Video Transcript for Thule TracRac SR Sliding Truck Bed Ladder Rack w/ Cantilever Review

Ryan: Hey everybody, Ryan here at etrailer. Today, we're going to be taking a look at the line of Thule Trac Rac SR Sliding Ladder racks with cantilevers. When it comes to ladder racks, there's a ton of different choices available on the market. You're going to want to pick one that works best for you. You really can't go wrong with the Thule and that's because it's going to be able to handle just about anything you want to throw at it. Part of the reasoning is this cantilever here.

This is going to extend over your truck's roof and give you 32 more inches of real estate. Not only can you haul more stuff up here but longer or even larger items. For example, you can see our very long ladder extends well over the roof, and it really gives it a lot more support.It makes everything a lot safer, as opposed to a ladder rack that didn't have this cantilever. This would be extending all the way over the roof. I want to have that support there.

This would be bouncing around, creating a disturbance and just overall isn't really desirable. What is really awesome too, this is going to have a super high weight capacity. It's really going to take a lot to max it out. If you're using just the rear and front crossbar here, the weight capacity is going to be 1,250 pounds. However, if your cargo extends all the way to the front, very front crossbar where the cantilever is, that weight capacity is going to go down to 1000 pounds.

With that being said, that's still a very impressive number. It would really take a lot of stuff up here to even come close to maxing that out.One of the really big things that separate this kit from many of the others is whenever we're not using our ladder rack, we can actually slide this back one, all the way up to the front. That's going to allow us to have full bed access. Say, if you want to put in some taller objects, we're not going to have to work around our ladder rack. With that being said, we'll get to that in a minute and I'll show you how that works.

First, let's talk about some of the other smaller features here that make this thing pretty neat. A lot of the times, whenever you put on a ladder rack, you lose a lot of your tie-down points and that's not the case of this one. Thule actually put in these really nice anchors here, and it gives you a lot of different options as far as what you can use to secure down your cargo.Even up top, we're going to have a little load lock. These are adjustable by turning a knob. You can space them out or push them close together. That's going to give you a nice little stopper there to prevent your cargo from shifting side to side. It's just one extra little thing to keep everything nice and secure. These crossbars actually utilize a T channel. Thule does make different types of accessories that will work with this. It really gives you a ton of different options on what you can use your ladder rack for say, if you want to use it for work, hauling around your ladders and whatnot through the week, but maybe on the weekend, you want to get out maybe a kayak or something like that and throw it up here as well. You're able to use this one ladder rack to get everything done.As promised here's my favorite part about this ladder rack. Once you have your cargo off and you need to free up this room, you can loosen up your knobs here and then just push this all the way towards the front. If you have a real short ladder or something like that, and want to utilize half your bed, you can lock this down wherever you want. It's really convenient. Let's say for our sake, we need to get something tall on the bed of our truck, slide it all the way forward, lock it back down, you're going to have a ton of space back here to allow us to get whatever we might need, in and out without any interference. You're not going to have to worry about pushing these too far towards the front of the truck and hitting your cab because there are a little bump stops here.That'll stop you from having an accident. What's really cool about this setup to, is that it's made from aluminum. It's going to be really lightweight and manageable and better yet, we're not going to have to worry about it rusting out. It's really going to last a long time. You get a lot of use out of it. It's going to have a dual stage powder coat finish. It's really going to do a great job at keeping everything protected and looking good. Honestly, I think it would take a lot to beat this thing up. Should stay looking good and lasting for a very long time. In case you we're wondering, the length of our crossbars are going to be 69 and a half inches, which in my opinion is about the perfect size. It's going to extend pretty much the entire length of the bed on most late model pickup trucks.Now, something you need to think about to, is whenever we add anything to our roof or above our vehicle, we are going to get a little bit of wind noise, especially at higher speeds on the highway. Our crossbars are going to be cutting through the wind. Well, what helps reduce that noise is the elliptical shape, so they're going to be a little bit more aerodynamic and help keep things quiet. One of the big questions we get asked all the time in regards to this ladder rack system is, if you're going to be able to use a tonneau cover with it. Well, some tonneau covers will work and others won't. The way you can kind of find that out is, if the tonneau cover actually gets secured to the inside of your bed, I would say, chances are pretty good it'll probably work out.I can't be certain for every single one of them, but there is a couple that I do know work for sure. We've had them in the shop with this tonneau cover and this ladder rack combination. The two that we do know work is the Bak Revolver X2 and X4. If you're looking to keep your stuff inside of your bed protected and still have a ladder rack, that's a great choice to go to. Our base rails here are going to get installed on top of our bed rails, and they're going to utilize the stake pockets to secure them. What's nice about that is, there's no drilling or anything required, but we have had some customers wonder how strong that really is because, it's just a rubber block that is attached to a bolt that goes down into that stake pocket.I can understand that concern. You might think it doesn't do a good job at keeping everything tight, but it actually works out really well. Just to show you, I'll grab the end here, right where it is secured. If I pull up on it as hard as I can, it doesn't even budge. With that in mind, I don't see it giving me any issues as far as getting loose or having any problems down the road. At the end of the day an awesome ladder rack, that's going to be able to handle just about anything you want to throw at it. It's going to be super versatile. Whether you want to use it for work or play, it's going to get the job done. That'll finish up our look at, of the line of Thule Trac Rac SR sliding ladder racks with cantilevers.