My 1996 sport doesn't have a roof rack and that is something I would like to get for it.

The roof racks I really like are on Nissan Xterras, the aluminun tube style.

Does anyone have some good websites with explorer roof rack options.

Thanks

I like the look of the Xterra type one too. Go to http://www.carparts.com Look under accessories, then scroll down to exterior accessories. There are 4 pages of different items to view. Plus free shipping and you might be able to use a 1/3 off coupon #1836008 or #1868008. Hope you find what your looking for.
:exp: BTW, I'm not giving you advise to buy from them, just a place to look up what your looking for. I've never bought anything from them, so I'm not sure of their service/shipping time. :redexp:

Yakima (http://www.yakima.com) and Thule (http://www.thule.com) both have good rack systems...I use Yakima (so do Ford & Nissan...they both use Yakima products).

[Edited by FlyAU on 07-16-2000 at 09:14 PM]

I'll second FlyAu's comment on Yakima -http://www.yakima.com/products/racks.
I just got mine on and it's pretty sweet. The fairing is a must, not only for aesthetics but noise/drag reduction.
It all adds up quickly, depending on what you're doing with it though. Definitely a nicer look than the factory rack which is solid, but the horizontals don't do much for ya due to their shape.

I have a question...

When I first bought my explorer, it didn't have roof racks either, and I was so gung ho that I ordered some from JC Whitney. When they came and we dry fitted them, the size was off a little...no biggie we said..(the width was off)..we shortened them just a tad and installed them. Well, guess what...? It doesn't look so great. Looks like a big purple purse w/ a handle! I want to replace them, but the holes now exist. What to do about that? Looking for suggestions. Don't want a roof leak!

Since the size was off we never bothered to put on the strips that go between the racks. We thought of filling the holes and strategically placing the strips over the holes to prevent leaks...but that seems kinda cheesy to me. What can I do aside from PAYING for a good job?

Without actually going through the expense of getting them filled by a body shop. The only thing that comes to mind is using silicon. You can get a tube of it rather inexpensively. Just squirt a littlein the hole and leave enough on the top to swirl around to completely cover the area around the hole.
..nother idea,...if you can find rubber plugs, you could stick those in there...
OK, and I'm spent!.......(Austin Powers)
Hope this helps..

I Just ordered a Sarari Roof Rack with adapters, spare tire mount and a Hi-Lift mount fo $360.00. Has anyone out there had this rack if so is it worth it or should I stop the order?

From an ole boat owner:

Use 'blind' pop rivets to seal the holes on the roof. They'll be virtually flush on the roof, and penetrate maybe 1/4 below the metal, still inside the headliner.

Enjoy!

I saw a stock roof rack off a 98 on Ebay...searchg under ford explorer and it should come up unless it expired alreeady

Originally posted by Dennis Myers
I Just ordered a Sarari Roof Rack with adapters, spare tire mount and a Hi-Lift mount fo $360.00. Has anyone out there had this rack if so is it worth it or should I stop the order?

http://members.home.net/engcamron/side2.jpg

You tell me if it's worth it. I think so. Although, I ordered my Safari rack, mounting brackets, spare tire carrier and a pair of light brackets for about $265.00 including shipping from Performance Products.

[Edited by Cameron on 07-13-2000 at 04:59 AM]

It looks real good on your truck. Now I can't wait to get mine.

Hey! I like that safari rack! Maybe I will save up one more paycheck and go for the gusto! Thanks Goober & roadkill for the suggestions...I was afraid everyone was going to say NO! Don't do it! Pay the professional...wheew! what a relief. Hope it works..wish me luck...THanks

Cameron, or others,
How does the safari rack mount? I was looking at one on carparts and it said it mounted to the existing luggage rack. Does it bolt to the luggage rack crossbars or is it attached to the two slide channels where the crossbars click in?
If it mounts to the two crossbars, I would not be confident with the strength. Those crossbars are kinda flimsy.
Any input would be appreciated...

You have to order the brackets with the rack. You're going to remove your stock cross brace. The brackets attach to the new cross brace and the rack then mounts to the braces. The whole thing is very strong. I heard it supports over 10,000 pounds! Just kidding. Seeing if you're paying attention.

It should take you less then 2 hours to assemble and mount the rack.

