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- Dec 20, 2021
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- Your Bronco Model
- Big Bend
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- #1
As somebody who used the roof rack on my last vehicle constantly, I have been a little annoyed at the lack of simple, traditional, crossbar options on the market for the Bronco that also allow easy and complete convertible functionality with the hardtop. After weighing the many options, I finally stumbled across Seasucker's new "Ridge Ready" Monkey Bars on their website:
https://www.seasucker.com/products/ridge-ready-monkey-bars
This new "Ridge Ready" version has skinnier, oval-shaped, suction feet specifically designed to work with Wranglers, Broncos, and truck caps that have ridges on the roof and are not completely flat surfaces.
The beauty of these bars is that you can place them ANYWHERE along the roof and space them however you want. They also can be mounted and unmounted in a matter of seconds depending on what roof panels you want to rock on any given day... seemingly a modular roof rack that is a match made in heaven for the Bronco hardtop.
I just did an initial mount and am pretty impressed with the quality. Very high grade hardware and the bars are very heavy duty/substantial feeling. I bought the standard 48" bars which fit pretty perfectly along the top of the hard top, but you can also get 60" versions if you want some overhang. The 60" version adds 12" bar extensions that screw in between the 48" bars so you can actually buy them separate later if you want to.
I did have a little trouble getting the suction pump to work at first until I got the trick - basically you have to wrap your whole hand around the suction pad and press downward while pressing the suction button to get them to engage. Once they are in place, you can shake the whole bronco with your hand just like any other roof rack setup. They are definitely solid and the suction cups even have little bright orange warning indicators that show up when you need to give them a few pumps to fully re-engage the suction force.
The only initial negative I see is that the front bar with 4 suction cup feet sits about an inch higher than the rear bar due to the different mounting hardware on the two. Mine are spaced pretty close together at about 24" in the pic below so the angle of the cargo is pretty harsh (see blue level) but obviously the farther you space the bars out the less the 1" of height difference will affect the angle of your load. Not sure why the front bar can't just be the same design as the rear bar, but I'm sure Seasucker has their reasons as a result of R&D. Also, I wish the bars were an aero design instead of round to reduce wind noise. Obviously, the potential security factor is another negative, but Seasucker does sell a little lock that engages in the window channel if you want something that attempts to keep thieves honest... I will probably just take my chances or throw them in the trunk if I'm really worried about it.
I believe they are rated for 150-160 lbs which is more than many factory roof rack offerings - good for a couple bikes, kayaks, or cargo basket which is what I will be using them for. I have to haul some lumber this weekend so will update after I put them to use.
https://www.seasucker.com/products/ridge-ready-monkey-bars
This new "Ridge Ready" version has skinnier, oval-shaped, suction feet specifically designed to work with Wranglers, Broncos, and truck caps that have ridges on the roof and are not completely flat surfaces.
The beauty of these bars is that you can place them ANYWHERE along the roof and space them however you want. They also can be mounted and unmounted in a matter of seconds depending on what roof panels you want to rock on any given day... seemingly a modular roof rack that is a match made in heaven for the Bronco hardtop.
I just did an initial mount and am pretty impressed with the quality. Very high grade hardware and the bars are very heavy duty/substantial feeling. I bought the standard 48" bars which fit pretty perfectly along the top of the hard top, but you can also get 60" versions if you want some overhang. The 60" version adds 12" bar extensions that screw in between the 48" bars so you can actually buy them separate later if you want to.
I did have a little trouble getting the suction pump to work at first until I got the trick - basically you have to wrap your whole hand around the suction pad and press downward while pressing the suction button to get them to engage. Once they are in place, you can shake the whole bronco with your hand just like any other roof rack setup. They are definitely solid and the suction cups even have little bright orange warning indicators that show up when you need to give them a few pumps to fully re-engage the suction force.
The only initial negative I see is that the front bar with 4 suction cup feet sits about an inch higher than the rear bar due to the different mounting hardware on the two. Mine are spaced pretty close together at about 24" in the pic below so the angle of the cargo is pretty harsh (see blue level) but obviously the farther you space the bars out the less the 1" of height difference will affect the angle of your load. Not sure why the front bar can't just be the same design as the rear bar, but I'm sure Seasucker has their reasons as a result of R&D. Also, I wish the bars were an aero design instead of round to reduce wind noise. Obviously, the potential security factor is another negative, but Seasucker does sell a little lock that engages in the window channel if you want something that attempts to keep thieves honest... I will probably just take my chances or throw them in the trunk if I'm really worried about it.
I believe they are rated for 150-160 lbs which is more than many factory roof rack offerings - good for a couple bikes, kayaks, or cargo basket which is what I will be using them for. I have to haul some lumber this weekend so will update after I put them to use.
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