Did anyone out there buy one of those safari roof racks from the site sponcer 'Explorer Express'? I was pretty intested in it. It is only about $200 but I don't want to get it if it is a piece of crap. Anyone?

Campbell

I didn't see a roof rack...is it in the catalog?

[Edited by Guerilla Biscuits on 07-25-2000 at 02:20 AM]

My friend has one on his explorer. It looks pretty tough.

check out Cameron's in the thread "roof rack options" in General Explorations. its sweeeeet

Yes, the rack is in the catelog...not online

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

http://members.home.net/engcamron/front2.jpg

Please tell me more about your roof rack, Cameron. I have always loved how it looks.

Cameron,

Is that the one from 'Explorer Express'?

I want one of those as well. Just a few questons for you Cameron.

1.) Is that antenna (for your CB?) mounted to the rack itself?

2.) How large is it? I have a sunroof on my Navajo I dont want to cover up.

3.) Does that bolt to the rails or directly to the roof. I think I would prefer it bolted to the roof.

4.) Those lights of yours, are the PIAA's and if so, were they easy to mount. I plan on running PIAA Black Magic's.

Thats it, and thats that. Thanks bro.

ahhh Skippman,
PIAA doesn't make "Black Magics". Hella makes them.
I preferr the PIAA's myself.

Guerilla Biscuits, Campbell and Skippman,

The roof rack is from Performance Products. I ordered the rack 40 X 50 (I think), mounting brackets, light brackets and spare tire carrier for about $250.00 delivered. They had a sale going on at the time. It might cost you about 10% more.

The rack bolts to the stock roof rails. You remove the stock rack (those two useless cross bars). The rack is very strong.

The CB antenna in front is a magnetic mount antenna. It is not attached to the rack itself.

All 4 of those lights are Hella 500s. I am getting Hella 4000s for the grill guard (because they are larger then the 500s and should look very nice) and then moving the two lights from the grill guard to the roof rack. I have the Hellas wired into my bright lights. That way whenever I flash the brights, all the Hellas come on too.

Ray, you beat me too it :). How are those PIAA 80's working out for you by the way? Anyways, Hella does make the black magic. Kind of a neat looking item. PIAA makes what they call a "stealth" light, its the 912 model. It's more for looks then light however and its not black it's more of a chrome... I took have been considering a roof racl, kind of gotten away from the idea lately but we'll see... can't find one that'll let me mount as many lights up there as I want! LOL http://www.piaa.com/images/lampimages/912lamp_02.gif

Matt, we all know about your light fetish. I have to ask, what are you trying to do, light up a football stadium. Not that I doubt you could do it.

LOL no... I don't have a reason actually... :)

Hey Matt,
I'm glad you mentioned that. I have a question. What do you think of one set with pencil beams. This would be close together on the Confer rack, with another set with driving beams, on either side of the pencil beams. Both sets of course being Pro 80's. Also I know most people use the Series 40 retangular lights for back up lights, but I want something a little smaller because I'm mounting them to the rack also. Got any suggestions? :) I also got a set of 520's for the winch mount. I just couldn't justify the Pro 90's. I figured since I'm not getting the Pro 90's I can afford to get 2 sets of Pro 80's. :D