Remember the mfg. and roof rack vendor recomendations: the load cannot exceed the rating of the factory rack rails, which I believe is 100lbs.

Cameron that rack looks great on your truck.
I've been looking for a rack just like that but I want it in chrome or aluminmum. Does anybody know if there is such a thing or think that maybe these can be painted to match all of my chrome trimings. My rims and nerf bars are Chrome so I would love to get a rack that matches these.
Any ideas guys???????????????

Thanks,
RObert

Sure, If it's steel, bring it to a chrome shop and they should do it for a reasonable fee. Don't kow where to go? Ask your local body shop, cause they send things out for chrome on cars.

Alloy, like alum., have it clear anodized. Won't be shiney like chrome, but it can be almost as bright like diamond plate! They might even have a chrome type process.

I have never seen chrome Safari racks. I have seen aluminum racks but they tend to be expensive (at least the ones I have seen). You may want to consider having your rack chrome plated. I don't know how much that'll cost (can't be cheep). Or, you can paint it yourself. Not sure how that would look though. Look around. You might get lucky.

Good luck.

The weakest link of the factory rack system is the crossmembers. It's too bad because Ford coulda made them alot more rigid (useful) if the span material was more rounded and less streamlined.
I'm hoping a safari (is that a brand?) rack, or similar, omits the factory crossmembers and mounts directly to the factory rack rail.
If this is the case and the mounts are adequate in number and width where they bolt up to the rack rails, the load rating would be MUCH MORE than 100 pounds.

I use yakama mounts and crossbars, they're beefy. The load rating is the roof of the vehicle, not the rack. Read the mfg specs with the rack, and they recommend not exceeding the load limit, including the wt. of the rack itself added in.

So, Cameron,

Where did you order your beautiful rack from... I had been dreaming about the perfect roof tire rack, then suddenly your picture popped up and bam! My dream came true..

sweet :)

Jason

I'd like to know where your grille guard came from.

I think you wrote about "your website". Where's it located?

thanks

Robert:

Consider powder coating your rack. I just got some 'chrome' powder from Eastwood. Haven't used it yet, but the samples I saw looked great! Really couldn't tell from chrome or polished stainless a couple of feet away.

Only restriction is that you can only powder coat clean conductive metals. Look in an Eastwood catalog for more info.

jwild4x4, I ordered the roof rack from Performance Products. The rack, brackets, two light mounts and the spare tire carrier cost about $265.00 delivered. I think the rack fits the Explorer well. I'm very happy with it.

jwild4x4, I ordered my grill guard from 4 Wheel Parts. I don't remember what I paid for it but the install was a snap. No drilling or cutting or any sort of modifications where needed. http://www.4wheelparts.com

Thanks Cameron...

I went searching around their website, but I had no luck finding your safari rack! Did you have to order it from their catalog?? Maybe you could point me in the right direction. Thanks again :)

Oh, one other question: How did you mount your CB antenna. I assume it's a magnetic mount, but did you just run your wire through the doorjam, or what? It looks so clean. I'm very impressed.

Jason

[Edited by jwild4x4 on 07-17-2000 at 02:54 PM]

i was wondering if 45"x60" safari rack is too wide?
does anyone know if that would stick out on the sides and look stupid?

I have a 45x50 rack on mine and I don't think it is to wide.

Here is a picture.
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=965100&a=7071578&p=25086486&Sequence=0

Does anyone sell roof racks that are about 60 inches in length? I have a 1996 4 door so I need something bigger.

the rack I just purchased is 39"x59". its the conferr roof rack. Haven't installed it yet because I'm still waiting on the brackets, doh.

Matt,
You bought the same one I did. :D

Matt or Ray
Is 39x59 39 width 59 length?
If so where did you guys buy from.

Hi Keith,
Yes, Width is 39", length is 59". I would go to a local shop and see if they will beat Con-Ferr's online price. The shop that will be doing my lift Trains 4X4 in Salinas CA saved me over 100 bucks from the online price for the whole thing, and that includes 3 sets of light brackets, Hi-lift jack bracket, shovel/axe bracket, and the roof mounts and floor. You can see the rack at http://www.conferr.com. Hope this helps. :)

jwild4x4,
Sorry it took me so long to respond. Yes, the antenna is magnetic mount. I will be replacing it with one that mounts to the rack. I'm running the antenna wire through the back seat window. I run the wire sort of behind the glass around the gasket and down the side. Then, at the bottom it enters the cabin.

