We’re excited to announce that we’ve added a new product to our 2022 lineup.
"The Rack" has been engineered to take on any terrain whether its paved road or rough terrain wilderness tested on the roughest trails from BC, to Moab; this kit comes standard with a full-width design made out of 1/4" aluminum side rails and ten 2" extrusion cross bars which allows you to carry anything from kayaks to lawn mowers—basically anything that requires transport across land surfaces!
Why did we decide to make a rack?
We were impressed with all the eloquently simple designed roof racks coming out of the states like Prinsu, Victory, Alpha, but we couldn't get them here in time because of shipping. So Jason over there, he comes up with the idea, "we could make one, in Canada".
So "The Rack" was born. Jason would task master, Brennon would find designers and fabricators in Vancouver.
Scanning and Design
First thing we did was a 3d scan of the 5th gen Toyota 4runner roof. We found maybe the coolest 3d scanner ever with a chap named Sean who runs @rouxscan. A local CAD engineer and designer with an awesome work ethic and business in Vancouver, BC.
Then we started with design iterations. Yes was designed and built to be a strong, safe roof rack that can handle any adventure you throw at it including hauling junk and moving pallets of wood to pit parties, but with that Canadian aesthetic of overbuilt and chunky fabrication that seems to work up here.
In test, it supported over 800lbs of weight with no problem at all.
Our first design utilizes a high grade aluminum CNC mounting block. We wanted you to have peace of mind knowing that your gear is safe when traveling down bumpy roads or cruising down windy mountain passes. So we overdid the foundation a little. Okay a lot. It's really on there.
CANADIAN MADE. YEEHAW!
Like we said It is made right here in BC, CANADA. Not only did we team up with local BC'er Sean @RouxScan to bring the epic design to life. We also found an ACE fabricator named Travis at Arc Croft Fabrication and Design to put the dream into reality.
Travis offered countless bits of advice from being a fabricator professionally that were paramount to getting our design right. He also kicked in that if where going to build this beefy, mise-well use a 1/4 in stainless steel foot so its as strong as the base. The base is very skookum as you can see.
10 Cross Bars
The box construction utilizing 10 or 11 cross bars provide ample rigidity even for advanced wheeling. The lateral movement of the rack is next to zero even when hitting rocks in weird ways. The cross bars are the key to making the box stiff so we did not skimp. The bars are aluminum, 2" wide, 1" tall and come in anodized black standard.
Stealth Light Bar Shroud
The rack utilizes a sort of inverted alpha rack shroud that functionally protects your lights, but also adds that aerospace vibe and symmetry that was missing in the other 4runner racks we though. The deflector helps keep everything in its place with a low profile that reduces wind noise.
The aggressive profile also protects the light bar finish from the elements, and controls the unwanted lateral light from hitting your hood.
Black Powder Coat or Raw Aluminum?
The Rack will come with raw aluminum, but if you ask, we can also do a powder coat for you for a small charge. The black powder coat on just the deflector offers a more stealth light bar. A "dark shadow defector", that draws potential thieves attention away to shinny things, and lets its presence slip away into the shadows. Out of sight, out of mind.
Almost everything, the deflectors, blocks and sides are made from aluminum, so you won't have any issues with them rusting or becoming weak over time. Everything else including the hardware is done in stainless.
Side Work Lights and Plenty of Access Built-in
The side rails feature an option for integrated lights. The lights come with all mounting hardware needed to install it on your vehicle.
Full-Width Design For Building Materials
The full-width design allows you to actually carry large sheet of material like plywood. Simply slide it into place and secure it with straps. A perfect fit ridge secures the first sheet of the load exactly in place and secure hold locations are marked. Strap stuff on and its good.
Installation
To install the "The Rack" simply remove your factory roof rack from your vehicle and using the same mount holes, replace with our rack and supplied hardware. There is not much more to it.
The rack mounts directly over existing hard mount points on the vehicle, so installation is easy and requires no drilling into your vehicle's bodywork (just use caution when removing any existing racks).
Dimensions
The platforms inner dimensions are 6'7" long by 4'3/8" wide with a height of 3" from the center of your roof to the top of the rail.
Industry Leading Load Capacity
It must get its own bullet point.
Conclusion
After many many iterations, and a full field test of "The Rack" we came back, made some necessary adjustments and are pretty much ready to start taking orders.
Brennon learned all about fabrication in Vancouver, made some great friends along the way and we can now do fabrication in Calgary and Vancouver so thats it.
We think it has a great look and will carry more than any other rack on the market. This is truly an expedition grade roof rack that will last you for years to come!
PS. More Specs on the product description page.