Wow Ray, glad I made a believer out of you! Actually the pencil beams are an excellent light from what I've heard, and I would see no problem with fit... the pencil beam 80 XT's are the same size as the PIAA 80 XT driving lights so that shouldn't be a problem. I'm going to TRY to add a PIAA 80 Racing light (otherwise known as a rally light, about 1 5/8" taller and 1 inch wider then the normal 80 XT's) in between the other lights on the roof after maybe adding a true light bar with holes drilled for 5, etc., we'll see how that goes, you want to talk about bright, holy crap. You'll have to let me know how all those lights work out for you! As for the 90's, from what I've heard if youre looking for a dual-mode lamp, theyre obviously the best you are going to find (and the cost backs that up) but if you want the best fog and the brightest driving light, then your better off getting two seperate sets. For my backup lights Im using the PIAA 1500's... Brett won a set of them free from PIAA at Moab but I think he still hasn't installed them yet. They are 2" x 6" rectangular and seem to work great for backing up, they light up around 2-30~40 feet behind you and off to the sides as well which is what a good backup light should do so you can see where you are going right? PIAA also makes several different smaller ROUND bulbs like the 910 that I had on my 98 F-150 that look like the 912's I posted earlier, but they are brighter (plus you can buy the superwhite bulbs for em which are you just super bulbs). Let me know how they work and be sure to send pictures :). By the way, not that you'll have any trouble with installation but if you do give me a call, I've become a wiz at installing those lights :). Oh yeah and on the 520's are you getting more driving lights or the amber fog ones? I love the fogs myself, I've never used em in the fog (we never get serious fog here in Colorado) but I use em in town almost whenever I'm driving around... they don't blind other drivers, and the span out what you can see at night.

[Edited by mattadams on 07-28-2000 at 06:06 AM]

Well Matt,
What I mean is do you think the using pencil beams and driving beams that would be a good combination, beam wise, or would a fog beam and driving beam work better? I hope the pencil/driving beam works because I already ordered them. I'll take a look at the 1500's. I got the 520's from the for sale forum and I think he said they were Ion Crystal driving. I was hoping for the Fog lamp, but for the price, I just couldn't let them go by. I guess I could hook them up and see what they are, or do you know the physical differance between the 2.

OH I thought you meant size-wise. It depends, what are you going to be lighting up? I think two pencil beam and two driving (I'd put the pencils in the center, driving on the outside) would be an awesome combination, you can assume the pencil beams are going to be a more exact, further in the distance type of beam whereas driving will will be quite exact but they will be more broad. If you got the 520 driving and want to know the difference... dang, I used to know the difference. They look pretty much the same if you were to look at them, they are both the ion crystal. I'll let you know by Monday what the difference is, I gotta call my guy. Otherwise, hook em up, you'll know the difference right away. As I recall if you open up the housing and remove the bulb (very easy procedure) you should be able to tell... but I'll let you know hopefully by Monday. Man if you get all those boss lights, and I've got all my boss lights, I can't wait until camping at Truckhaven 2001, we're going on a desert midnight run! LOL Never thought I'd have competition for the most lights on the board but WOW! :).

[Edited by mattadams on 07-28-2000 at 05:19 PM]

Matt,
Well I got to thinking about the pencil/driving beam setup and decided to change that, because I really need a beam that is spread out more to be able to see close when going slow, and the pencil beam is more for long distance, and has a very narrow light pattern. I called the shop just in time, so I will be getting one set of driving beams and one set of clear fogs. I looked at the 1500's and I think that they wouldn't fit my needs. I think a clear fog lamp as opposed to a driving lamp is what is needed for backup lamps. How wide of a spread pattern do you think the 1400's with a clear fog would put out as opposed to the Series 40 clear fog? I will get them by Wed. Now have to call Conferr

The 1500's I have are a clear fog. If you want em like that its kind of a custom order deal. As for the 1400's... I wish I could help more but I've never used one of those types of lights so I can't tell you what kind of a spread they might have. The 40 would be broader my GUESS is though, based on the looks of em. That's just a guess however. If you really wanted the 1500's in a clear fog light let me know and I'll see what I can do... the product does exist. The 1400 vs 40 is another one I can ask about but I don't know all the lights off-hand, just a couple of the models. The 1400's would probably look cooler though :). Would the backup lights be mounted to the roof rack or somewhere on the bumper (see, I'm keeping it about roof racks, LOL)

Yes it is about roof racks, because we are talking about lights ON ROOF RACKS. Yea the backups would be on the roof rack. :) Any info would be helpful.

ok Ray, I will find out that information for you and let you know hopefully on Monday. I purchased a Carr light bar, looks MUCh sturdier then the one I bought before which was the "Carr Rota-Deluxe bar" which had a bit warning all over it... "not designed to hold more then 2 6x9 lights"... yeah right, LOL. Not sure if I'll be able to fit five lights on there but if not I can always add some more lights to the front somehow (welding custom tabs or something like that) I was also thinking of taking some of the smaller lights (like the 1400's) and mounting them to the side of the light bar, for light on the left and right hand side. We'll see... depends on if I can fit 5 on the light bar or not.

