In Brief

Sturdy, easily installed steel rack that considerably increases your interior storage space. Mounting location is designed to clear the installation points and not interfere with installation of Petroworks' Sport Cage or most other six-point sport cages.

Installation

This couldn't get much simpler. Locate the rack where you want it, mark and drill 4 holes, then bolt it in place using the provided mounting hardware.

In some applications, you may find that existing holes in the bed rails will work. Try this:

Remove the passenger grab handles that are attached to the rear bed rails of your truck. Use the rear mounting holes for the grab handles for the front "feet" of the Cargo Rack and other existing holes in the rails (that may then line up) for the rear feet of the rack. Bolt it in.

Impressions

The cargo rack is of all steel welded construction, made from ¾" tubing. I measured the inside dimensions at 38" x 22¾" x 5". It's supported and anchored via four legs and feet, the feet fitting on and inside the "bed rails" of a soft top Samurai's rear bed area. It's designed to be somewhat narrower and shorter than the available space over the rear bed in order to provide clearance for roll cages or the stock roll bar's angled supports. The legs raise the rack a measured 5" vertically to allow for easier access to gear stowed beneath it.

The rack is very rigid and sturdy. Although I doubt you'd want to wheel with the rack loaded with heavy items, it's certainly strong enough to support them. I intend to use it primarily to handle the bulkier items that take up a lot of space in the bed of the truck, things like a cooler, or sleeping bags and pads, camp chairs and the like. The open construction with rounded corners allows you to use bungee cords or other lashings to secure the contents.

You could easily adapt some mounts to the rack to provide a mounting point for items such as a Hi-Lift jack, shovel, axe and the like. These photos show a couple of collapsible camp chairs I threw in there.

The only drawbacks I've found to use of this rack is that it will prevent you from reclining your front seats very far and will preclude use of a stock BestTop (or other brand) deck cover. Modifying most deck covers for continued use, however, would be simple.

--Scott Gomez

Top photo courtesy of and ©2000 Petroworks Off Road Products, Inc.