Boiler's Aluminum Roof Rack: A Review

durangotang · **Posted:** Fri Aug 07, 2009 10:25 pm

Sooooo.... I was lucky enough at LJS this year to win an aluminum roof rack from Boiler. Here's a writeup with some pics and specifics for those that might be considering one.

Long story short, here's the installed raw rack.

The rack came in bare aluminum with no primer or clearcoat on it. While this does leave one with aluminum oxide smudges all over themselves, I do appreciate not having to strip anything before I finish it as I choose. It does look good raw though :wink:

A side profile:

As for installation, I'm glad this thing is light. I was able to hoist it up there myself without scratching to roof and without much trouble. It sits about as low as a rack can using straight beams. THe instructions that come with it are good, but I found them unnecessary. All the holes lined up perfectly and installation was a snap. He even includes the rubber feet to help seal things up(not installed yet in my pics) The only issue I had was one of my nutzerts twisted out. It was with minimal torque (see:nut driver) and needs to be replaced.

The feet fit perfectly with the factory hardware. This is the foot that the wiring will pass through.

Rear View:

Now I'm not bashing RL at all, they put out awesome stuff. I've just never been a fan of the outward taper of their roof racks. This rack has vertical sides that look great.

Top View:

Note how the rails match the KJ's roof lines... cool little detail.

Some shots of the welded aluminum... no need to explain the quality of the welds.

No holes are drilled to pass the wiring for the lights into the bars... but it's aluminum so that's no sweat. A nice little passage exists inside the tubing to route your wires into the front driver's side mount. I haven't done this yet because it sounds like work :lol:

There are tabs up top for 4 forward lights, 2 backup lights, and a cb antenna.

What can I say... it's sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. Can't wait to see what else they come up with. If anyone has some questions or wants other pics let me know

Murphyman · **Posted:** Fri Aug 07, 2009 11:04 pm

How much does he charge for one of these?

2006 KJ · **Posted:** Fri Aug 07, 2009 11:17 pm

that is an awesome rack... outstanding quality and top notch material! also from Boiler's engineering background and what he posted in his stress tests and computer figurings i believe this rack is made to perform as good as it looks. makes it a very hard decision between RL and Boiler.

BugginKJ · **Joined:** Mon Jul 06, 2009 7:35 pm **Posts:** 4576

I just stumbled across that rack in his other post. Very nice quality and craftsmanship.

Boiler · **Posted:** Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:22 am

Glad you like it! A few notes: just tonight I realized that many of you may not read the fabrication section. If you follow the link in my sig, you'll see my rack build thread.

Some items of note in bold:

durangotang wrote:

The rack came in bare aluminum with no primer or clearcoat on it. While this does leave one with aluminum oxide smudges all over themselves, I do appreciate not having to strip anything before I finish it as I choose. It does look good raw though :wink:

Aluminum will get powdery as it builds a self healing corrosion layer. Wiping it with wash thinner and a cloth that won't shed is good paint prep. Some coatings like powdercoat require stripping the oxide layer, which the powdercoater will do. If they don't know about it, find someone else. Aluminum oxide is an insulator, so it needs to be removed before a charged process is used.

As for installation, I'm glad this thing is light. I was able to hoist it up there myself without scratching to roof and without much trouble. It sits about as low as a rack can using straight beams. THe instructions that come with it are good, but I found them unnecessary. All the holes lined up perfectly and installation was a snap. He even includes the rubber feet to help seal things up(not installed yet in my pics) The only issue I had was one of my nutzerts twisted out. It was with minimal torque (see:nut driver) and needs to be replaced.

It weighs about 26-28 lbs. if I recall.

Now I'm not bashing RL at all, they put out awesome stuff. I've just never been a fan of the outward taper of their roof racks. This rack has vertical sides that look great.

Actually...they lean IN 10 degrees :wink:

Note how the rails match the KJ's roof lines... cool little detail.

Some shots of the welded aluminum... no need to explain the quality of the welds.

All of our visible welds are TIG aluminum. Tony is pretty good. He's certified and also a certified weld inspector and the fabrication manager at our shop. Plus I have final "hey...what's with this dude..." inspection and I'm picky...

No holes are drilled to pass the wiring for the lights into the bars... but it's aluminum so that's no sweat. A nice little passage exists inside the tubing to route your wires into the front driver's side mount. I haven't done this yet because it sounds like work :lol:

There are tabs up top for 4 forward lights, 2 backup lights, and a cb antenna.

Typically our racks come with customer specified light tab configurations, with a 3/8 hole in the bottom of the crosstube at each tab. For this, I wasn't sure if whoever won it would mount lights (think renny lightbar), so I left them off in case they ground the tabs off and didn't want holes. Flip it over, centerpunch each location you want to go in, and punching through with a drill will be a snap. Email me if you have any questions.

