Roof Cargo Basket ???? Rail Mounted??

[Bart Man]

Im looking for a roof cargo basket that mounts to the actual roof rails not the cross bars!!, Im looking for the lower clearance,I know I can Customize the rack to fit but somebody has to make this??

 

[treycool94]

yakima makes one if i spelled that right

 

[sngltrck1]

I'm not sure what racks are available but look into rain gutter mounts too.

Supposed to be the strongest type of mount for load bearing.

Let us know what you find!

 

[tonydiv]

Except that Expeditions don't have rain gutters.

I looked at a bunch of baskets. Surco and a few others mount directly in the roof track. Be prepared to drop between $500 and $600.

Autoanything.com is a good place to search.

 

[Petrini]

Mine was actually made for a UTV. The mounting brackets were a couple inches narrower than my factory roof rails so I made a tabs out of 1/4 steel to widen the mounting points and then used carriage bolts inside the roof rails to mount the tabs. I really like that it fits much closer to the roof and not sticking up another 4 inches or so on top of the crossbars like a lot of the others do, plus it is stronger than mounting to the aluminum bars too. Mine is one piece, not modular and really strong. I have had that thing loaded with camping gear and climbed up on top of it to load/unload it and I'm 280lbs myself.
I was able to score an amazing deal on mine from a utv accessories store that was closing them out. PLUS I got free shipping on it (which was crazy cause the box was HUGE). There are tons of companies out there making roof baskets for utv's and you can find better deals on those than the ones specifically made for vehicle applications. Just thought I'd throw that out there. I couldnt be happier with mine.

 

[sngltrck1]

"Except that Expeditions don't have rain gutters ..."

Ahhhh yes - that could be a problem! hehehe

I like the surco basket myself - nice tire carrier attachment too.

 

[walnuts4x4]

since you used a UTV rack... what are the dimensions of yours....

 

[Petrini]

since you used a UTV rack... what are the dimensions of yours....

4 feet wide x 5 feet long and I wanna say 4 inches tall

 

[JDMitchell]

I was able to score an amazing deal on mine from a utv accessories store that was closing them out. PLUS I got free shipping on it (which was crazy cause the box was HUGE). There are tons of companies out there making roof baskets for utv's and you can find better deals on those than the ones specifically made for vehicle applications. Just thought I'd throw that out there. I couldnt be happier with mine.

How cheap is an "amazing deal"? Also if your basket is four feet wide it would hang over the rails. I haven't measured but I would guess that the rails are around 42 inches apart. My basket is 39 inches wide and is almost as wide as the rails.

I paid $170 for mine and I think that was a pretty good deal for a decent product. It isn't one piece like yours and I wouldn't walk on mine since the cross bars wouldn't like that very much if my 250 lbs climbed up there. I am ordering a fairing since it is mounted to the cross bars and creates a ton of wind noise. But it is huge (39x68x6) and is plenty strong. This basket will serve my purposes very well, since I will be hauling camping gear and bikes with it.

 

[Petrini]

How cheap is an "amazing deal"? Also if your basket is four feet wide it would hang over the rails. I haven't measured but I would guess that the rails are around 42 inches apart

You had me second guessing myself so I ran outside and measured and it is 48 inches wide. It is wider than the rails, but fits perfectly with the roof (imo).