I have been carrying a lot of things in the cargo area lately, over the past few months I have been adding quite a bit in the back of the 100 in terms of cargo carrying. I always felt that in the event of a impact, or unexpected bump off road something was going to make it up and over the seat and into the passenger area. I’ve never liked riding in the back of SUV’s when they have small heavy cargo items (jacks, jack stands, purses, baggage etc). A few months ago I had to swerve to avoid a car in an intersection (pulled out infront of me) and managed to go into the grass. I hit a small bump and it was just enough to pop the back of the truck up and send a few items over the back seat. I was fine, nobody else but me in the car. That was enough, enough of taking a risk. I sent Corbet (Speski Offroad)a PM and told him I would like to purchase a cargo barrier. He wanted to purchase a LED Light Bar. After about 6 months of emailing and PM’ing we finally got the barrier and LED Light Bar on the road to each other. I got the box and was so excited I went right out to install it. It’s very simple to install, remove the grab handles, insert aluminum spacers and brackets and bolt in. It was so simple that my blown out back and massive headache didn’t stop be from screwing the install up...
Quality: I think the Speski Barrier is on-par with the larger names in the Cargo Barrier industry, I have not seen a Milford up close, but I have seen detailed pictures and despite the cost, I don’t think it’s worth the coin. I have seen home-made barriers which look nice but kind of make you think why he used PVC pipe and some 2X4’s. Unboxing the Speski was nice, it took me longer to remove than it did to install. All the welds are nice and have great penetration, the entire assembly is quite light, which surprised me. Brackets, bolts, and the mounting holes all lined up with no hassle. I didn’t follow the washer/bolt recommendation. Instead of using the chrome washers I used loctite and the entire assembly is black.
- Pro’s:
-Safety: Keeps your cargo where it needs to be...the cargo area.
-Versatility: ability to mount lightweight things (camel back, clothes, etc).
-Camping: Leaves enough room to fold down the seats and slide under to to sleep.
-Safety: Oh, I mentioned that in #1
- Con's
- Vibrates a little bit at highway speed (tires out of balance, can't blame anybody but me).
The lateral vibration was annoying me quite badly, so I took a towel and folded it up and put it between the back of the seat and the barrier, this has removed all vibration. I plan on drilling 3 holes in the base of the barrier and adding soft rubber pads to the barrier to grip on the back of the seat to stop it from shaking. Nothing Corbet can do to eliminate the vibration, other than make a support bracket and drill it into the cargo area, however we would loose the bolt in no drill feature, which I really like. I may be a bit anal with this vibration thing, some probably won't even notice it. If there is a rattle in my truck I don't stop until it's fixed, and I'm talking about removing EVERY panel and installing them 1 by 1 until I find out which one.
All in all, I would give the barrier a 10/10. I’ll tell you why, SAFETY. As stated before, keeping cargo in the cargo area is important, as it should be for anybody. My parents didn’t quite understand the importance of this barrier, I told them both to sit in the front seats, opened the rear hatch up and threw a couple bottles of water at the barrier, they asked “what the hell are you doing?”. I told them they just got rear ended and the barrier was stopping boxes, tow straps, hi-lift jack, and anything else that wants to impale you in the back of the head. They quickly learned and agreed this was a very smart purchase. I agree too, last thing I want is anybody injured in my vehicle because I missed a speed bump or was in a vehicle accident. If you have kids, or dogs, I would recommend it. I’m not by any means plugging the Speski, or trying to give him a sale. I’m just trying to inform all of us, me included. I'm still learning about external (winching, snatching, towing, etc) and internal (mounts, proper tie downs, barriers, etc) safety.
Speski Cargo Barrier Installed:
Driver Side Bracket:
Passenger Side Bracket:
Clearance around the Rear A/C Controls:
Head Liner Clearance:
2ND Row Seat Back Clearance:
2ND Row Folded Down:
View from Driver Seat:
Installed Pictures:
