If you haven’t noticed recently, the Bronco Nation Gear Store has been adding quite a few goodies that are dedicated to the Bronco Sport and you can use the drop-down menu to quickly find everything that is on offer. A few months ago, we added the TrailRax modular roof rack for the Sport. This is an awesome way to get the recovery gear and other durable items out of the back and ready the cargo area for your next adventure.
In order to find the online instructions, you’ll go to Trailrax.com and then look for the three lines icon on the left side of the home page. Once clicked, you’ll see a drop box of choices and select “Instructions”, then we selected our Bronco Sport instructions under the Ford heading.
A PDF opens and takes you through the process. Now, if you are the guy or gal that doesn’t like to read instructions, take warning as there are specific steps and it’s easy to get things backwards if you’re not paying attention.
Finding the TrailRax Instructions
We found that the instructions were straight forward but needed to be followed in numerical order. You also must pay attention to the drawings of the clamps to make sure they are in the correct position. With a few tools, some of the screws are hex, we were able to get the rack put together quickly. I would say this is about a one-hour job.
Bronco Sport Installation
One thing about the Bronco Sport and it being lower than the Bronco is that two people can lift the rack into place without ladders or step stools, so once we had the assembly completed, we positioned roughly on top of the sport, between the roof rails.
The nice thing about this rack is that it clamps in place to those rails so once you have it in final position, it’s as simple as getting the brackets and u-bolts in place This does take some time with a measuring tape to get it right so have patience.
We elected to get the Pak Rax panels but those installed easily and uses a large suction cup (vacuum pad) to stabilize it to the car.
Testing The TrailRax Out
We were heading out to California for a Bronco Sport Meet-Up and decided this would be a great field test for the TrailRax. We drove at highway speeds and noticed almost no additional road noise (I say that because we were listening intently and it’s hard to say if there was any or not, nothing noticeable or bothersome).
We chose the wind deflector and it seemed to be doing its job. That is an option on the rack system so we are unsure of what type of wind noise the rack has without it. After a few hundred miles on the freeway, we headed into Johnson Valley to pre-run our meet up, which included the final rocky climb up to Bronco Sport Summit.
The next day, we drove the Sport on twisty roads up to Big Bear and another trip through Johnson Valley. Over a total of 8 days, we traveled over 1800 miles and nearly 200 miles of that was off-road in open OHV with rocks, dry lakebeds, rutted terrain, and sand dunes.
TrailRax Results
Pros
• The TrailRax stayed stable in place, no movement and no loosening at all
• It looks really nice, we got lots of compliments
• It in no way blocks access to the other areas of the vehicle
• It does not impede the visibility of the driver
• It’s low profile, adding only a couple of inches to the overall height of the Sport
• Attaching items to the rack was easy
• There was no damage noted to the siderails or vehicle, like rub spots
Cons
• The suction cup or vacuum pad on the Pak Rax did not hold well during testing. We had to reattach it, which is an easy couple of pumps to eliminate the orange indicator.
• We found some minor rusting on one of the bolts used for the assembly of the Pak Rax.
TrailRax Things to Remember
Don’t Overload your rooftop rack
One of the key takeaways that didn’t make my Pro or Con list is the weight capacity of the rack and the fact that it exceeds OEM. The Sport capacity is 150 lb dynamic load and a 600 ib static load and it is nice to know that the TrailRax can handle more than that (250lb static and 700lb dynamic).
My personal off-roading advice would be to not overload items on the roof or exceed what is outlined in the owner’s manual.
Our plan for the rack is to free up space inside the Sport’s cargo bay and put items for recovery like traction boards, shovels, etc up on top.
Another off-roading tip, when you put heavy loads on the rooftop of a vehicle, you change the center of gravity which could increase the likelihood of a vehicle to tip in an off-camber situation. Remember that you are responsible for safe loading of your vehicle.
Pricing
This is also neither a pro or con as everyone needs to review their own budget for after-market parts, and this is a fair investment.
The rack is well made and seems to fall within the competitive price range of high-quality roof racks. The fact that the rack held up so well to our driving off-road without any rubbing or damage to the car goes a long way. The installation was not difficult, and it freed up space inside the Sport, which was our main goal.
If you are in the market for a roof rack for your Sport, the TrailRax Modular roof rack would be a solid contender. Do you have a roof rack? Comment below on your likes or dislikes with your current model.
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