Thule Xscape Adjustable Truck Bed Rack - Aluminum - 300 lbs - 70" Crossbars

Video Transcript for Thule Xscape Adjustable Truck Bed Rack Feature Review

Hello neighbor, this is Curt with etrailer and today we're gonna take a look at the Thule Xscape Ladder Rack and at the end of this video, by the time you're done watching it, I think what you're gonna find is that the Thule Xscape is fantastic as far as being adjustable, has a good weight capacity and is actually pretty easy to install. Now if you're using it for work, like with ladders or lumber, or if you're using it for play, whether you're carrying a kayak, a platform rack, or even a rooftop tent, the Thule Xscape is gonna be a fantastic ladder rack for you. So let's start at the top with the load bars themselves. Now, right up front, I'll give you the dimensions. The dimensions of these are going to be 3-1/2 inches wide by 1-1/2 inches thick. So make sure you double check your clamp mounted accessories that you want to use and make sure that they're gonna fit around a bar this size.

The other thing is that they come in both 60 and 70 inch lengths. We have the 60 inch length on our truck today. If you have a bigger truck, you might end up getting the 70 inch length just to accommodate that bed size a bit better. Our end caps all feature these tie downs here to help just anchor any kind of cargo down that you might have up here, whether it be ladders, lumber, anything else. You know, if you have a platform rack up here and you need that extra spot for a tie down, you can use that there as well.

You're also able to use T-track accessories with it. And the way you're gonna do that is underneath this weather stripping right here, which you can just simply peel back and you'll have access to that T slot there. Now if we're gonna add an accessory to it, what you would need to do is get the tool that's included with the ladder rack. And while I have it in my hand, I will let you know that this tool, the bit especially you really want to keep in a safe place. Every bolt on this ladder rack uses this fitting and it's not a very common fitting to find out there.

So once you get everything assembled, make sure you keep this in a very safe place 'cause you'll need it for any adjustments or to take this on and off your truck bed. But while we have it up here right now, what we have dropped right in here is a bolt. I'm gonna use this to loosen that up and get it out. Once that's out, all you need to do is slip off your end cap and you have access to that full T-track. Now when it comes to this weather stripping, the weather stripping is generally there to help reduce any kind of noise of air blowing across this cavity of the T-track slot.

But when it comes to a ladder rack, to be honest, most people don't use a weather strip and a lot of rat ladder racks don't even come with one. That's mainly because the noise that's back here in the bed isn't nearly as bothersome as noise that you might get from a roof rack over the cab where they're right above your head and if they're making noise you're definitely going to hear it. In the case of a ladder rack, you can opt to use these if you're not using the T-slot at all. But if you do plan on using this, I might recommend that you just don't use it at all, or you cut this into small enough sections that after you put a piece on here, you can make it up with the other sections and keep the rest of it covered. Now moving onto our support towers that we have here. I had mentioned earlier in the video that these are adjustable and they are, they are in fixed positions about 1.4 inches apart. So you're not gonna get just a free scale in here that you really have to be careful that you have both sides even. As long as both sides of the vehicle are on the same notch, your bar is gonna be at a level height. So that is gonna be accessed using this tool as we mentioned before. But a couple of other things to take a look at while we're in here. There are Molle panels available for the Thule Xscape. Those would bolt in here and here and they could be adjusted. So regardless of how far close your bars are apart, you'll be able to use your Molle panel. Now you're gonna need your tool to do the adjustments here, but before we do that, we're also gonna have to loosen the bar through these bolts under here. Reason being is these come in at a slant like this, so I can't adjust it higher or lower without also bringing these in or out. So the first thing that I'll need to do is loosen those up. Now if you have an extra person with you, it could be a lot easier to move these up and down while making sure that this slides across and adjust. If you're just by yourself adjusting though, I would recommend just removing the bar, making your adjustments, and then reinstalling your bar. So I'm gonna show you how that works right now. So I'm gonna start with removing my end cap. Once that's removed, I'm gonna loosen the bolt here and the bolt here on both of my support towers so that I could slide the bar off. Now I'm really just looking to loosen these up, not remove them completely, I just need to get it to a spot where I can slide my bar back and forth and get it off of my support towers. So I'm just gonna get this off and again, it could be a little bit difficult to position these, which is why it's really hard to make adjustments while it's on here. So we're gonna remove it and get it set aside. So what we're gonna do next with the bar removed is we're go ahead and take that tool again and we're gonna use it right here and get this loosened up. Now this part here essentially almost acts as a button. So as you loosen it up, you're just gonna notice that this plastic piece surrounding the bolt there is just gonna kind of protrude a little bit from its housing right here. And once it does that, and you can click it down like this, it allows you to slide this up and down. So what I can do is I could bring it up to its highest height, which is gonna give us a height of 27-1/2 inches, give or take above our bed rail. Or I can reduce it all the way down to its lowest point, which puts it at 17 inches above my bed rail. But it is important to note that your weight capacity does change depending on the height. In its lowest setting where it is right now, you'll have a weight capacity on this ladder rack of 500 pounds. However, any increment that you raise it at all from this low base height is gonna reduce your weight capacity to 300 pounds. Now that is still plenty to be able to do a lot with your ladder rack. That's still plenty for a lot of the lumber, ladders and things like that that you might have to carry. And as far as those heavier loads for recreational purposes like a rooftop tent, it's gonna be plenty to carry that as well. But once you get it down to your desired height, go ahead and grab your tool again and all you're gonna do is tighten that bolt back down into position and you're really just gonna wind this until that button ends up being flush against the housing. Then when it's at the right height you could just slide it back on. Both of those bolts are connected to one plate here and we're gonna put that through that slot underneath here and guide it through. Then all you need to do is take some measurements, double check your overhang on both the driver and the passenger side, and make sure that length is even and then you can replace your end cap and tighten the bolts under the bar and get everything secured. Now, assembly on the Xscape is really simple, especially compared to a lot of the ladder racks that I've installed here at etrailer. There's only a handful of bolts. You gotta take care of your end caps, the bolts attaching your towers to the bar and whatever bolts are gonna end up connecting this to your rails. And that's what I'll talk about next is there are different ways to mount this and it all depends on the truck that you have and the bed rails that you have. So since we have standard bed rails on this today, we've got a standard bed rail kit to attach this using some J clamps up underneath the rail of the truck. We also have another fit kit. If you have a C channel or Sport Trac that goes around the inside of the bed of your truck, such as you find on a Toyota Tacoma. If you have a tonneau cover or you have aftermarket bed rails that have a T-slot at the top that allow you to adjust how close and far apart your bars are kind of on the fly. If you have a tonneau cover or bed rails like that, there's another fit kit from Thule that's going to fit that as well. So make sure that you're using our fit guide. Make sure that you put in your year, make, and model of your truck, the bed size and the type of bed rail that you have in order to ensure that you get the right kit. And that was a look at the Thule Xscape Ladder Rack. And if after watching this video you've still got some questions about it, you can go ahead and give us a call here at etrailer or you can leave your questions in the comments below. We would love to answer those for you. It'll just help you and other neighbors to make the best decision for themselves. Once again, this is Curt with etrailer. Thanks for stopping by.