I bought mine from 4-wheel parts wholesalers even though I vowed I would not buy from them again. Anyways I paid slightly less then the website listed and didn't have to pay any shipping since they had one of the racks in the Denver area, and the brackets they had in their warehouse somewhere (just waiting for them to be delivered). I didn't get the hi-lift mount yet because I have a hi-lift mount on my bumper but I might look at it once I start putting more stuff on the roof (I got sick of the hi-lift hittin me in the head while trying to swivel out the spare tire) :).
Ray - are you going to put your spare tire up there as well at some point?

Does anyone have any pictures of an 4 door Explorer with roof rack. I've never seen one (only 2 door) and intrested on how it will look on mine.

I've seen a few, I'll try to see if I can find some pictures. I'm putting a roof-rack on my four-door shortly and I'll take some pictures when its done.

Matt I assume you will put your lights up there but what else is going on it?

Lights, probably the hi-lift... I don't think a spare tire... thinking of putting some air horns up there, and if you think I'm kidding... Ryan, I know you've heard my bitching before about the loudness of the stock horns but everyone else... I think the horns are too damn quiet... they don't have the impact that should be blasted from a huge Explorer. So I'm thinking of going air horn shopping, seeing how hard they'll be to install, probably paint em black if I can... I wonder where you can find one with its one compressor like off a cemi or something... :)

Yep I agree about the horns had to use them the other day and I think I would've prefered to be able to get them to have to change their underwear rather then just ignore me. LOL I am betting if you went to some wrecker yards that had semis you could probably find one on them already. But thats gonna be a tough find. I would call up places that work on semis and see if they have any leads on where you could get some. That would rock. LOL....

exactly... I want some horns that tell someone "HEY!!! YOU JUST DID SOMETHING INCREDIBLY STUPID!!!!" instead of "umm... excuse me... pardon me... I was here first" You know what I mean. I'll see what I can find and whats all involved with installation. One of my friends had her boyfriend get her a set of air horns for her graduating from high school... she was not impressed.

Matt, After putting on the lights, are you sure there will be any room for anything else on the rack? LOL Perhaps a small 5hp generator to power them.. ok ok I'll stop. I'm just mad because I had to take mine off. I can at least get into the garage now(about 1.5" clearance).
Anyways, after looking at this one, I've started to design a different model to build myself. After I get the tools set back up, I'll start on it.

Conferr sells 59x39 which is about the size I need
Total for the Conferr is around 230 from 4 wheel parts and 250 straight from Conferr.
Any other companies sell Conferr cheaper or any companies make around the same size rack?

230 is the price I paid for teh rack itself... I did a little shopping around and that was the best I could find. By the way, I'm going to try to squeeze 6, yes 6 PIAA 80's on to the roof rack I'm going to see what it looks like with 5, see if I can squeeze a sixth on possibly with a little custom welding :). That's just in front... doesn't count the 2 PIAA 40's pointing left-right. I should be able to let everyone know of the progress, hopefully by this weekend.

I can see it now:

"And now, starting at running back...from the University of Georgia, number 30, TERRELL DAVIS!"

Matt's wife/girlfriend/significant other: "Matt, would you just shut up and get back in the car?!?!?!?!?!? We're in your driveway, not at a damn Broncos game!"

Hey Matt,
You have enough room to get 4 80XT's and 1 80 Racing on the front. That's approximately 34 1/4" in width if you put them side by side touching. The rack is 39". With spreading them out 1/2" between lights, you will take up another 2". That's now 36 1/4". You only have 2 3/4" left over.

aww nuts :(

Matt I bet you could do some kind of creative hooking up with those to get it so one shine through the rack itself? Like bolt it to the floor. Or am I not thinking the right way with that rack?

no you're thinking correct... that would be possible. What I think I'm going to do is see how wide it would look to get 6 on there, if it'd look stupid I won't do it I'll leave it at 5. But really if you could make the lights fit PAST the roof rack you could get more in, that would require some slight welding of tab add-ons to the tabs that are on the rack. Who knows, maybe I'll just leave it at four... we'll have to see what it looks like with lights on the side (I'm going to be hooking up a set of PIAA 80 Fog lights pointing left or right). I mainly want it to look cool, extra light is always a bonus but not required :).

