Roof rack advice

Totally a personal preference as far as looks go, but I think the Prinsu compliments the look of the Tacoma's really well. The wind fairing does a fantastic job of mitigating the wind noise. As far as mileage goes, I noticed my biggest MPG hit with my lift and 33's, so if you plan to do something similar with your truck, the loss you'll get from a roof rack is marginal at best.

I have a Prinsu roof rack on my truck and then on my camper shell I've added Front Runner tracks, Sherpa Equipment feet, and Prinsu load bars. I use up almost the entire length of my trucks roofline for my roof top tent, awning, and storage cases. My wife and I love the outdoors and do our best to camp and utilize the truck and equipment as much as we possibly can. Having everything up top and ready to go is great for keeping the bed clear so I can load it down with gear for two adults and two small kids.

I've had a few different configurations on my Tacoma so far, and this is definitely the best setup for me and how I use the truck. A big plus to that is the modularity of a good roof rack setup. I'm currently looking at removing one of the cases and running a solar panel in it's place, and it's nice to have the space to adapt to my needs.

A roof rack is only worth as much as you use it, so that's the main thing I'd keep in mind when deciding to buy one or not.

 

I honestly don't understand everyone's perspective on this. Mostly, the OP said he wanted it for looks and not so much for practicality. So, go get it dude. It's only money and you can earn more of that. I always did things for "readiness" first (in case of getting stuck, bad weather, even safety from an accident), but second to that is looks. Because you don't want something looking unkept or out of place. As far as MPG.....well.....you got the wrong vehicle to be concerned about that. If you have to worry about gas prices, you need to go trade your taco in asap! IMHO. All I know is I have used the heck out of my truss and roof rack for hauling all sorts of material from home depot, my kayak, furniture, etc. It's nice to be able to use it for the intended purpose.

 

So far mine holds the front facing light bar and in the middle of the woods when its pitch black those bars are worth their weight in gold.

 

Truth. Half the mods make your truck worse off road, case in point: roof racks. You want to tip your vehicle on the trail, put heavy stuff up high.

 

This is something I have never really understood with so many overland/offroad builds. They put on a roof rack and cover it with things, but the beds are generally empty.

 

It looks cool. That’s it. In every other way it harms overlanding. Terrible drag on the highway, terrible center of gravity off road. They’re such a bad idea for overlanding.

 

I have actually started reversing many mods that ruined my trucks aerodynamics. I removed my roof rack, replaced my soft topper with a cover, and put the sport front valance to increase aerodynamics around the big front tires.

Next up is to find a more aerodynamic ditch light solution

 

I can't speak for the others.. but for this mall crawler, the bed staying mostly empty (other than a drawer system) is because the truck still gets used every week for other things. Hardware store runs, that new piece of facebook garbage furniture the wife has to have, etc. I think a lot of the excess builds are because they are dual purposed daily drivers. We want to have a lot of the extra stuff, but still need the ability to use it daily. And we keep lying to ourselves that we will totally use all that gear.

 

Same. Got rid of my roof rack and never looked back. Absolutely the worst mod I ever did.

Ditching my rear CBI skid plate and replacing steel sliders with aluminum sliders too. They just aren’t necessary for the trails I do. And I go harder than like 95% of people by doing the odd 4-rated trail.

 

I've got UpTop's Alpha roof rack and their full height TRUSS bed rack (with the Alpha EX cap) which I use all the time to haul lumber, sheet goods, mount cargo, etc. If you can't think of how a rack will fit into your daily use of your truck then I'd skip buying one, even if its for the looks. If you need a rack they're indispensable, but you'll hurt your MPG and depending on which rack you buy it could increase wind noise (something I HAVE NOT experienced with UpTop's rack, which I highly recommend).

 

But do you need traction boards, spare cv axle, tool kit, tow straps, while going to the hardware store?

If your not offroading, just leave the stuff at home.

 

Ironically, I found Uptop’s rack to be absolutely intolerable when it comes to wind noise, drag, etc. I ran one until it damaged my roof, then switched to Cali Raised before all the hardware on that rusted. Then I ditched roof racks entirely.

 

I will be getting a aluminum skid eventually, I dont need strong as everything I hit is made of snow or ice.
But I have been trying to find a front bumper, but I have 3 requirements that make it impossible to find. Needs to be aluminum, no winch tray (I never needed a winch), and needs to be the slimline style one.

 

Nope not at all. But I'm also 5 foot 6, and lazy. I'm not spending the time to take things on and off on the regular just to save a few MPG. The reality is that the Tacoma, along with every other vehicle, falls somewhere between a daily commute Prius, and a fully dedicated propane driven rock crawler. Where we sit on that range can be vastly different. Those closer to the rock crawler, for some reason, get so offended when those closer to the prius (in terms of usage), outfit their vehicles in a different way. This post is a perfect example. OP started out by saying money wasn't an issue, it will get light use, and its more about the looks. Yet we still have a whole list of people talking about the impact of a roof rack at places like MOAB or the racetrack. None of which is remotely pertinent to the conversation. The better question, why does it bother people so much?

 

Nothing wrong with doing things for the look (though many people like to call people posers/mall crawlers). My truck is lifted with big meaty tires, but I dont offroad.

 

Greenlane offroad, All Pro, CBI, Victory 4x4 all make aluminum low pro bumpers. I think they all have winch accommodations but you don’t have to use them.

I have Greenlanes and like it.

 

See I just dont want the winch stuff in there at all. Extra weight that I dont want and extra stuff that will rust. Barricade HD makes one that is exactly what I need, but it only comes in steel.

 

I keep telling myself that its not just for the look. But the last 5 years of not getting out and doing a lot would prove otherwise. I always maintain hope that I will spend more time on the trails. But the sad reality is that school, work, life, etc. always seem to take priority. Hopefully it's better when I get to Arizona this year. Currently in Nebraska. In this ultra-flat corn field wasteland, the mall actually has more hills (curbs) to climb than the wilderness.

 

FWIW, a large group of my fellow Tacoma and 4Runner friends took an off-roading and camping trip to Moab. About half of them had roof racks. These guys were loaded for bear with all kinds of stuff for the trip including camping stuff and recovery stuff. One guy had a shovel and 2 traction boards on his roof rack. The rest of the racks were completely bare.

 

There’s no extra stuff in mine. Just pre drilled holes.