Hey Everyone

I exchanged messages with someone on here a while ago about the plans I had to modify my Congo Cage which is made by KargoMasters. I really liked the Congo Cage, but my chief complaint was the effort required to remove the front two bolts and then lift the entire rack up and out of the way to raise and lower my soft top. Even with it lifted to the point that the rear legs were pressing against my license plate holder I always had difficulty getting the soft top to get by the front bars.

I spoke to a friend who does some of his own welding and I gave him the front frame to modify for me. I wanted him to simply cut off the two pieces that connect to the cross bars. The small pieces that connect to the rear would then have 2-3 inch lips attached to the the top and this would allow me to easily disconnect the front from the rest of the by pulling a couple of pins that would have locked the lips to the front frame.

My friend made a couple of changes to my design, so it isn't exactly what I wanted but it works pretty well.

Here is the front bar, after my friend cut out a small T shaped section and welded it up.



Here is the Congo Cage split and lifted to allow me to raise my soft top. Without the weight of the front frame I can just grab the rear and pull it allowing the bars to lift. I then use a strap to secure it out of the way while I raise / lower my soft top.



And here in the Congo Cage when it is locked into place. I have one pin on each side securing everything and I have a bungee cord to prevent it from rattling.



I wish the Congo Cage had of come like this from the factory. I realize that my modification probably reduced the amount of weight that I can carry, but I am only using it for my kayaks which have a combined weight of about 100 lbs.

Cheers

 

Great post, thanks for the pics.

 

I agree completely…
I just ordered and received my new CONGO CAGE from Quadratec and installed it this past weekend. One thing that bothered me the most was that I couldn’t quickly put the top down with the canoe rack on. So I modified it…too bad I didn’t see this post first, but there is more than one way to skin the cat…
What the picture doesn’t show in detail follows:
I used at ½-13 threaded rod about 4 inches long and secured it with a jam nut. I fabricated a rubber washer (top washer right below the support arm of the rack) to dress up or hide the jam nut. I then drilled a hole into the threaded rod for the pin. I works great as is, but I will also put Nylon Insert Lock Nuts on if I’m actually transporting my canoe just in case.
Pete

 

The part that is bothering me most about the Congo Cage is that it does not allow the soft top in the sunrider position. It's too low and crushes the soft top's front bar.

I already thought about a few ideas on how to make a quick disconnect in the front using latches. However, the height for the soft top is still a problem. I called them and they told me they recently released a new model but did not think of it.

I may have to take it apart and redo the whole thing or simply toss it and get the Body Armor.


Is there any other rack that allows for using the soft top in sunrider position? All the ones I see seem too low for it.