What can I say... it's sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. Can't wait to see what else they come up with. If anyone has some questions or wants other pics let me know

Thanks again. You won't have to wait long. :twisted:

Boiler · **Posted:** Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:35 am

Fingerprints show up big time until it's coated in some way.Some shots of the welded aluminum... no need to explain the quality of the welds.

I assume those are bugs / dirt on that front bar. Kind of looks like weld BB's but shouldn't have any with TIG + I stroked the whole thing by hand with a scotchbrite pad...

durangotang · **Posted:** Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:57 am

Boiler wrote:

I assume those are bugs / dirt on that front bar. Kind of looks like weld BB's but shouldn't have any with TIG + I stroked the whole thing by hand with a scotchbrite pad...

Yep they are bugs...

tommudd · **Posted:** Sat Aug 08, 2009 10:40 am

Maybe would be a good idea to become a LIFETIME VENDOR and then advertise in the Vendor section like the rest do :wink:

Boiler · **Posted:** Sat Aug 08, 2009 1:27 pm

I have a lifetime vendor account already. I was kind of waiting for our website to get done, or at least a few more products, to announce the name, webpage, and new line together. I did list myself by Boiler in the vendors thread though.

EDIT: Huh, guess that post got deleted.

KJ in CO · **Joined:** Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:06 pm **Posts:** 346

I am diggin this rack.. I t will be mine, Oh Yes, it will be mine. :lol:

BTW boilr, are you gonna be doin skids? I keep wantin someone to make that super skid!!! And dont make too many awesome things. My pockets are only so deep.

Boiler · **Posted:** Mon Aug 10, 2009 12:57 am

We're working on a gas tank skid, belly (transfer case +) skid, and skidded rock rails for the end of the month. We'll see, we'll surely have the gas tank skid and belly skid by then. We're also going to do a transmission skid.

If effect, we're going to pancake the underside of my jeep in the regions that lie between the wheels.

Model years & CRD's will likely cause much havoc in our plans, but in good time we'll catch em all.

CRD Joe · **Posted:** Mon Aug 10, 2009 1:32 am

Looks good.

ribbon · **Posted:** Mon Aug 10, 2009 8:23 am

rl is nice. Not aluminum though. When i asked them a while back if they would ever consider using aluminum i got back a "no". I like the idea of no rust. The added weight savings is nice also.

I polishing mine up. Looked like it was chromed but i forgot to clear coat it after. so now its back to what it was. (still looks great anyways) I need to do a quickover again and clear coat it this time.

In a month or so i am brining it to a metal finishing shop to get it anodized black. Should look sweeeeeeeeeet
Shop said I would get better results if it was mirror smooth. The chem bath should take care of the clear coat.

I love my boiler rack

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Mon Aug 10, 2009 10:14 am

Dude, that's vertical like your CB antenna.

Drassis · **Joined:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:31 pm **Posts:** 182

Honestly I have always like the RL rack, I really like his design.

But if I had a choice between metals I would go Aluminum hands down its lighter and strong enough for anythign that would go up their.

Boiler · **Posted:** Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:03 pm

The rack looks a whole heck of a lot better powdercoated than bare. Soon Ribbon will show us what it can look like anodized, so the jury is out on that one. It should be the more durable than any other finish either way.

The blotchy, finger printy, oxidized look just doesn't do it for me personally :lol:

Guest · **Posted:** Tue Aug 11, 2009 1:42 pm

ribbon wrote:

rl is nice. Not aluminum though. When i asked them a while back if they would ever consider using aluminum i got back a "no". I like the idea of no rust. The added weight savings is nice also.

Delete...not constructive in any way...

ribbon · **Posted:** Tue Aug 11, 2009 2:05 pm

The jeep was already painted when i got it...
RL racks are not. I take forever to do anything anyways (ask boiler) so its nice to be able to install it without painting it and not really have to worry. Hopefully the shop will return my call today. They called me and left a message saying they were ready for my rack

I have no beef with RL. Steel was out of the question for me though.

Boiler · **Posted:** Tue Aug 11, 2009 2:23 pm

ThunderbirdJunkie wrote:

ribbon wrote:

rl is nice. Not aluminum though. When i asked them a while back if they would ever consider using aluminum i got back a "no". I like the idea of no rust. The added weight savings is nice also.

Delete...not constructive in any way...

My $9000 jeep was in great shape and I want to keep it that way best I can. I don't mind making the effort. I never get why people say that...like jeeps are a total POS and you shouldn't care what condition they are in or what milage they get, etc etc etc.

ribbon · **Posted:** Wed Aug 12, 2009 10:32 am

metal finishing shop called me back

they are ready to go!
Now i need to find the money hah. Just slapped money down on a house and am poor.

I did a quick polish job on 1/2 the rack yesterday and the shine from the previous polishing came right back. Looks GREAT.... but goofy since only half is done heh.

Boiler's Aluminum Roof Rack: A Review

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