Poll/Opinion : To Roof Rack or Not to Roof Rack !

Hello,
I have a 2000 tacoma xtracab with off road package, all terrain tires (31"/15) pretty much stock and in mint condition. I will be using it for light gravel road camping trips, and will be bringing bikes and gear in the bed.

I was thinking of installing a roof cargo rack to keep some tools cases and bags up top when I go on these trips.

The rack is a beefy steel Warrior safari rack (47lb) but small enough to fit inside the roof dimensions and would be bolted to the roof.

With the cases and bags up there , maybe it would total 100lb static ,including the weight of the rack and hardware.

I won't be doing much tricky wheeling, or rock crawling in this truck, but I'm concerned about increasing my rollover potential and safety on highway and backroad travel and/or in windy conditions.

Does anyone have experience with adding and using a similar rack like this in this way ? Did you use it then remove it ? I can just Tetris gear in the bed but sure would be nice to just have stuff up there that I don't need very often , and also a way to mount lights and accessories.

Thoughts , opinions ?

Thanks !

 

Thanks for the speedy reply critter ! , bikes in the bed - so no go on bed rack, but thanks !
did you notice bad handling with roof rack ? how much weight did you put up there typically ?

 

I would do it. We don't have much room in the extra cabs so roof racks are great. I'm thinking about a Prinsu rack for mine since it sits fairly close to the roof.

 

Roof racks will substantially increase your risk of rollover.

I ditched mine after a close call and just LineXed the roof instead and added tie downs to the bolt holes. Also got a winch, lol.

 

So does taking bad lines.

 

Indeed. That’s assuming you can see the line. In this case, I couldn’t see the drop off to my left, which was the juncture with another trail. I was going uphill not knowing another, lower trail was joining from my left, and I slid into it. The picture only shows the lower joining trail, not the higher one I was on, which is out of frame on the right of the pic.

This means the truck had actually slid laterally about ten feet from out of frame on the right. The picture really doesn’t show how steep it was. This is sloping downhill away from the camera quite a bit.

Right after the rescue, a Jeep Rubicon did the exact same thing here. Sometimes the bad line picks you.

Edit, here it is corrected vertically against the trees.

 

@goingplacesanddoingstuff - looked like a tricky trail, I doubt I would do anything that off camber with this truck. The rack and mounted cases would be 12" to the top off the roof, so I wouldn't be stacking super heavy tall stuff up there, I'm just a bit worried about how that weight (about 100lb total) would feel on the suspension and cab balance. I'll have some weight in the bed but nothing crazy. Thanks for your input !

 

The weight of the unibrow on your hood is what caused the near roll over

 

Drive with a person over 100 pounds and that should show you how it would feel.

 

@Nano909 - are you suggesting I strap a person to the roof ? '

 

i can`t see 100 pounds making much of a difference with roll over. Till your already on two wheels .

Wind resistance you will take a hit on fuel mileage normal driving and a head wind .

You will notice a high crosswind some what.

Put a 100 pound box up there see how it handles ratchet strap through the cab.

 

If you were close i would be glad to volunteer !!

In the old days we would surf on pick up roofs

Goggles were a must.

 

I've have a roof rack on both of my rigs, no issues whatsoever. I do agree that it can increase your chances of rollover, but I'm not concerned about that. You're more likely to rollover due to taking bad lines, in my opinion. The three rollovers I've seen were due to inexperienced drivers doing things they shouldn't.

 

I've never worried about it on an old 70 series , its a tank, but this is a small truck and haven't really taken it deep into the woods, I always used overland-style steel racks on my other vehicles but not sure about this daily driver taco, thanks for input everyone !

 

100 lbs on the roof is a lot, FWIW, and could dramatically increase rollover chances.

I go off-road a lot in mountainous areas of the west and have been for over a decade. It’s not always possible to be be perfect. Nor is it possible to know every trail. Point is, if you prioritize off road, especially in new unfamiliar places, think twice about roof weight.

Oopsies happen if you do this long enough. In this pic I screwed up, but it was a very deceptive geometry going on. In this situation it was through my actions that I prevented a rollover. There was zero damage to my truck thanks to the slider, which caught the ground.

 

Exactly what I was going to say

That's a bad line to take.

 

Please read the follow up. That’s not a chosen line. The truck slid down from a different trail out of frame.

 

They claim it protects your hood and windscreen from rocks. So far in 4 years of Colorado driving I haven’t caught any… so I guess that’s good. Can’t say for sure if it works, but I can’t say it doesn’t work either.

 

Not enough wheel to ground distance anyway.

 

This for sure, 100lbs is a lot.

I'd be more worried about the integrity of the cab really, followed by rollover if one is found in a precarious situation.