Roof Rack

[Campbell]

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

 

[Guerilla Biscuits]

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

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

 

[BLACK95]

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

 

[jwild4x4]

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

 

[Campbell]

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

 

[Cameron]

 

[Guerilla Biscuits]

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

 

[Campbell]

Cameron,

Is that the one from 'Explorer Express'?

 

[Skippman]

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.

 

[Ray Lobato]

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

 

[Cameron]

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.

 

[mattadams]

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 Dead Link Removed

 

[Skippman]

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.

 

[mattadams]

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

 

[Ray Lobato]

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.

 

[mattadams]

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]

 

[Ray Lobato]

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.

 

[mattadams]

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]

 

[Ray Lobato]

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

 

[mattadams]

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)