Is Roof Rack Necessary or just get hard shell

Just tied 16' of house siding to my Yakima. It's mounted on top of my ARE rack. Saved my ass.

 

On my to do list

 

Racks are super handy. I have the thule ones on a track that are removable, I leave them off 90% of the time since I don't fit in the garage with them on now my trucks on 35's.

 

Well...I think the verdict is unanimous. Now, who would have thought choosing a rack would be so difficult. I looked at each and everyone's setup and all are worthy products but there can only be one. What do you guys think about a rack on the shell and a basket type rack in the cab? Would that set up make any sense?

 

The first thing I ordered for my truck was a cap; but with a 5' bed, it didn't go as far as I needed it to.
I added a Baja Rack and it's a great combo [see pic below]. It sits almost at the same level as the cap, and if I add a piece of pipe insulation to one of the bars on the rack, the roof load is level.
All depends on need (I carry lumber, boats, and anything else longer than 5'), but this has been the best option for me.

 

Agreed. I had a yakima mega warrior basket on my dodge dakota. It was nice and it is a good product but isn't as versatile as a flat rack like baja racks, front runner, or mine. I haven'ty had any issues figuring out how to secure gear on a flat rack. If anything I would say do a flat rack on the cab and then a couple crossbars on the shell. "Crom" (I believe that is his username) has his setup like that.

 

i don't have a pic of mine but if you needed it you would know. i use mine for surfboards all the time, lumber some of the time and misc for little of the time. there's probably not much you couldn't put on it. i care about functionality more than anything. ill try to get a pic up later. ps hunt for a used one, never buy new. new=ripoff

 

Craigslist and local classifieds are like gold fields for used yakima and thule stuff.

 

I would get the rack, I was somewhere not close to home and a guy had long planks of barn wood he wanted to get rid of. I was able to slide them up on top. If I didn't have the rack I wouldn't have been able to get them home. I also have a trailer, but I'm not going to take the trailer every where I go. You never know when you might need them.