Roof Rack for Soft Tops

[Jcap69]

Hi,

I am looking for a roof rack for my 2022 4 door BB with soft top. I looked on the forums and it seams like there was some talk about them from 2021-2023. Has anyone found one that works. I am looking to put a Rooftop tent on it but, I would still like to be able to put the soft top down. There is one from Raket.com. The rack looks like it is built extremely well but, The few things that i don't like about it, is that you can only put the first half of the top back and would have to remove the RTT to do that. It costs an assload of money if it is ever in stock, which is rare. The other rack is from Gobiracks.com. This one allows you to keep the RTT on and the whole rack flips back so that you can put the soft top all the way down. Which is what I'm looking for. I have watch a few videos on this rack and was going to buy it until I came across a video from Casey 250 and he showed how it destroyed his rear fenders (he had his installed on a Jeep but, the install is the same at the fenders on both Jeeps and Broncos). Again, if anyone has had luck with a roof rack that you can still put the top down on. Please let me now. Thanks.

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[B22-2023]

There is one from Raket.com.

Can't find the pics I took but I met a guy at a Bronco event and he had one; having a soft top myself, I asked him about it. We did a long walk-around and discussion. He had a few years experience with it, both inland and on the beach, and it held up well, looked great. Wind noise was mentioned and he said he overcame it trying out different plastic pieces in and around the fairing, nothing visibly noticeable but fixed it. It's on my list.

 

[Mustbeheresomewhere]

I had a Gobi rack on mine for about 10k miles. I ended up selling it because I didn’t really use it. As long as you keep adjusted and don’t overload it, it’s the strongest rack out there.
Plus, they made me one that shorter in the back so that the back could open.

 

[ean01]

I too have been looking for a rack for my 2022 Badlands soft top and have been leaning towards the Gobi. I was concerned after watching the Casy 250 video and the issues he had on his Jeep. After researching the Gobi installation on a Jeep vs a Bronco, there are some differences.

First, the the rear stabilizer plate on the Jeep is attached with adhesive directly to the body. On the Bronco, it is bolted to the body using two existing bolts under the soft top. That should make quite a difference as the stabilizer plate is not resting on the body. The other difference is how the rack is attached below the rear bumper. On the Jeep, it is attached to the body. On the Bronco, it is attached to the frame. I am not sure if that makes a difference.

Lastly, Casy 250 mentioned that his isolator screws kept coming loose (these are the screws/pads that put tension against the stabilizer plates). If you look closely in his video, you can see that the jam nuts on the stabilizer screws are not installed properly. So if the stabilizer screws were loose, that would cause all the swaying that Casey 250 mentions. In addition, the loose stabilizer screws/pads would then be hammering into the stabilizer plates which would cause damage.

I still believe the Gobi soft top rack is an option, but would be interested to hear what others have experienced with their Gobi racks.

 

[TheLand]

I have the Exposed Racks for soft top. It's a great system. Pretty simple to install (attaches to the frame of the vehicle), no drill, very solid and well made. Soft top closes over perfectly. Sunshade fits under the crossbar too.

 

[broadicustomworks]

I used the Raket one on mine until I went with a hard top (it's for sale here in the members area, btw- shameless plug).
It is heavy duty for sure. They sure didn't skimp on materials when designing and building it.
The rack portion actually can slide out and off, but you are correct in that due to the rear towers it allows open top in the first position only.
However it is one of select few that allows for the rear pop-up cargo feature as well.
Gobi checks a lot of boxes for a lot of people, and having the swing-back feature to open the ST is a plus. IDK if I would be comfortable doing it loaded with an RTT, maybe it's no big deal or maybe they say don't. I didn't delve much into it once I decided against the Gobi early on.

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