Roof Rack Poll

I want to put a roof rack on my DC and id like to hear from those of you that have tone already. OEM? THULE? YAKIMA? CUSTOM? OTHER?

pros? cons? would you do it again?

 

i have a thule on my DC. been on for 3 years and holding up great. i've but it through a lot, and there are no signs of wear. check out my gallery for some pics

 

Thule and Yakima are going to be about the same price (Thule might be a bit more) for a similar setup, the only difference between the two is that thule uses rectangular bars while yakima uses round bars. The only thing I dont like about my Thule bars is that they sit about 4-5 inches off the top of my cab so theyre pretty tall. They do make a shorter one but its more expensive and IMO doesn't look as good as the regular towers and bars. I have a wilderness rack to hold a full size spare, hi lift, and shovel and axe and love my setup but will probably eventually bolt it to my cab and loose the bars. It just depends on what you want to carry up there.

 

Thule in the heezy!!!!

 

I dont want to put anything that heavy up there, mostly a couple duffel bags with sleeping bags and such so I can free up the back seat to make room for the dog. Mostly in a basket, hopefully with some lights mounted to it.

Thats why im leaning to the OEM roof rack, so I can take the basket off and fold in the cross bars when its not being used. But then again, I'm sure I could just take off the aftermarket crossbars and mounting pads too!

 

look at it like this. if you have the factory rack, you have to take the basket off of tghe rack, and then fold the rack. if you have a thule or yakima system, you just take off the whole rack with the basket still attached...i'm not saying one is better than the other, removal (or stowe) of any system will probably take about the same amount of time. just something to think about

 

Wilderness Rack on Thule bars.. Hi lift goes on the driver side and axe/shovel go along passenger side and im in the process of putting up spare mount up there for a full size spare.

 

If I didn't have the cap, I would put these Thule bars on the cab. Easy on, easy off, stout. I mount them when I need them.

 

I chose OEM but Yakima worked out great for me to when I had it on!!

 

There are many people who dont like the roof racks, i personally like them!

 

I like the look of the OEM and being able to stowe the bars is pretty cool. I heard of other racks damaging the paint if left on for a long time. No sure if that is true or not.

I have an OEM and can't wait for a nice day to install it. It looks to be well made.

 

I have OEM, and the Thule bars that mount across them.

 

Yep... Thule rack damaged the paint on my previous vehicle, also begins to degrade the door seals and they will eventually leak.

 

ouch, I wouldn't want that to happen. Your truck looks great by the way!

 

Mine came with an OEM, I think it's got a clean look. But hey... to each their own.

 

I've tried 'em all..... My first setup was a Yakima Q-tower setup with the q-clips that install in the door. It worked and looked great but I couldn't get over the nervousness that I was damaging paint, seals or denting the roof. I sold that system and bought a set of OEM's....I really like this and the engineering is really cool. The trouble I encountered however is that my Yakima bike racks wouldn't attach so I left the OEM's stowed and fastened the Yakima system from our van to it. This one is designed to attach to factory roof rails (which when stowed the OEM is). I ran this configuration for a long time until I installed a Leer cap with a Thule tracker rack. I have a new truck on order (due in a little over than a week) and my buddy who is buying my current truck wanted my cap and OEM so I have ordered a new Leer with another Thule tracker and I'm going to leave the cab roof bare.

One word of caution, the OEM's are static and were not wide enough for me to fit a Yakima "Loadwarrior" basket. I think it will work with the extension however. Also be advised that both Yak. and Thule sell adapters to mount attachments to OEM racks. There are pics in my gallery of some of the different setups.

 

I have a yakima on my access cab so that gets my vote. I have had zero issues with using it with my 14' kayak.

 

I think the OEM rack looks and feels cheap. I vote for Thule or Yakima.

 

Thanks!

 

had mine on for three years, take it off ocasionally (once or twice a year) to check for that very issue, but have not had any problems. just clean and wax very thuroughly where the feet wll go and the paint will be fine. there really isn't anything to do about the door seals, but mine are still fine.