Roof rack installed on Bronco Raptor

[Dbraptor]

Finally received my Trailrax half rack for my Braptor. Wish I would of had this done last week for my little road trip I did up the California coast. But plenty of trips coming up

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[BroncoTrail]

Looks clean! What else are you planning on attaching to the rack?

 

[doyouglas]

What reason you get the half rack instead of the full rack?

 

[Dbraptor]

Looks clean! What else are you planning on attaching to the rack?

Gear box/storage. Also tie downs for my gazelle tent. Set of max trax

 

[Dbraptor]

What reason you get the half rack instead of the full rack?

I wanna be able to remove the top easier in the summer time.

 

[Dads_bronze_bronco]

I did the Hooke Road half rack

 

[Johnny Rebel]

Finally received my Trailrax half rack for my Braptor. Wish I would of had this done last week for my little road trip I did up the California coast. But plenty of trips coming up

I saw this build in person and it's awesome! After seeing the rack setup, I ordered the same one for mine. May be a few months before I can install it, though....

 

[BlueBoy]

I did the Hooke Road half rack

How do you like the Hooke Road half rack, is it a solid product? Was looking at that one as well

 

[Dads_bronze_bronco]

How do you like the Hooke Road half rack, is it a solid product? Was looking at that one as well

Sure -The way they pack it - there is not enough surrounding padding especially on the ends - makes it easy for the corners to poke through the box in shipping. This is what happened on mine, and fortunately only one small washer went missing. The was also some paint scuffed of the edge of the two frames that poked through the box - easily touched up with spray paint.

Overall the construction is really nice. Assembly was really easy. It helps to have two people to put it on top, and I put towels on the top for that process and then pulled them out to seat the rack.

I haven’t used it to haul yet. It makes no noticeable noise, even with the panels off the MIC. To remove the mid roof panel you have to release all the dogs holding the roof on, and then lift the panel enough to close the clamp on either side and then slide the panel forward about six inches to get it out from under the rack. Really no problem at all.

I will say I had the cage type rack on my Jeep and it was very utilitarian, but also noisy and cumbersome as far as removing roof panels. So the rack spent most of the time on my garage ceiling. Putting it on and taking it off was a production for say a plywood run or a weekend trip to the beach. Doing so put the most scratches on my JKUR.

As such I was looking for a half rack I could leave on full time that doesn’t make noise, and I could get the room panels off easily. It is steel, not aluminum, thus a little heavier. It also is not expandable to the full length rack at a later time. The side plates for the full and the half are different (unlike some other designs).

If your use case includes full length expandability for a future roof top tent, I would look for an aluminum variant that allows running half rack then bolting on the full rack when needed (aluminum keeping the rack weight down to be able to carry a heavier tent and also to make removing the rack easier).

If your use case is to carry a tent and some gear, maybe traction boards, a high lift jack, shovel, ax etc. and still take the roof panels off, then this one is a nicely built and looking affordable option.

 

[PWillette]

I did the Hooke Road half rack

I did the same rack on my BL. Did you have issue with noise? On mine the front cross piece had a major vibration when you shut the doors like a spring twang. Once I got it on the road the wind noise and buffeting was unbearable, ended up having to remove that front piece...very quiet now.

 

[TrailRax]

Finally received my Trailrax half rack for my Braptor. Wish I would of had this done last week for my little road trip I did up the California coast. But plenty of trips coming up

Love this set up! Glad it works for you! If you have any questions or need help building the rack out further, do not hesitate to reach out. We are happy to help! see you on the trails brother!

 

[Dads_bronze_bronco]

I did the same rack on my BL. Did you have issue with noise? On mine the front cross piece had a major vibration when you shut the doors like a spring twang. Once I got it on the road the wind noise and buffeting was unbearable, ended up having to remove that front piece...very quiet now.

Interesting - I didn’t have the twang tension issue in the front, and I haven’t noticed appreciative noise top on or off. I have to go pick my son up from school on Friday so I’ll try to pay attention to it at 70 mph.

Did you leave all the hardware loose until bolting up to the top? I didn’t tighten anything down until it was up there.

 

[PWillette]

Interesting - I didn’t have the twang tension issue in the front, and I haven’t noticed appreciative noise top on or off. I have to go pick my son up from school on Friday so I’ll try to pay attention to it at 70 mph.

Did you leave all the hardware loose until bolting up to the top? I didn’t tighten anything down until it was up there.

Yep, fully assembled loose then tightened everything once on the truck. The thing vibrates like a guitar string for several seconds when you close the doors. The wind noise was just stupid. Looking at trying to fab a bracket or two to attach between the front piece and the first cross support.

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