I had plans to have a custom roof basket made that I could stand on, but haven’t had the opportunity to do that yet, so I decided to go with a less expensive version online. For now I just need something that goes on & off easy, can carry some camping gear.
I went with the Rage Powersports Black Widow, RB-DLX-V2 for about $110.00.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HD ... UTF8&psc=1
I went with the two peace design, so I could add the optional 24” extension. This gave me an approx. : 39”x67” basket base, which allows me to have basket size almost exactly the same as factory roof rails. I was concerned the 3 piece construction may not be as rigid or as strong as a one piece welded version, but it is plenty strong and fits together tight with locking screws. More than strong enough for hauling camping gear. The factory roof crossbars are more likely to fail before basket.
I will update this, because I need to modify it some. I need to add the optional Wind Fairing, which I already have. Because empty , the basket howls and can be heard through the roof…. ( I have actually already added the fairing and the noise and howls are gone. will add photos soon) I also need to modify the thumbscrews & mounting bracket. The U-bolts are too long, for my application, and the thumbscrews are too hard on thumbs and hard to grip. They have self-locking nuts which is good, are hard to turn... with thumbscrews. I will cut the excess U-bolt length and add standard locking nuts. I would rather use a socket & ratchet to remove U-bolts anyway. In either case, it only takes minutes to install and remove.
Here are a few shots of fit & items to modify. I also plan on painting it with bed liner. If I was going this route again.. (inexpensive quick removable), I would have looked for a lower profile version as it is just an inch more than my garage door. It is 83” high on my Pathfinder.
Basket’s locking screw can scratch rail. I will wrap with shrink tubing before I spray whole thing with rubberized bed-liner. I will also cut U-bolt length and add standard locking nuts.
Looks great!
