Roof Rack and Rails-Questions......

jay21 · **Posted:** Wed May 11, 2011 5:42 pm

Going to buy a rack in the near future, i am thnking the blackwidow rack. I need to know other options for racks and crossrails if needed. As usual $$$$$ is a major factor.

What are your opinions and or :2cents:

swyszomirski · **Joined:** Sat Oct 01, 2005 2:59 am **Posts:** 286

I removed the stock rails and built my own. That allowed me to get the rack lower and much more sturdy. Rock Lizard has a nice rack that doesnt use the stock rails. Dont know about others.

S

liquidxit2 · **Posted:** Thu May 12, 2011 11:12 am

I bought a surco and it mounted very nicely to sport rails. Would have worked with renny rails, but I wanted stronger rails.

enjoimark · **Posted:** Thu May 12, 2011 11:35 am

Can we get some links??

AZ CRD · **Posted:** Fri May 13, 2011 9:09 pm

I installed a Rola roof rack this month. Haven't carried anything substantial in it yet. Seems sturdy and I like the look. I chose Rola because they made crossbars for a Mercedes 300CE I once owned and they were the bomb.

http://www.etrailer.com/Roof-Cargo-Carrier/Rola/59504.html

jay21 · **Posted:** Fri May 13, 2011 9:52 pm

AZ CRD, what cross members did you use? I really like that rack, you might have just sold me!

sota · **Joined:** Fri Aug 07, 2009 7:44 pm **Posts:** 379

AZ CRD wrote:

I installed a Rola roof rack this month. Haven't carried anything substantial in it yet. Seems sturdy and I like the look. I chose Rola because they made crossbars for a Mercedes 300CE I once owned and they were the bomb.

http://www.etrailer.com/Roof-Cargo-Carrier/Rola/59504.html

did you have the factory/OEM cross bars installed already?

AZ CRD · **Posted:** Sat May 14, 2011 9:41 am

Yes, I already had the OEM crossbars. I like them fine, but the Rola would mate well with anything with an elliptical cross section.

If you decide on the Rola there are a couple of useful tips in the product reviews on etrailer. One is to silicone the joints when assembling the two halves. The other is to use plastic valve stem caps on the U bolt threads that stick up.

I'm a little concerned about the acrylic front faring. I can see cracking it if I have something tied across the top. If that happens I'll have to fabricate a new one out of aluminum or something.

ArcherAce · **Posted:** Sat May 14, 2011 1:10 pm

Make your own as shown here. You can get the quick clamps from Tek Supply. The only change I would make to the instructions in that thread would be to *NOT* put the bend in them.

I built mine without the bend according to that thread and they turned out great. The rails sit less than an inch off the roof and are very strong. The price is right too.

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Sun May 15, 2011 3:23 am

Rock lizard has a few nice racks with the rails, cross members, etc.

kskj · **Posted:** Sun May 15, 2011 11:30 am

ArcherAce wrote:

Make your own as shown here. You can get the quick clamps from Tek Supply. The only change I would make to the instructions in that thread would be to *NOT* put the bend in them.

I built mine without the bend according to that thread and they turned out great. The rails sit less than an inch off the roof and are very strong. The price is right too.

This is the same way I made my cross rails. I have had the Rolla rack for around three years and it still works great. Just repainted it to match my new liberty.

liquidxit2 · **Posted:** Sun May 15, 2011 3:12 pm

The surco comes with cross bars. All you need to do is figure out if you want U bolts or to drill through the rails. I went ubolts and it took 8 holes and 30 mins to do. While I love the boiler and RL baskets, for 220 shipped the surco has been a dream over the past year and half.

Roof Rack and Rails-Questions......

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