what's with the factory roof rack?
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Speaking of roof racks, Riley did you ever get that Outback rack installed? I'd love to see pics of it.
Yep, the Outback's installed. Dave (aka FaVe) and I got it on a few weeks ago. Today I ended up switching it around front to back. Here's a few things I've learned (I'll send this off to Christo for his reference as well):
- In order to not have any clamps on above the passenger doors, I had to mount what Outback calls the front.... at the rear of the truck (and vice versa) [ie. flip front to back]. This is because the rack is not symmetrical. Now it's mounted so the clamps are only above the rear sliding window area.
- I had to remove the air deflector in order to allow the rear hatch door to open with the rack push this far back. The air deflector is on my POS list. It causes rust just like the POS roof rack does. Now I have 6 holes in the rear hatch door to plug.
- The design of the rack is excellent. All sorts of little slots ect... to slide the attachments into. So far I only have eyelets.
- I think it looks pretty cool and is functional.
- While Outback's design is very good, there was one minor QA issue. Dave and I couldn't get one clamp to fit on because one bracket was a little too wide. We easily fixed it by squeezing it in a little in a vise.
- I have a little more custom fabricating to do in order to allow my lightweight boat (flyfishing John boat) to sit over top of the Outback. My goal is a somewhat complicated system where the boat sits over top of the gear in the rack.
Overall I'd probably give the rack a B+ (would have been an A except for the bracket issue). If I had called Christo, I'm sure he would have made things an A by shipping me another replacement bracket ( but I never had the time and all is well now anyway).
I don't have a digital camera (unless Simon drops by). I do have a digital camcorder which I might be able to get pics into my computer (never tried). Maybe I'll try that tomorrow.
No plans to buy a digital camera as I've just got the green light for new steel rims and MTRs so I need to cool it for awhile or I'll be sleeping in the shop with my baseball bat)
Riley
- In order to not have any clamps on above the passenger doors, I had to mount what Outback calls the front.... at the rear of the truck (and vice versa) [ie. flip front to back]. This is because the rack is not symmetrical. Now it's mounted so the clamps are only above the rear sliding window area.
- I had to remove the air deflector in order to allow the rear hatch door to open with the rack push this far back. The air deflector is on my POS list. It causes rust just like the POS roof rack does. Now I have 6 holes in the rear hatch door to plug.
- The design of the rack is excellent. All sorts of little slots ect... to slide the attachments into. So far I only have eyelets.
- I think it looks pretty cool and is functional.
- While Outback's design is very good, there was one minor QA issue. Dave and I couldn't get one clamp to fit on because one bracket was a little too wide. We easily fixed it by squeezing it in a little in a vise.
- I have a little more custom fabricating to do in order to allow my lightweight boat (flyfishing John boat) to sit over top of the Outback. My goal is a somewhat complicated system where the boat sits over top of the gear in the rack.
Overall I'd probably give the rack a B+ (would have been an A except for the bracket issue). If I had called Christo, I'm sure he would have made things an A by shipping me another replacement bracket ( but I never had the time and all is well now anyway).
I don't have a digital camera (unless Simon drops by). I do have a digital camcorder which I might be able to get pics into my computer (never tried). Maybe I'll try that tomorrow.
No plans to buy a digital camera as I've just got the green light for new steel rims and MTRs so I need to cool it for awhile or I'll be sleeping in the shop with my baseball bat)
Riley
Riley,
I'm also very interested in pics and any more information you have on the Outback rack. What does yours weigh? Do you think you could remove and install it by yourself? Height?
-B-
I'm also very interested in pics and any more information you have on the Outback rack. What does yours weigh? Do you think you could remove and install it by yourself? Height?
-B-
B - Pics coming tomorrow. I'm borrowing the camera from the kids next door.
The rack is pretty light, say 60 lbs or less (for the half rack). But I can't see how anybody could put it on themselves. Although it's light enough for the wife to help me.
In my case it's not coming off. During my last house reno I told the guys to make that garage doors as high as possible.
Hopefully with the 305/70s and the rack I'm still clearing.
Stay tuned.
The rack is pretty light, say 60 lbs or less (for the half rack). But I can't see how anybody could put it on themselves. Although it's light enough for the wife to help me.
In my case it's not coming off. During my last house reno I told the guys to make that garage doors as high as possible.
Hopefully with the 305/70s and the rack I'm still clearing. Stay tuned.
Riley,
Did you have to remove the rear air deflector since the rack would not mount any further forward, or did you have to remove it since it was interfering with where you wanted the rack mounted.
I have the rear air deflector as well and wasn't planing on removing it since it does serve some sort of purpose but if I must, I must.
Did you have to remove the rear air deflector since the rack would not mount any further forward, or did you have to remove it since it was interfering with where you wanted the rack mounted.
I have the rear air deflector as well and wasn't planing on removing it since it does serve some sort of purpose but if I must, I must.
You don't have to remove the air deflector and I didn't until this weekend. I wanted to get the rack back as far as I could so that:
a) I had the Outback as far back as I could (for boat mounting reasons).
b) so that the clamps didn't effect the passenger doors and weatherstripping. Probably would have been fine though where it was.
I'd pull that air deflector to check for rust however.
Riley
a) I had the Outback as far back as I could (for boat mounting reasons).
b) so that the clamps didn't effect the passenger doors and weatherstripping. Probably would have been fine though where it was.
I'd pull that air deflector to check for rust however.
Riley
I guess with the ugly color of that truck that is a sufficient fix. Probably better would have been masking tape. After all, if it peels, it would be a great excuse to paint it some more manly color.
Here's a side view. Sorry for the bad lighting. 
