Rage Roof Basket Review $144.00 Shipped

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06-16-2010, 04:57 PM
Sal-XK

Rage Roof Basket Review $144.00 Shipped

I received my roof basket on May 7 2010 and inspected the box.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i..._3251JPG-2.jpg
It came with some wear and tear on it thanks UPS. The only damage to the kit was the air dam had two chips in it.
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The overall construction seemed really solid. The shipping weight was 56lbs so I knew it has some beef to it. The tubs are 1" steel with a steel mesh bottom which seems real solid. I would feel comfortable breaking the 150lb limit.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i..._3253JPG-1.jpg
The vertical bar is a plastic sleeve that the bolt goes threw. The mounting hard ware that came with the kit is well, garbage. It came with U shaped all thread 1/4 Or U=Bolt. I was able to bend this with my hand way to easy and didnt come with nuts to secure it came with hand tightening knobs. Which would not fit over my factory oval cross bars.(I already new that per product description) I went to lows and got some grade 5 nuts and bolts and some flat steel made for door jams or something not sure but it fit the bill of what I needed.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i..._3262JPG-1.jpg
It took about fifteen minuets to assemble and get it to this point here.
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I took the hardware I purchased and Painted it black with exterior spray paint.
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i..._3263JPG-2.jpg
I almost got carried away and coated the flat steel in rubber but the 4hr dry time talked me out of it. The install was straight forward just threw it up there measured a couple of time threw some lock tight on the threads and all secure.
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I just got this installed moments ago so no trail test yet. I will be going fishing tomorrow so it will get a little off road action and going to flag Pole in a couple of weeks which will be the real test for this thing. So lets talk MONEY.
first the size of this thing is pretty good Large size (62.5" x 45") and the prise basket $109 shipping $35 so $144 to the door really not bad. $25 in Grade 5 hardware and Paint. So for $169 give or take I got this installed. Really the biggest let down for me is the air dam. Besides it coming chipped I have not been able to get it to lay flat yet but I do believe this will just take some fine tuning to accomplish. The hard ware to install the air dam was less then desirable as well. A phillips head bolt and a self locking nut not fun
Going to let it heat up in the sun take a look and probably loosen all the braces for the air dam in a attempt to get it to lay flat. But for the price of this thing I will fabricated a air dam and still be happy. The road test and off road test will follow. I will repost my review of that in this thread as well. I hope this helps someone on making a decision either no or yes to this cheaper rack. If your an urban crawler only I say your probably good but wait till the road test comes in. This is my first product review so be kind with the criticism's and I will answer any questions to the best of my ability.
06-16-2010, 04:58 PM
Sal-XK

The mounts I uses that were suggested by Doc

https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i...w20mount-1.jpg
https://theultimatejeep.com/images/i...mount202-2.jpg
06-16-2010, 05:03 PM
Sal-XK

One month review

06/05/2010 Ok I have had this basket installed for about a month now. It seems to be a good buy so far. I loaded it down drove 7hrs to VA then drove up the mountain. Then hit the trails and the trails hit the basket. Loaded back down drove 7hrs again. I had no issues no sagging no problems and I don't hear it at highway speeds. I've been off road several times with this basket and have hit it several times on trees and once on my kids basket ball net. It still looks good so far none of the scratches have exposed any metal there is diffidently more then one coat of paint on this. No part of the mesh floor is out of shape and I did put some weight on it as well as some hard pulling hooking bungee cords to it and its all still laying flat I'm only running two crossbars. All the welds seem to be of good quality. So far I'd have to give two thumbs up. For the price of $109 so far a good choice. The only down side is the air dam. It came chipped and has never sat flat on the basket kinda have a wave to it. It might be my fault maybe not sure. But probably going to toss it any way to mount lights so no big deal I guess. It's been raining like crazy the last two weeks and the humidity has been rising and no signs of rust on the basket. This is only the one month review it seems solid and my confidence is increasing daily for this bargain buy. I will post more reviews over time and after some more trips with this thing loaded down.
06-16-2010, 05:07 PM
Sal-XK

Up date

I am starting to notice some rust on the basket. Its on the cage or the floor where it attaches to the 1" bar. It is light surface rust but its still rust. I'm starting to wonder how strong or dependable the floor may be. I guess I will have to hit the rust spots up with some paint. Attaching straps to threw the cage has held up it still laying flat. I did stand in the basket loading it this past weekend and it held up. I will have to say if I had the extra 3 to 4 hundred dollars for one the same size I would do it. But for those of us that can't spend that amount so far so good. What I should of done was hit all the welds and stuff with extra rust proofing before I installed this basket. But who knew right the rust is showing up where no scratches were or could be made. The rust is not visible until you crawl up there and look it is very small but its there.
08-02-2010, 05:33 AM
cico7

Sand and spray on truck bed lining will do the job.
09-13-2010, 11:37 AM
Sal-XK

4 month review

Ok after a summer of camping and wheeling with this basket all an all it has held up rather well. The last trip a calculated my weight for my camping gear. I've been roughly putting about 300 to 400 pounds of gear up there for every trip which I have taken about 9 trips this summer. About three or four of them have been to the beach where the basket was exposed to sea spray. The humidity hear in NC has been about 100% since may LOL. So considering the abuse I have put this budget rack threw it's been a heck of a buy so far. I do have two spots of minor surface rust that showed up on one of the welds which is no big deal 5 minuets of work and it was fixed. The mesh floor is still sitting flat and holding up strong. The home made mounts have been awesome no issues what so ever with them and they take up no floor space at all. Like I have said earlier I also hit this basket on a number of things like trees my kids basketball hoop and countless branches and leaves hanging low on the trails even bending my light mounts almost in half and the basket shows almost no wear at all. At this point I probably would recommend this basket to others looking to save money. I've also kept my XK parked outside all summer so the basket has been exposed to the humidity and rain all summer so its not like it was garage kept all though it is now. I can't say the winter will add any extra stress on it down here we really don't get any snow and we don't use salt when we do. But the salt water and sea spray from the beach is probably in some comparison to some winter months up north maybe.
09-14-2010, 09:44 AM
Doc in AZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by cico7

Sand and spray on truck bed lining will do the job.

just out of curiosity what is everyone's obsession with spray on bedliner these days? i can understand lining the inside of a wrangler tub when you take out all the carpet. but i see guys rhino lining their cages, bumpers & rock sliders. i had a cj7 in here a couple months ago and when i opened the hood i realized the guy had rhino lined the inside of the hood! a wrangler unlimited came in last year with a fibreglass hard top on it that had been completely rhino lined.

people think this stuff is indestructible - it's not. i can be scraped off by a rock or cargo you load in a truck bed or on a roof rack. and once you knock it loose it will continue to peel back, or worse yet gets water and dirt in there and begins to corrode from the inside out all under the bedliner and you won't notice it until it's rusted through.

JMHO
03-10-2011, 06:38 PM
Sal-XK

10 month update

I linked this today so it reminded me I needed to update it. The winter is over down here at least its over. The XK spent some time up north in the snow which had no effect on the condition of my basket. It's pretty much no worse no better then it was when I wrote the 4 month review so I guess thats a good thing.
03-12-2011, 04:48 AM
IamJEEP

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sal-XK

I linked this today so it reminded me I needed to update it. The winter is over down here at least its over. The XK spent some time up north in the snow which had no effect on the condition of my basket. It's pretty much no worse no better then it was when I wrote the 4 month review so I guess thats a good thing.

That's great news, I can't wait to start moddifing mine in a month or so.