Ford Expedition owners, Bronco owners or any driver traversing the roadways and you see an off road vehicle , 4×4 or most any adventure rig, you may notice that they all have some sort of aftermarket roof rack attached to the roof of their vehicle. And your next question you may ask yourself is why do they have up there?
First and foremost an aftermarket roof rack is an accessory you can purchase for your vehicle and this piece of equipment will facilitate the storage of gear, toys, roof top tents and various other items. Most vehicles are very limited on interior storage and a roof rack will provide that additional storage option. Sometimes you may even purchase factory crossbars that attach to the roof of your vehicle and then you may be able to mount different storage containers, bicycles or skis. The only problem with factory crossbars is that they are very limited on the amount of weight they may hold and the dimensions of what you can mount to them. This is where the aftermarket roof rack comes in strong and shows its worth! Yes they can be expensive and in some cases the installation can be pretty in depth and complicated but the end result that you are left with is well worth the cost of time, effort and money. If you are that 6th Gen Bronco owner or the Ford Expedition folks this is where you want to pay close attention.
TYPES
As you may guess there are many types of roof racks out there that are made of different materials and attachment styles. Some of the most common materials are aluminum and steel with aluminum being the most popular due to its strength and weight savings. A lot of the steel roof racks are made with a tube style material. Where aluminum roof racks are more of a sheet metal style. Kingdom Overlanding roof racks are made of sheets of aluminum CNC plasma cut. The attachment style of an aftermarket roof rack is a very key component when you’re choosing your roof rack. There is bolt on with no drilling, bolt on with the drilling of holes and clamp on style. The preferential method of attachment is always going to be direct bolt on with no drilling using factory bolt holes, but sometimes that is not an option due to the roof style of the vehicle. Some vehicles like the new style 6th Gen Broncos had a combination of bolt-on with no drilling and clamping brackets. This is also how Kingdom Overlanding builds our Bronco roof racks.
BENEFITS OF KINGDOM OVERLANDING ROOF RACKS
With Kingdom Overlanding roof racks we are a little bit constrained with the vehicle design, but we do our best to incorporate all the great things about our racks into each individual vehicle make and model that we manufacture for. Our number one element is the aluminum design. Aluminum is an ultra lightweight material when compared to steel and provides all the same strength benefits. In fact over time aluminum gets more and more rigid. Our roof racks are also HD plasma CNC cut, which ensures that we get a perfect fitment every time a roof rack is constructed and there is little to no human error involved in the manufacturing process. Our flagship model is the 4th gen Ford Expedition Standard wheelbase and Max size, this roof rack is a direct bolt on to factory bolt holes with no drilling involved. The Bronco four-door hardtop roof rack is a combination of bolt-on to the front accessory studs and four clamping brackets
onto the hardtop in the rear. Both of these roof racks are all aluminum and powder coated with matte black to give the roof rack a modern look and provide a durable dexterity. We are working on accessories for these roof racks and hope to release them soon.
FORD EXPEDITION ROOF RACK
The Ford Expedition roof rack for 4th gens and soon 3rd gens , are truly a great accessory for this vehicle. There are not too many companies out there that sell full length, full width aftermarket roof racks. The most widely available option is purely crossbars that tie into the factory side supports. But these have extreme limitations in gear/storage capacity and weight limits. The Kingdom Overlanding roof racks are designed to accommodate quite a bit of weight. We recommend staying within the factory guidelines but they have been tested to hold up to 400 lbs dynamic weight and 800 lbs static weight. We are able to do this with the Ford Expedition roof racks because the majority of the weight lies on one of the strongest parts of the vehicle, the structural zone of the roof. Another great benefit of our roof racks is that we try to make the installation as simple as possible. With incorporated mounting hardware making the side supports all one piece and on the 4th gen completely 100% bolt on, no drilling. 3rd gen Ford Expeditions will require drilling with rivnut attachments. Install time on both of these roof racks should take less than 2 hours. We do recommend a professional install from a local shop on the 3rd gen. If you are looking to have the ability to mount a roof top tent on your expedition, this is the perfect solution for you. Or perhaps you are just wanting to have more storage space for long road trips, this roof rack is also fully capable for that task as well.
FORD BRONCO 4 DOOR HARDTOP
When we developed the Ford Bronco 4 door hardtop roof rack we had a few different areas of interest that we wanted to make sure we addressed. Main priority was making this roof rack as strong as possible while keeping the weight as low as possible. Looking at this rack on the ground before it is even installed you will quickly realize that it is one of the strongest and most rigid racks on the market. We absolutely achieved our first goal of maintaining ultra
strength and lightweight, weighing in at 79 lbs, the all aluminum build is what allowed us to accomplish this. Saving all this weight with aluminum essentially allows you to carry a heavier load and not have to compromise strength of the equipment. Another great feature we have included in our Bronco roof rack is the ability to remove the front two panels of the Broncos roof without altering the roof rack whatsoever. This is great for Bronco owners that are more into day trips and not necessarily camping and overlanding. You are able to load up accessories on the rack such as Zarges storage cases or mounting KC Hilites LED lights and still be able to pop a couple roof panels and enjoy the outdoor air. We were not able to accommodate taking off the rear panel just because of the lack of strength it would cause in the side supports. Either the roof rack would have to be extremely tall or like previously mentioned it would weaken the roof rack as a whole.
Summary
While a roof rack may seem like a pricey investment right out of the gate and it doesn’t necessarily contribute directly to the vehicle’s performance, it is however the foundation that will facilitate the use of other items on your adventure. Without it you will be left cramming gear into crevices in the vehicle or leaving items at home or even potentially using a ground tent when you would prefer a roof top tent. Consider a Kingdom Overlanding roof rack you will not regret it!