Also ignore the black rail near the sunroof, that's from my old rack.
Also ignore the black rail near the sunroof, that's from my old rack.
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Another look at the side detail:
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I like that a lot! 
The rack has lot's of channels in the rails for mounting the attachments. Here's what the eyelet's look like along with the channel. You can see the opening in the slot to feed in the attachment.
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A closer shot of the clamp mounted just aft of the passenger door. You can also see eyelets mounted in other channels.
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And lastly the from the rear. B - the top of the rack is 5.5" from the top of truck roof (not the strip of the old rack but the flat part of the metal roof).
Also note the rust around the holes of the air deflector.
They are being POR15'd and then covered via Dan's method of o-rings and washers.
Thanks Dan... I like it too.
Also note the rust around the holes of the air deflector.
They are being POR15'd and then covered via Dan's method of o-rings and washers.
Thanks Dan... I like it too.
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Thanks Riley, that is exactly what I'm looking for. 5-1/2" will be close. I am hoping to get a good quality rack that will last a long time. The light weight of aluminum is a major consideration for me, as is the flexibility and strength of the Outback design. The price still has me catching my breath though!!!
Can the rack mounting feet be moved relative to the rack itself? (Basically, are they adjustable fore and aft?)
Is the alum painted or anodized or natural aluminum?
Those eyelets look very handy. How many does it come with?
-B-
Can the rack mounting feet be moved relative to the rack itself? (Basically, are they adjustable fore and aft?)
Is the alum painted or anodized or natural aluminum?
Those eyelets look very handy. How many does it come with?
-B-
B - I'm pretty sure it's 5-1/2" but the weight is a guess. It is very light but still strong.
The feet are mounted to the crossrails so there's only a few positions they can be fitted however if you didn't mount them on the crossrails at say the front (or back) then the front part of the rack would be unsupported (ie. hanging free at the front in this example). For light loads that might be ok but not heavy loads.
The alum is powder coated and then clear coated.
The eyelets are not included but they are not very expensive (relative speaking). I ordered a set of small and a set of large eyelets (thinking that was the size of the eyelet). However I then learned that the slots in the rails are different diameters and the small eyelets fit in some locations (like the outer rails) and the large fit in other rails (like the floor). Good thing I order both.
If you think it's expensive try converting it to Canadian $$. I can't wait to complete the setup with my gear underneath and my John boat on top. Hopefully it will work out well.
Riley
The feet are mounted to the crossrails so there's only a few positions they can be fitted however if you didn't mount them on the crossrails at say the front (or back) then the front part of the rack would be unsupported (ie. hanging free at the front in this example). For light loads that might be ok but not heavy loads.
The alum is powder coated and then clear coated.
The eyelets are not included but they are not very expensive (relative speaking). I ordered a set of small and a set of large eyelets (thinking that was the size of the eyelet). However I then learned that the slots in the rails are different diameters and the small eyelets fit in some locations (like the outer rails) and the large fit in other rails (like the floor). Good thing I order both.
If you think it's expensive try converting it to Canadian $$. I can't wait to complete the setup with my gear underneath and my John boat on top. Hopefully it will work out well.
Riley
Thanks Riley, those pictures were worth waiting for.
I thought I'd give a little update on my rack. Sometime ago I reversed what Outback calls front and back. This was to allow it to mount behind the rear passenger doors and not damage the weather stripping. Outback's instructions mention a rubber strip to mount in the front channel (but never says why). Anyway I just left this rubber in the existing channel which was now on the rear of the rack. Didn't seem to matter.
Well up to now, everything is fine. Pics taken which are shown above. Notice my old bar & gutter clamp on the first pic? Well I removed that last night to work on the boat setup.
Wife takes the truck out today to kids soccer practice and the truck is screaming loud with a howl. They don't know what's going on. All I did was remove the front bar. ???
Here's what I deduced.... the front bar had been creating an air flow disturbance for the last few weeks and I didn't have any problems. When I removed the front bar last night, that disturbance was gone and now (for some reason) the Outback rack was howling. I simply moved that rubber channel strip to what is now the front of the rack and it's fixed. Back to being totally quiet
Moral of the story is you need to keep that rubber strip at the front of the rack to fill that channel or the wind somehow creates this whistling effect. It would have been good if Outback said why you need this stuff. But now you know
That reminds me I should let Christo know so the next guy who's not on this site doesn't have to refigure this out.
Riley
Well up to now, everything is fine. Pics taken which are shown above. Notice my old bar & gutter clamp on the first pic? Well I removed that last night to work on the boat setup.
Wife takes the truck out today to kids soccer practice and the truck is screaming loud with a howl. They don't know what's going on. All I did was remove the front bar. ???
Here's what I deduced.... the front bar had been creating an air flow disturbance for the last few weeks and I didn't have any problems. When I removed the front bar last night, that disturbance was gone and now (for some reason) the Outback rack was howling. I simply moved that rubber channel strip to what is now the front of the rack and it's fixed. Back to being totally quiet
Moral of the story is you need to keep that rubber strip at the front of the rack to fill that channel or the wind somehow creates this whistling effect. It would have been good if Outback said why you need this stuff. But now you know
That reminds me I should let Christo know so the next guy who's not on this site doesn't have to refigure this out.
Riley
Due to special request.... a few more detailed pics of the clamp attaching to the rack -
Thanks Riley,
Thanks for the pics! I think I can get a good feel of the rack relative to the truck. I'd feel guilty if you took off the front rail for me.
Thanks for the pics! I think I can get a good feel of the rack relative to the truck. I'd feel guilty if you took off the front rail for me.
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