Not to sound rude but....
What is the purpose of a million lights?

well my reasons may be different then others, but hey, if nothing else its cause you want to see a whole lot better at night without the need for flashlights, spotlights, dull headlights, etc. Although if nothing else its just mroe cool stuff to add to your vehicle, and the bragging rights that go along with it, LOL. "My lights are brighter than YOUR lights" :)

Campbell,
I know a TV crew that uses the rack from Explorer Express for their equipment. They have a ladder as well and swear by the rack. They use it daily to carry stuff and also to stand on when shooting film.
Cameron,
Is that your white Explorer in the pictures? It looks awsome!
Rick

Rick,

Yes it is my Explorer and thank you. I'm trying to make it stand out among the millions of other Explorers on the road but in a way that looks good. I don't like equipment on my truck that looks like an after thought.

And if I may, Guerilla Biscuits, the more lights the better :cool: If you ever go off road at night, you'll be glad to have a few million candles lighting the way. And if installed correctly, they can look very cool also.

I have been off road only once in the dark and that was before I had off road lights. Never again. There are too many shadows. Scary as hell :eek:

Peace

Just ordered a Con-Ferr rack complete with Hi-Lift jack,axe and shovel, and 3 sets of light brackets. They didn't have a bracket for a Pull-Pal. Guess I'll have to figure something out. I'll post some pics when I install it.

Ray - we must've been thinking alike. I went to the store and got a Carr light bar a few days back thinking I'd put some lights on it, it'd be better then the stock bar, etc. Well I got to looking at it and I don't think that it is going to meet my lighting needs so I talked them into taking it back so I could order a Conferr roof rack, decided for now to just get the rack, a bunch of light mounts (9 to be exact) and take a look to see how hard it will be to fab up a hi-lift mount for it, it it looks too hard I'll just buy one of theres, but no sense paying $50 for one when you can get it for cheaper :). Now I'm really looking forward to Truckhaven, I won't be the only one with a ton of lights! Rick will also be putting on a set of PIAA's here shortly and doing a writeup about it, pretty cool stuff. As for the answers to your PIAA questions you asked earlier, I've got a message in to my guy and I'm waiting on his callback.

Hey Matt,
I will be making it to the Colorado Colors Run, so what say we plan a night run. Also Advance Adaptors told me today that my transfercase will be ready in 2 weeks, not 6 to 8 like they said before, so that will be in by the Colo run too. Now let's hope that Trailmaster gets their stuff together and I will be there with 35's and all. :D
Yes, :DGreat minds think alike:D

Allright! can't hardly wait. ididn't realize you weer planning on coming out to the Colors run. If nothing else it'll be a cool photo to send back to PIAA, a couple of Explorers decked out in PIAA gear. I'll see if I can get you a t-shirt or something :).

Ray - I now have answers to all of your PIAA questions :).
For spread, I was informed that the 1400 clear is going to be the best backup light. He said they do also make a 40 backup light but it only comes as one, not as two, so if you want a set you could either go with the 40 fogs or the 1400 clear fogs. The lights I have (the 1500 reverse clear fogs) have been discontinued so you can't get those anymore. As for telling the difference between the driving and the fog - they use the same bulb, both are amber, the fog has fluted lines throughout the bulb whereas the driving version has only a few lines in the center for fluting. I think that answers your questions, if not let me know.