGB]

Thank you for the explanation. Good to know that somebody saw my post! I figure things get lost in the heap and posts and I use this forum to help any way I can from my experiences.

As for the targa, I think it may be possible to remove the top my lifting up to release, sliding out 1/4 way, and the rest through the passenger side door with window down, as long as there is no ceiling molle panel.

If that was true that would be great. The problem I have is my Trailrax is still in boxes. If I take it all out and assemble/install it, it instantly becomes harder to re-sell/my loss is bigger. So far, all the info I’ve gotten has been you can’t get it off with a trailrax. I wish I knew someone closer I could go try some experiments with, but I don’t:-(. Do you have a TOR hardtop and trailrax you would be willing to try it with for me?

The info I have is because of the length of the sides on the targa, you need to go up further than the rack will allow you to clear the rollbar/frame, which is necessary to move out in either direction.

 

[PEGB]

Thank you for sharing. Things like this is what makes my time on B6G enjoyable! I'm definitely a researcher myself, and even though I always vet the opinions here, information like this saves me SO much time. I'm curious to know what you end up deciding on!

You’re very welcome. Glad to pay back for all the help and information I get from others here. I have not yet made a final decision. If someone like Westin or EO had an aggressive Memorial Day sale, I might just come off the fence, or I may just get sick of waiting/hoping and put the great trailrax system I have in boxes on and say screw the Targa. Conversationally, I have been giving serious consideration to how often I’ll take it off anyway. It’s too large to safely store in the back of my Bronco, so spontaneously popping it won’t happen and due to its size, I can’t install my Bestop Sunrunner. That really only leaves days I know it won’t rain and I’m going someplace I won’t have to worry about security so I can leave it in the garage lol. First world problems eh?

 

[mikeeshim]

First world problems eh?

This whole forum is first world problems, so I wouldn't fret.
As for the issue with the targa top, can't help you there. Not sure if the OEM 2 pc fits in that space, but if it does, you could always revert back to that.

The Trailrax is a great roof rack and I'd urge you to use it if you could, especially since you already have it. It is mightily modifiable, as I've drilled so many new holes in it and not a rattle since, even after battle testing.

 

[Chook]

Appreciate you taking the time to gather the info and assemble the spreadsheet. Would you consider adding a column for how much each rack weighs and another column for their max payload weights?

Great list @PEGB and weight should be a consideration.

 

[H0pelessOpus]

The RTT takes about 10 minutes to put on with the
Front Runner quick connects.
It took about 5 trips to dial in the location for the mounts.

Good to know that the Front Runner quick release mounts work with TrailRax

 

[Bellime]

I went from the 4dr OEM rack added a basket, now I have the Hooke Road. I have had to do some personal modifications, but the platform is great. More to come. Like…

 

[GroovyGeek]

Pretty extensive, thanks for putting it together. A couple of notes

1) You can just copy/paste that into a gsheet and it will be available online to anyone with a Google account, no Excel needed
2) When I make sheets like this I usually link to the OEM description of the item to be able to pull it up quickly for visuals. If I was interest in racks I would offer to do this

Here is a quick copy/paste into a gsheet, with frozen columns to facilitate reading. I can transfer ownership of the file to you if you are interested in maintaining it this way

Google Doc

Here is an in-message embedding, but it is not very useful

 

[swamp2]

Great work @OP. The hardware for the JCR is a mixture of black oxide coated steel and stainless steel. Also a vote for the format and type above.

 

[lakesinai]

I do see on the expedition one rack where they have a way to pivot the rack out of the way, but absolutely no real world reviews I can find and no good video reviews of that function in action.

When I put my Turn Offroad top on and a TrailRax on top of it, I kind of just accepted the fact that my open air vehicle days were over. Maybe that will change down the road.

Well . . . If your roof storage needs are simpler, and you don't need a rooftop tent, there is the Trailrax half-rack! I take the side-saddle bracket off when I'm not on the beach. Thanks to the OP for the cataloging!

 

[UncleBuck]

What is a TOR?

I use the Trailrax with a PakRax and it's been so fun to play with.

One thing I'd like to add: I've now gotten my timing down to
under 20 min to remove the rack and roof,
and almost the same time to get it back on.
The main thing is to leave the wind deflector on,
and remove the roof rack from the sides of that.

Roof off with wind deflector and light bar still on:

Fylly loaded without the RTT on:

RTT with Awning:

The RTT takes about 10 minutes to put on with the
Front Runner quick connects.
It took about 5 trips to dial in the location for the mounts.

Man I haven’t even thought to leave my wind deflector on to remove my TRMR rack. Genius. Do you just leave the rear clam shell mounts clamped on and just detach the pax rax mounts from the bottom bracket under the clam shell? I would think that would be the easiest way to take it on and off assuming you have overhead lift space.

 

[Canoehead26]

So don’t say I never did anything for ya. Here’s a spreadsheet of a large number of the available roof racks available to us as of now, May 2024.

Link: Bronco Roof Rack Options Spreadsheet

I’ll note, I built it based on my interests. I’m not interested in the half a dozen or so Chinese clones circulating on amazon and elsewhere. Nothing against anyone who enjoys them, I’m just not interested, and I wrote the spreadsheet. More specifically I’m looking for something that will allow me to take off my TOR targa with minimal effort, won’t rust to shit in the salt bowl I live in, has accessories options available for mounting etc., and will be reasonably durable. While I was at it I added some columns that I hope will help others.

I’m willing to maintain this for a little while moving forward, so if you gather some information that fills in any of the gaps in the spreadsheet and you want to help others out, let me know and I’ll correct. Please don’t waste either of our times‘ on pricing corrections. We would be all day trying to track those. I listed MSRP to the best of my ability. If anyone knows how to embed this in the thread feel free.

For the record, I still haven’t found the ideal solution for me in any of these, I may just buy one that’s cheaper and plan to toss it if something more suitable comes available in the future.

Thanks for checking it out. I hope someone finds it helpful.Bronco Roof Rack Spreadsheet 05/2024

The OEM rack system is perfect for my needs. That is transporting my various canoes. The only addition is the Thule canoe carrying system that provides a good stable base for the canoe.

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