Garvin Industries' Wilderness Accessories Roof Rack looks
good and can back up those good looks with strength.
For many off-road enthusiasts, forays into the local outback mean a
mountain of gear crammed in, tied on, or towed behind their
stowage-impaired steeds. Low-interior volume, short wheelbase rigs like
CJs and Samurais use Jamboree racks to carry a small amount of gear,
making longer trips possible, but not all that comfortable. Pickups occupy
the other end of the spectrum. With their voluminous beds, everything from
an 8 person walled tent to a few ATVs can be stowed easily.
The SUV lies somewhere between these extremes. In fact, much of sport
ute's popularity has arisen from their ability to haul a combination of
passengers and, how shall we put it... junk? Unfortunately, once the back
seat is full of people, most of these rigs (Suburbans excluded) don't
offer much more room behind the seats than does an FJ40 or any of the
other short wheelbase brethren. And with more people there is invariably
more... junk.
Solutions
The time-proven means of toting all that junk is the roof. After you've
stuffed the cargo area, aided by a crowbar and colorful language, the roof
starts to look pretty good.
Roof storage has evolved rapidly in recent years (as with all things
off-road) and now has 3 major subdivisions.
Rudimentary, weak, and functionally challenged original equipment
units.
Versatile bar-based sport-oriented systems like Yakima and Thule.
Beefy trail-dedicated units, often referred to as safari racks.
Garvin Industries produces trail-dedicated rack systems that stand up to
the abuse of off-road driving, whether it is done on a rutted track in
Rhodesia or an overgrown Tennessee ridgeline logging trail. Their
Wilderness Racks?, refined over the past 20 years, are the
industry-trusted standard for trailworthy storage. Trusted by whom?
Trusted as OEM roof racks for Hummers. Trusted by BFG for their factory
Suburbans. Trusted by SEMA for its project trucks. Trusted by the SOLARLS
and the New York to Greek Peak Rallies. Trusted by Warn and Superwinch for
the manufacture of a number of their products. Garvin racks are trusted by
the off-road industry in general.
The Rack
Strong materials and gently radiused curves add to the unit's
strength.
The Wilderness Accessories Roof Rack is more than just a rack; it is a
comprehensive system of framing, flooring, attachment systems, and
accessory mounts. The basic rack is built on a steel frame that comes in a
mind-boggling array of heights and widths, each optimized for the specific
application. For instance, the rack for a Bronco II is
4'-2"x5'-6" and is offered in two heights, 4" or 6".
Applications are available for everything from the Mazda Navajo, to Ford's
Full Size vans, and include models that also can be fit to a myriad of
fiberglass truck caps.
The attachment system locks the rack onto the structure of your
vehicle.
The racks are manufactured from 3/4" steel tubing with an .065"
wall thickness, using strength-enhancing large-radius corner curves. The
rack components are tied together with clean MIG-welded joints and
seemingly oversized Nylok nuts/bolts. The resulting rack is even more
rigid when Garvin's optional steel flooring is used, each tube of which is
constructed of the same sturdy 3/4" tubing.
This new mount is strong yet simple to use.
You can mount the rack in five ways: rain gutter brackets and/or faux rain
gutters, sport rack mounting brackets, factory rack mounting brackets, and
with fiberglass truck cap mounting brackets. Always pushing forward with
product development, Garvin recently introduced a new mounting kit which
we tested on Project
WomBAT. It is constructed of massive 1/4" plate steel and is
simpler to adjust, with a wider variety of angle and width variations. It
is far stronger than any gutter or bracket out there, yet is simple to
dial in for a perfect fit.
Fit and finish on the rack and its accessories is excellent. The rack
and its accessories arrived in meticulously wrapped, coded, and
double-boxed segments. The sharp-looking black powder coating was intact
upon receipt, and has remained chip-free to date.
Assembly
The Wilderness Accessories Roof Rack comes in a staggering
number of pieces, but with the excellent instructions included,
assembly is a snap. Fully assembled, this rack is massive and offers no flex off the
vehicle, so you know it will have none when attached to the
vehicle.
Putting the Wilderness Accessories Roof Rack together is a no-brainer, but
it does take some time. Bags and bags of black Grade 5 bolts tie the
rack's components into a single rigid unit, with truly exceptional
instructions (based around CAD drawings of each part) to guide the way.
Part codes are written on the boxes AND bags. The instructions were also
stapled to each bag, preventing confusion over which sheet went with each
item. The folks at Garvin do not skimp on hardware - not one bag was shy
even one washer, and some had extra hardware. If you do lose a nut or bolt
in the field, all the hardware can be found at any local hardware store.
Sockets and wrenches helped complete this assembly in a few hours.
When the 7' long rack for the Trooper II is fully assembled, with
flooring, it weighs a hefty 100 pounds. This is no poseur unit, folks! Two
of us lifted the rack onto Project
WomBAT and within 20 minutes or so it was one with truck. Try and
shake the rack and you rock the entire truck; the Wilderness Rack offers
no flex.
