With less than two months until we load this Trailhawk up and take it nearly 7,000 miles across Canada, I’m kind of under a time crunch to get the modifications installed (and fine tuned) before we roll out. One of the things that I’ve wanted to do for a while for a multitude of reasons is install roof rack cross bars. While I’m hoping to not need to run a cargo basket or roof rack for this specific trip, I’d like to have these bars in place to potentially get a roof-top tent in the distant future, carry extra gear if need be, and provide a mount for some auxiliary lighting.
I was scanning eBay a few weeks ago and saw that there was an “open box” set of Rhino Rack RSP-27 cross bars for about $50 under the Amazon/E-Trailer website pricing. These were the bars I wanted, as I believe they’re the sexiest of those available… yeah, I just used sexy to describe a roof rack cross bar, but these taper off to the roof rail height whereas other models end in a T shape, sticking off the ends further than I need them to. At $225 delivered, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the whole open box labeling, but despite a few dents in the OEM box and a bag of hardware open and spilled throughout (the seller included a new bag of hardware in addition to the original, so no hard feelings there) it was a pretty simple process to install the bars, just a few T-25 torx bolts to tie it together and into the factory rails… Couldn’t have taken me more than 20 minutes to get it done.
I was able to drive with them on over Memorial Day holiday as we headed up to Vermont for a friend’s weekend-long BBQ party, and was happy to hear minimal whistling from the bars. I make a living as an audio engineer, so I’m sure it was my hypersensitivity to sound that made me pick up on it, as Dani didn’t mention hearing it at all, so we’re good in that regard. The bars look great up top, and it gives it a bit more of an overland-y aggressive appearance in a subtle way.
I’m looking forward to getting home tomorrow from a week and a half in Northwest Arkansas working on the production of Wal-Mart’s gigantic Shareholder Week events, and spending some time doing electrical work to move forward with furthering the switch panel installation by getting the relay/control box installed, having made some progress with it in the past few nights in my hotel room… the housekeeping service lady probably thinks I’m wiring some kind of bomb detonating device.
The images are in a gallery, so you can expand them to see more closely.
I was scanning eBay a few weeks ago and saw that there was an “open box” set of Rhino Rack RSP-27 cross bars for about $50 under the Amazon/E-Trailer website pricing. These were the bars I wanted, as I believe they’re the sexiest of those available… yeah, I just used sexy to describe a roof rack cross bar, but these taper off to the roof rail height whereas other models end in a T shape, sticking off the ends further than I need them to. At $225 delivered, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the whole open box labeling, but despite a few dents in the OEM box and a bag of hardware open and spilled throughout (the seller included a new bag of hardware in addition to the original, so no hard feelings there) it was a pretty simple process to install the bars, just a few T-25 torx bolts to tie it together and into the factory rails… Couldn’t have taken me more than 20 minutes to get it done.
I was able to drive with them on over Memorial Day holiday as we headed up to Vermont for a friend’s weekend-long BBQ party, and was happy to hear minimal whistling from the bars. I make a living as an audio engineer, so I’m sure it was my hypersensitivity to sound that made me pick up on it, as Dani didn’t mention hearing it at all, so we’re good in that regard. The bars look great up top, and it gives it a bit more of an overland-y aggressive appearance in a subtle way.
I’m looking forward to getting home tomorrow from a week and a half in Northwest Arkansas working on the production of Wal-Mart’s gigantic Shareholder Week events, and spending some time doing electrical work to move forward with furthering the switch panel installation by getting the relay/control box installed, having made some progress with it in the past few nights in my hotel room… the housekeeping service lady probably thinks I’m wiring some kind of bomb detonating device.
The images are in a gallery, so you can expand them to see more closely.
