- Joined
- Jun 27, 2021
- Threads
- 10
- Messages
- 346
- Reaction score
- 642
- Location
- Austin, TX
- Vehicle(s)
- Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro
- Your Bronco Model
- Badlands
Serious question - not trolling: why did you order a soft top if you were going to negate its sole advantage by adding a roof rack?Getting the rear supports erected and connected took me about two hours - half of which was spent installing the protecting film underneath the support feet, to protect the paint. The front supports and valance didn't take long, but again, more film installation time on the paint above the windshield. After that, things got tedious, as the bars needed installing one by one, and the cross-brace bolts were at times hard to reach with tools. Overall, another 2.5 ~ 3 hours. Not difficult, just time-consuming.
The end result is "good", but I must say that the modified aerodynamics wreaks havoc on the softop - the fabric flaps against the support bars incessantly and violently at anything greater than 60 mph, and the resulting noise, as well as the air/noise entering from the top of the rear plastic window panes (where the metal bracket to attach the rack supports to the inner roll bar enters into the interior) is deafening. My son keeps his headset on when he's sitting in the back - as noise suppressors.
Utility-wise, one major flaw, and easily remedied, there are not enough "insertion openings" to install tabbed bolts into the rails on the cross bars - rather than just on one side, the "openings" should be on both sides of the bar - also, same should be provided on the "vertical" sides of the bars, which some attachments use, such as my Sherpa high-lift brackets.
I'm still glad to have the rack, as it now carries my hi-lift, recovery boards, shovel, ax, Rotopax, ski racks, travel box, plus pretty much whatever else I might need to throw up there with some decent straps... all in all, still a much more affordable option than buying an aftermarket hardtop ($6K).
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