Roof Rack Recommendations

[Crutledge]

Ok, I'm less than ignorant when it comes to the right rack and why so I was hoping for some words of wisdom from a few of you guys that have some better insight on this subject.

I am building a fullsize F250 so I should be plenty of real estate to work with. The rack will needs to be able to hold a RTT, supplies, and offroad lights amongst possibly a few other things in the future.

I have been looking at the front runner racks because of their flexibility of design, but I have no first hand experience with them so I'm not sure of the quality or actual usefulness of them.



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[Kent R]

I installed a full size Front Runner rack on my 2011 Jeep JKU, and though it is a much different install than what you would be doing it is a great rack!! Super solid no noise and the attachment of mounts and tie downs is top notch

 

[Steve]

The rack in the photo that you attached is a Prinsu Design rack: http://www.prinsudesignstudio.com

There are several of us here with Prinsu racks. They are all aluminum, modular for flexibility, and half the price of Gobi, K9, and Front Runner.

[EDIT] And, it looks like they still don't make on for anything but Toyota vehicles. You might contact them to see what they have in the works.

 

[Road]

@Crutledge - I have a full sized Rhino Pioneer Platform rack on my trailer and absolutely love it. Pics below of it empty and loaded. Poke around on their main site for racks and trays. They have a Fit My Vehicle page that should help greatly in what you'll need as far as racks/trays.

Rhino has a number of load securing accessories. The one I use most is the Pioneer Eye Bolt Kit. I think a lot of both the Front Runner and Rhino accessories can be used on either company's platforms.

One difference between Rhino and Front Runner racks is the direction of the slats. Mine run from front to back. Front Runner slats run from side to side. One is probably just as strong as the other, but I've always wondered if slats going crossways would produce more wind noise on some vehicles, or more wind resistance and therefore more of a hit on mpg. I have absolutely no proof one way or the other for either noise or mpg and no personal experience with the Front Runner racks, but have wondered.

For load-securing accessories, I really, really, like the Front Runner Stratchits and have four pair. They are what's holding down the load on top of the trailer cover to the side rings in the second pic below. I've done many thousands of miles through all sorts of weather with this type of load using Stratchits. They've stood up magnificently well and never once loosened on their own.






Let us know what you end up doing and how it works out.

.

 

[James Deaton]

Build your own out of 1” EMT steel Conduit. $100 and some welding, and you’ll be smarter when you finish (from all the experience)...

James

 

[Crutledge]

The rack in the photo that you attached is a Prinsu Design rack: http://www.prinsudesignstudio.com

There are several of us here with Prinsu racks. They are all aluminum, modular for flexibility, and half the price of Gobi, K9, and Front Runner.

[EDIT] And, it looks like they still don't make on for anything but Toyota vehicles. You might contact them to see what they have in the works.

That shows my ignorance

@Crutledge - I have a full sized Rhino Pioneer Platform rack on my trailer and absolutely love it. Pics below of it empty and loaded. Poke around on their main site for racks and trays. They have a Fit My Vehicle page that should help greatly in what you'll need as far as racks/trays.

Rhino has a number of load securing accessories. The one I use most is the Pioneer Eye Bolt Kit. I think a lot of both the Front Runner and Rhino accessories can be used on either company's platforms.

One difference between Rhino and Front Runner racks is the direction of the slats. Mine run from front to back. Front Runner slats run from side to side. One is probably just as strong as the other, but I've always wondered if slats going crossways would produce more wind noise on some vehicles, or more wind resistance and therefore more of a hit on mpg. I have absolutely no proof one way or the other for either noise or mpg and no personal experience with the Front Runner racks, but have wondered.

For load-securing accessories, I really, really, like the Front Runner Stratchits and have four pair. They are what's holding down the load on top of the trailer cover to the side rings in the second pic below. I've done many thousands of miles through all sorts of weather with this type of load using Stratchits. They've stood up magnificently well and never once loosened on their own.


View attachment 51289

View attachment 51290

Let us know what you ed up doing and how it works out.

.

Thank you for the input. I had never thought about that but I can see how having the slats across the vehicle could cause a wind noise issue.
I have seen my fair share of light bars make terrible noise!

Thank yall for the help. I will definitely look into the Rhino Pioneer Platform racks.

Chris R.

 

[nickburt]

Must admit, I'm a Front Runner fan. They were the only manufacturer who could come up with a rack to fit full length of my Defender 130, all 3.5 metres of it and I love all the bits that can be added to it, giving a huge amount of flexibility in terms of load carrying and lashing down etc... they make mounts and fixings for just about anything you can think of to go on the roof.
The bars are across the width of the vehicle, but, even without the wind deflector they sell, it doesn't make any noise that can be heard above the normal noise of a Defender

 

[Road]

That's one long platform, @nickburt, at 3.5 metres (11.5 feet)! I've always wondered about slats going sideways or lengthwise and if it makes much difference. Good to hear from two posts in this thread that it doesn't seem to.

 

[theMightyGoose]

Just installed FrontRunners. Love them. They are more expensive but I keep my trucks a really long time. If you switch out your cars often then it probably doesn’t matter as much. But for me it made sense to be more future-proof. Plus all the unnecessary accessories are fun to look at.


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[Steve]

My Prinsu has the 11 crossbars side to side, and it doesn't make much noise at all. In fact, right now, I have the crossbars and wind deflector off, and it is *much* noisier thank with them on!

 

[OkieOverlander]

You could build your own, I built this one sort of copying front runner, planning for a RTT in the future.


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[Lremoore]

I have a front runner on my discovery 3, it came with the car when I bought it. If it hadn't I probably wouldn't have because of the price. But now I have it I would definitely buy and recommend! I have bought a number of their other products and very happy with those too.

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[Westtoast]

View attachment 51907

You could build your own, I built this one sort of copying front runner, planning for a RTT in the future.


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Where did you purchase the mounts at ??

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[OkieOverlander]

Where did you purchase the mounts at ??

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[Westtoast]

View attachment 60234



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Thanks alot brother [emoji106]

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