Looking at different rack options for an upcoming camping trip, and skiing/boarding this winter. Thinking of a Thule cargo box, either on gutter rails on hardtop, or a Congo cage. I only have about 6 in. above my hardtop to fit in my garage, so I am curious how much the base Congo cage stick up above the hardtop? It sounds like the gutter mount may be ok, but I like strength of the Congo cage for not much more money. If anyone could measure and let me kno the height, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Matt

 

couple of factor's-#correct air pressure in tires
#stock(what ?)tire
#model
#suspension(lift?)
front(from hard top to the top of ,,pipe")is 4 1/2"
rear ( ---//--- )is 5 1/4"-could be more it's adjustable

 

Drill the top, and put on a Yakima or Thule rack. It's worth it, and super strong. I've had the Congo Cage, but decided to drill the roof, and I'm very happy with the result.

 

Reading all these posts from the last year plus, I had hoped Kargo Master had fixed these problems. I was wrong, the directions still sucked , no designation for the bars which side is which, but I love the rack now that it's done.

2 Questions though.
Did any of yall have an issue with the brass bolts? My hex keys didn't work on it. It was like the bolts were to shallow. I just bought bolts with a different head.
Has anyone painted the bolts black? I hate the color contrast with the bolts.

Appreciate all the help here, I have not posted much at all because I am still learning, and quite frankly have no input you all have not figured out.

 

I have recently put the rack on myself. I thought the directions were clear enough, but I spent alot of time here first reading so my expectations were not too high.

I have had no problems with the rack or the hardware, but the rack is very noisy-wind noise. I am working on a wind deflector ( i mocked one up with heavy cardboard) and that helped, but it needs to be metal or plexiglass, something way more substantial. I have been all over the web looking for solutions. My next try will be the rope trick (rope spiraled around the front crossbar, like the coil arounfd the antenna). I have seen modified yak and thule wind deflectors which seem good, but can get costly. Kargo master has a deflector but it goes on behind the front bar and you have to remove the rack to put it on. i wish Kargo Master had a better website and listed this as an option BEFORE I put the rack on. I had to twist arms to find out about it, which makes me think it doesn't work very well (nobody is screaming form the hills about it.)

I have had talks with Marcelles (sp?) from Kargo Master. Alot of people rave about him here. So far he has not been helpful or responsive. I have asked for pictures and part numbers etc and have had to reask over and over until I got the info. Maybe you will have better luck.

Wild Boar says that following SEMA, they will have a snap on wind deflector for their rack. The bars are a little smaller than Kargo Master, but maybe it will work. Don't hold your breath on that either as Wild Boar said they would have one a year ago (said they were working on it-they are ALWAYS working on it (standard answer from them on most things)

 

Some pictures of the rack in use, I usually carry two kayaks

 

Installed my Congo Cage today, not really that hard. Here's what I did:

1. Attach front and rear brackets to the windshield and rear bumper
2. Attach front struts to the front U-piece, rear struts to the rear U-piece, using a lot of silicon sealant, paper towels and surgical gloves
3. Attach rear section to the rear bumper brackets, be sure not to scratch the roof, I used a rolled up sleeping pad on the roof
4. Put something across the freedom top so the long struts don't hit the roof
5. Put a lot of silicon sealant on each end of the long struts
6. Put the long struts onto the rear U-piece, resting the fronts on whatever you put on the freedom top
7. Attach the assembled front U-piece and bolt to the windshield brackets

I did the whole thing myself using hand tools and a stool, a fair amount of running around either side assembling pieces. It was not very hard and went together quite well.

A couple notes on the install:

• I didn't get any rubber washers for the front bracket, parts list says there's four. Instead I used two of the bushing spacers that should have gone on the back, where there wasn't any room for them anyway.
• The curved washer + o-ring setup on the long struts don't really work well, they get pinched easily and the washers don't rotate freely on the bolts so it's difficult to get them lined up properly, especially when it's all slathered in silicon sealant.
• I had to use an extra washer on each of the six front windshield bracket bolts to keep from crushing the paint.
• The bottom of the windshield bolts on either side were a pain in the ass to get in, it's one of those fasteners where there's a floating threaded bracket on the other side, so you have to be careful to align everything before trying to thread the bolts in.

Just a couple annoyances, overall it went together really well. Seems very stable, can't wait to get the tent mounted when it arrives.

Some pictures are over on my smugmug site.

 

AUSLANDER good choice,overloaded mine many times(+500lbs)and works like a champ,i did wrapped mine(hollow tubing is loud)

 

Yeah, 5 minutes on the highway yesterday and I ended up wrapping the front bar, no more humming!

 

Well after a weekend driving around with it on, I do notice some more "whooshing" wind noise above the front seats at 70+ mph, though it's not annoying. I can't quite tell if it's more noise than before, so that's probably a good thing. Wrapping the front crossbar with a bungee cord certainly fixed the oscillating harmonic noises I had heard at about 65mph or so.

The rack is solid! Can't wait for the tent to arrive.