Hey Matt,
How about a set of 1400 clear fogs set on the side as close to the front as possible facing at a 45 degree angle towards the front. I was thinking about that myself.
They wouldn't stick out so herrendiously since they are small and would give you what you want, which is light towards the front side down for crawling at night. You could angle them down to see the front tires if need be. What do you think. That's what I was thinking. :cool: He needs the shades to be able to see from all the lights that Matt has on his truck. Maybe you should call your truck Sunshine, with all the lights your gonna put on it, it will certianly look like sunshine. Hell, you could probably get a tan standing in front of it. :D

I found a 40x60 for only 200.
http://www.autoaccessory.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/AutoAccessorycom/start.d2w/report?sku=38467
Anyone used this company before?

Ray - thats an idea. I am already putting on the 80's, although maybe I can try to get a hold of some 1400's as well. Have you hooked up your 520's yet? Are they the fog or the driving?

i got mine at performance products
45x60 ref #860004 $184.70
it's not on the site, but in the catalog
http://www.performanceproducts.com./home.asp

I'm at work so I can't measure.
But won't 45 inches width hang over the edge?
Also was this made for the Explorer?
I e-mailed Performance and the guy told that a 39x60 would cost 400!

Mine is 45x50 and it does not stick out past the side of the truck in fact it is about 2" inside the edge of the truck.

i just put mine on Sat. 45x60
i see if i can get picture posted when i get home tonight.

Hi Kieth,
There are only 2 manufactures IMHO that make a rack that will take a beating and still look good.
Garvin industries Wildreness Rack and Con-Ferr.
I wished I had the money to get the Garvin, but My Con-Ferr will do just fine. If you want it just for looks, then just about anything will work, but if you are going to use it the way it was intended, do yourself a favor and get a good one.
I would hate to spend $200.00 and find out that it crushes when your throw your spare and a suite case up on it.

Ray,

I was going to order a Surco rack from Performance Products. I heard they were good racks and my friend Rod (Sinjin[PEZ]) has one and he has used it a lot and it's doing great.

Well tonight was the night for the co nferr installation... gotta say so far I'm not too happy with it. Well a little bit with FOur-wheel parts performance centers ( adding to my idea that they have morons for employees and don't know how to order parts). It's the right rack, a little bit skinner then I though, looks almost a little too skinny but that's allright, I'll get used to it. They I didn't realize that they rou nded in about 6 inches in every corner which is really going to screw up my lighting plan for the roof. Anyways, the rack came with half as many nuts and half as many washers as it was supposed to come up with, two trips to the hardware store (of course I don't check the items first, that would be pretty stupid wouldn't it?) :). Well anyway, got the rack up there finally, it's going to require some more adjustment lately but its on there for now. Then, I ordered 9 light mounts and what I got from 4-wheel parts was 3. THey looked at the receipt and said I had only ordered 5, since I had to order 4 pairs and one single. There were 6 brackets which equals out to 3 light mounts (they didn't realize that and I didn't realize it until installing them), and of course 4-wheel said they gave me the right parts for what I ordered and if I wanted more I'd have to buy them, argh. So they're getting a nasty call, especially since I've got a bunch of lights to install still and now I've got wires dangling around up there since I can't get the lights up. Anyways, hpoefully some of this will get straightened out tomorrow, though the idiots there will probably stretch it out for a month or so.

Matt,
I asked Paul Sabin about his Con-Ferr rack. He has the same one that we do, but I don't remember it being narrow. I thought about the universal rack that's 42"X60", but Paul told me his was 39"X59", so that's what I ordered. I thought it looked real nice on Pauls' truck.

Yeah Ray - its not BAD or anything, it just looks almost like a miniature roof rack up there. I'll have to see how it looks with some lights on there. I knew it was rounded on the edges but just didn't realize that they rounded about 6 inches of every corner off, so I loose about 12 inches of mounting space up front. AH well, I'll work on it some more tonight and post pics when its done.