Thule roof rack success!

I've had my Thule roof rack for over three years now, and loved it every minute. It's one of the most useful additions to my truck. i have off road lights, 2 bike racks, surfboard pads and a shovel up there. i've had it very loaded up before, but today it proved itsself once more.

this past winter virginia got 3 major snow storms, breaking 100 year old records. while it was great at the time, I pulled out my family's hobiecat from the back yard so i could give it a good wash before the summer gets going. the snow was so heave that it actually bent part of the trailer frame.

so today i stopped off at the local steel yard to pick up some 1/4'' thick 2'' x 2'' boxed steel tubeing to fix it. i soon found that they only sell it in 20 foot lengths.......truck is only about 18 feet....

the owner of the steel yard said that he's only sold the 20 foot lengths to people with full ladder racks, or flatbed trucks and/or trailers, and that a regular pickup will not be able to transport it.

he was wrong
took two people to lift it, but we put it on the surfboard racks (i've carried tons of non-surfboard items up there before) and i made sure to tie it down very securely. use two ratchet straps to secure it to the rack itsself, and then two other straps to put some tension on the ends so they wouldn't bounce around on the drive home. i actually stood on the roof rack and pulled on the steel, and it didn't budge, so it was very safe.

the owner said he was very impressed, and I was yet again thrilled with my thule rack.

so to anyone searching TW for opinions on roof racks, take it from me, you can't go wrong with this one.

here are some pictures of today's haul as well as some other good shots.
enjoy, and ask any questions you have about this rack system.

FWIW, My best gues is that the piece of steel weighs somewhere just over 100lbs






here it is coming loaded up coming home home from college one year




and here it is with more than just the roof rack loaded up before my lift and tires

 

i've worked part time as a mechanic at a bike shop for the past 4 years, so i got it at a discount, but retail is about
$160 for the "towers"
$70 for the rubber feet speciffically made for the taco's roof line.
$70 for cross bars
$80 for the fairing (optional, but i highly recomend it as it really cuts down on wind noise and whistleing

$380 total. you can also get locks if you want for pretty cheap. i did, but it's not required.

if you shop around you can probably get the whole setup for about $300. prices i gave are from thule's website

 

Great pics!
Yes I will agree, I have run the same setup on my truck since March 2007. Mine didn't cost as much for there is a rack warehouse in my area. Got the whole setup minus the locks for $250 installed.
Thanks for your review.

 

^^^ that's a good deal. yeah, if you shop around, you can get some pretty good prices. the prices i posted are directly from thule's website, so i figure that's about as much as you'll ever pay. working at a bike shop, I get a sizeable discount (we get them at cost), but for the average setup, 250 to 300 sounds about right.

if you have any pictures of yours in action, toss them on up

 

looks good but take off that silly autozone 4x4 sticker.

 

well sir, it's actually advance auto parts but yeah, i was not as in touch 3-4 years ago when i slapped it on there as to what was "cool". it's on the list to come off. when i figure out a good way to get the thule logo off (it's painted on), i'm going to take that and the two stickers off.

 

haha word!

 

looks good! Do you ever worry about the door seals using that type of rack system? All the racks I've owned attached to factory racks so I never had to worry about that type of thing.

 

I've had the rack for over 3 years.....there are "impressions" in the foam seals where the clamp is, but it is not noticable unless you know it's there. never had any issues with tearing, or water getting in (and we get some HEAVY rain in florida). nothing but good things to say about this setup

 

Flip the whole faring around so thule faces backwards against rack, problem solved.

 

there are two pieces of plastic, permanately plastic-riveted on either side, so if you flip it, they will curve the wrong way. good ideal though, i'll look at it closer and see if i can find a way to detach and reatach them

 

I use mine for kayaks mostly. I have put a 3rd boat between the JHulls on occassion....works like a champ like yours 3+ yrs and still going...

Like colinb says, mine has held up in all extremes of Northern New England weather without any issues. I will agree the factory racks look cleaner but never had an issue with damage unless its installed improperly. We have had them on several toyota trucks through the years.

 

I'll second simon's mom, the factory rack does look cleaner, so if you go aftermarket, it's usually for strength. In addition to college, i've worked at a bike shop part time for the last 5 years. we sell both thule and yakima racks. about 3 years ago, both companies had to lower their rack's weight rating. they used to be rated at 250 lbs (toyota rack is 100 for comparison), but they had to state a lower weight rating due to the increased potential for rollover if you had that much on your roof. the manufacturers did not change anything about their racks, so they can still handle 250, they just state a lower number now due to the legal regulations. i believe that the stated capacity is now just above the toyota factory rack.

 

Very cool! thanks guys/gals... I've been debating what route to take to haul my 14' yak around.

one last question: what length bars are you folks using?

 

58'' bars...they stick out about 6 inches in either side, but i use that extra length more than i thought i would. if you don't need it though, it is very easy to cut off the excess with a hack saw or sawzall.

 

Thanks for the length update Colin!

 

glad to help

 

truck looks great colin. do you have to remove your lights when you have everything else mounted up there?

i wanted to mount hella's on mine but they're on the camper so I'm not sure if i'd get the right angle off of the rack.

i attached a picture of my biggest load so far... queen bed frame inside and the mattresses up top.

 

i set it up so i didn't have to take the lights off. surf board pads on one side and a bike rack on the other. then i built my own fork mount bike rack and put it right between the lights.

looks like you're putting your rack to good use