Accessories
One of the most outstanding features of the Wilderness Rack is its
versatility. Garvin recognized that an effective rack must readily hold a
variety of tools and toys. For off-road dedicated items, like a Hi Lift
jack, a Pull Pal
anchor, lighting, and a spare tire, Garvin designed their own mounting
assemblies. They also recognized that sport rack companies like Yakima and
Thule already offer consumers a wide variety of accessories. Instead of
forcing a decision between their safari-style rack and sport racks, Garvin
designed mounting accessories that allow any Yakima or Thule accessory to
be mounted with those companies' main cross bars. In the case of bikes and
skis, Garvin also manufactures their own accessories (see reviews in the
upcoming Part II of this review). With that revolutionary design the
Wilderness Rack surpasses all others with its combination of strength,
accessory attachments, and cross-system adaptability.
Light Brackets After mounting, we bolted on a few of Garvin's accessories, starting with
the light brackets. These are available in two flavors: standard brackets
and universal brackets. The standard brackets bolt up to the fixed bracket
mounts on the rack's front or rear sides. The universal brackets are
designed to be mounted anywhere along the circumference of the rack's
sides. Universal clamps attach around the side tubes using a rear plate.
Both brackets are incredibly stout, constructed from 1/4" steel
plate, and present excellent mounting points for a range of lights.
Pull Pal Mounting Bracket
Garvin Industries' Pull Pal bracket is the perfect way to store
the tool - out of the way, but handy; and also outside where mud
won't ruin the carpet.
We also installed Garvin's Pull Pal Mounting Bracket. The Pull
Pal anchor is a self-setting winch anchor that weighs in at about
45lbs and is as many inches long. For all its trail value, it is difficult
to efficiently stow inside a vehicle. Garvin's well thought out bracket
keeps the Pull Pal's spade and armature handy without having to worry
about putting them away when they're covered with muck. I have seen no
better means for storing this valuable self-extraction device.
How does it perform?
The Wilderness Accessories Roof Rack stood out as a truly superior product
from day one. The rack feels as if it is welded to Project
WomBAT, dramatically expanding the truck's hauling capabilities. The
Trooper's rear now is free from the Pull Pal, a Hi Lift, plus 15 cubic
feet of... junk, thanks to the Cabelas'
Roof Top Carrier. The rack carries all that and still has room for
several large duffels and the spare tire. This has freed us to look into
aftermarket third seats for the cargo area.
How does the rack perform on the trail? One of my initial concerns was
whether it would be a hazard when working through overgrown trails and
logging roads. I imagined branches and saplings lodging under the rack and
ripping up the paint?. until I put it to the test, when I was surprised
to find that rack actually protects the roof! The rack's rounded corners
don't hang up on branches, and even large limbs pass easily over top,
whether advancing or retreating. The use of brush cables helped this even
further (see Part II).
The rack's time-tested shape proved itself over several thousand miles
of highway driving as well. It did not whistle or rattle, even atop worn
out shocks and washboard roads. The rack has negligible effects on
perceived power. Fuel economy may have decreased although the rack alone
was not the cause, because items were always attached to it.
Loading the rack is a breeze thanks to Garvin's rack flooring and
Isuzu's sturdy spare tire mount. The spare doesn't flex even with a 200lb
fella standing on it. Getting onto the rack from the ground is as simple
as stepping bumper-to-spare-to-rack, but Garvin is also designing a ladder
that hooks to the side of the roof rack and braces against the rear tire.
Even when standing on top, the flooring feels solid and shows deflection
only at the unsupported ends. For wildlife enthusiasts, like the
Yellowstone bison photographer who inquired about the rack, this is an
ideal platform for getting up and out of the way of your subjects.
The only caution to consider with installing the Wilderness Accessories
Roof Rack is the same concern one has with all racks; is too much stuff up
there a problem? The two primary concerns are that the added weight, if
excessive (consult your vehicles' manufacturer recommendations), can
damage mounting points, and can cause exaggerated body roll and thus an
increased risk of roll over. This can be particularly true if you load
heavy items up top and traverse steep cross slopes. Use caution in such
cases, as always, and try to load most heavy items in your rig, stowing
light but bulky items on the rack.
Conclusions
In today's off road market, there are those that do, and those who appear
to. Marketing gurus refer to the latter as image management, message
control, or similar double speak. Whatever your reason for bolting steel
accoutrements to your rig, you should decide whether you are in the market
for serious, performance-oriented off-road equipment, or if you are buying
equipment just to be seen with it. Most people want their rigs stands
apart from the bazillion ordinary SUVs and 4x4s.
Wilderness Racks look like they are made for safaris because they are
made to take the abuse a working rack endures. Other racks look like they
are tough, too. Image control? Spin it how you like, but before you spend
your money, decide what you want to trust your gear to: image or
engineering.
Watch for the Wilderness Accessories Roof Rack, Part II Review in
coming months, which will cover:
Hi Lift holder
Max Tool holder
gas can holder
spare tire holder
Yakima bar & accessories mounts
Garvin Industries Department Isuzu ORC 316 Millar Ave. El Cajon, CA 92020 U.S.A.
Phone: 619.440.7415 Fax: 619.440.0851
To receive free literature on applications and prices, e-mail to: Garvin
Industries.
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