I'm looking for a roof rack/ basket for my 04 ex. This one looks good and a good price. Are they any good or are they junk???

Thanks Slug-O


2004 Ford Excursion Surco Safari Racks, Surco Roof Rails

 

I've seen them on other folks rigs before and they appear sturdy.

Be sure and get the ax bracket, you don't want to drive around without your ax...

 

Surco roof rack report = D+ . It was a C- untill I snapped a cheap bolt. I am pretty dissapointed in the quality of this $600 rack. Construction and installation design is poor. Very universal kit, which I can understand but have trouble accepting for a decent price. This is not a custom rack, mounting brackets are not a good fit. The factory roof rail channel adapters are not wide enough (end up one side comming out and crooked). They claim 3/4" tubing which sounds good. The frame is very thin tubing. Makes me dissapointed the box says MADE IN USA. There is a good reason they don't advertise their mounting system - it sucks. I would be happy if I had paid $300 dollars. I guess it will do for now. Kinda wish I went with the Wilderness brand rack. I got surco because it is a little longer. Maybe it will grow on me but its gonna have to prove itself now!

 

There are lots of rack online and some that are longer (Google). That one looks cheap to me.

 

600$ for that,

 

The rack looks nice on the X. Thanks for the quality review, it will help others here to make a well educated decision. I like the size, looks like it has some real capacity.

Just a thought, the roof rail attachments look a bit iffy. The threaded plate that goes into the rail should be wide enough to catch the underside of both top lips. Looks like your's is only pinching one of the two. I could see if the load shifts or you hit a pretty bumpy road, the clamp grabbing only one side lip could pop out and that would be disasterous.

It doesn't seem like a hard part to make on your own or to have a fabricator make up for you. Just cut some steel plate that's the right width, drill the holes in the right place and tap them. You may even be able to use the pre-made Yakima plates depending on the thread pitch. PM me if you want the part numbers.

Here is a picture of the Yakima plate, sorry, crappy cellphone cam is all I have with me right now.

 

I like what Landyot did with his roof-rack ...
2001 Ford Excursion LAND YOT & WAWUZAT picture | SuperMotors.net

 

I think for 600 you can get a shop to make one using that basic design but using a mesh on the bottom and sides to help hold smaller items.

 

Well thats not such a bad idea wallz. Maybe I will buy some mesh and cut it myself... In the future if at all though. I was also entertaining thoughts of marker lights on the top rail . Amber in the front red in the back, three in the middle one on each corner. Thin clearance lights like the pic. Im not sure about it. I am gonna do cab lights first though.

 

I always have to post this when the name Surco comes up https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...oof-racks.html . In defence of my original review, The Surco has held up well with a canoe mounted upside down at 70 mph. That must be a substantial wind force pushing up on it. It is aluminum and heavy. I can't think of anything else it would not handle (reasonably speaking). You can read this one too https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/3...o-carrier.html. Oh crap, I posted this in the wrong thread, still worth a bump i guess.

 

My custom one im working on.

 

What I dislike is that the roof rails on the Excursion end roughly in line with the B pillar i.e. no built-in support from the B-pillar forward, which means if you build or buy a roof rack to make full use of the space available on the roof (e.g. a 9' rack designed for a van), you are left with the following options:
- no heavy weight on rack in front of B pillar
- custom foot support bolted to roof near front of roof (with potential leaks & lower resale value)
- some ugly exo cage that follows the A pillar from the engine bay up to the roof

 

Hey xbox, don't sell the exo cage idea short, the ones I've seen on other rides look pretty trick...

The key to success for me has been additional cross bars. I started with four, jumped to six, and now have eight. And my Megawarrior has two extensions, the perfect size for me. Overkill.