Where to get roof racks

[DylanRobins]

Hi I'm new to the forum, I recently purchased a 99 E 350 v10 quigley, and was wondering about the best place to get a roof rack for it. I have seen the Aluminess website but not sure that I want to spend over $2000 on a rack. Are there other options out there, or do people love their Aluminess? Any info would be helpful thanks

[86Scotty]

Welcome, there are many options out there for roof racks but a majority of the ones you've probably seen are home made. If you want a good looking, complete ready to bolt up rack specifically made for your van you will be spending a lot as noted above. Aluminess, Ujoint, Weld-tec and a few others are options.
You can also go with some of the commercially made ones for ladders, etc. which look pretty good on an adventure van if configured right. Examples:

https://www.rackwarehouse.com/system...ml?gclid=Cj0KC

https://www.carid.com/kargo-master/p...oaAo1zEALw_wcB

Also, you can add center extensions to the racks from Thule, Yakima, ARB, etc.

To start you'll need rain gutter towers and crossbars from Thule or Yakima if you don't want to come up with something custom.

There is a pretty slick home made roof rack many have made from aluminum ATV truck ramps. Lots of examples of racks on Expedition Portal.

[JoeH]

Originally Posted by DylanRobins

Hi I'm new to the forum, I recently purchased a 99 E 350 v10 quigley, and was wondering about the best place to get a roof rack for it. I have seen the Aluminess website but not sure that I want to spend over $2000 on a rack. Are there other options out there, or do people love their Aluminess? Any info would be helpful thanks

There are a few roof rack threads to peruse but keep in mind one reason the aluminess is expensive is that it's ...ah well aluminum. I replaced the Yakima basket setup on mine with a K9 Eezi Awn so I could use the existing holes and tracks in the roof. https://www.equipt1.com/c/roof-racks/custom-roof-racks

4runner makes a nice rack as does Ujoint. There are cheaper options for sure but how much weight to you want on your roof especially if you have a penthouse.

[QuadsBC]

Smittybilt defender roof rack is available for about 1200. I plan on using northern tool ladder rack as a base and build a full length rack off of it. I should be into a full rack for less than 400

[carringb]

Lots of high quality steel options out there. I have the weatherguard safari rack. It's sturdy, but heavy. I used Yakima stuff previously and needed a system that would carry more weight better.

[GAR]

Hi Dylan,

Welcome to the forums.

I priced out making my own aluminum roof rack, counting what my time would be worth while welding and sourcing all the materials, the cost of an Aluminess roof rack was the better option for me.

Now that I have it, its awesome. Very well put together. I also had them add two bars that run length wise underneath for support, which I really like. -Only needed if one plans on spending a good amount of time up there like I do, otherwise one should be sufficient. The two bars (rubber) mounted to the top bar on the back are for rolling a boat up onto the rack.

Note:
Had to rap some 550 paracord around the top front bar to silence the wind turbulence noise (which was excessive), but now its not even noticeable.

Gar

[lazybummm]

I will be getting rain gutter towers and using steel angles plus aluminum extrusion profiles as cross bars to make the roof rack, it'll be a fraction of the cost, will still probably be $600+ worth of materials, plus a fair amount of time.

[luked]

I've got maybe $400 into this ATV ramp DIY build



You can read about it here

[winmag4582001]

Originally Posted by luked

I've got maybe $400 into this ATV ramp DIY build



You can read about it here

Really like your rack!

Right now I'm just using two ladder racks and a cheap Amazon basket. The racks were free and the basket cost $74 and then another $20 for stainless steel u-bolts.

[Bbasso]

Don't forget that Chris sells them too.
Ujointoffroad