To see if this custom-fit item will work for you please tell us what vehicle you'll use it with.
These heavy-duty, aluminum crossbars work with Rhino-Rack legs to create a sturdy roof rack. The square bars have top channels for mounting Rhino-Rack contractor-grade accessories. Custom Backbone system installation on your vehicle's roof.
Features:
Specs:
Alternate Instructions
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Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hi everyone, Aidan here with etrailer.com. Today we're gonna be taking a look at the Rhino-Rack Vortex Aero Bar crossbar system here for your tonneau covers. We're gonna be taking a look at it on our 2019 Ram 1500 with our Mountain Top tonneau cover. Now we are going to be using this with the rails here. Any other tonneau cover that has a rail system like the Pace Edwards UltraGroove or the RetraxPRO XR, those are gonna work just fine. Same deal, it's just gonna slide in the tracks here, but it's basically going to give you a set of crossbars above the tonneau cover.
This is gonna be great for stuff like our tent like you see here, or maybe a bike rack, where we want it above the bed, we want it raised up like this, but we don't wanna reach all the way up like we would on something like a ladder rack. This is gonna have it way more accessible and offer all those same benefits that we might otherwise have at the ladder rack. Let's check it out. When I say all those same benefits as a ladder rack, I more mean for hauling your sports and rec accessories. Things like lumber, ladders, elongated loads maybe like a kayak, they're not gonna work really well on here just because we don't have that same space over the cab.
Anything elongated here is gonna eventually run into that back glass so just keep that in mind for what you're hauling. If you need something that's adjustable, Yakima does have the overhaul system that can be height adjusted, so you can mix and match it for different uses, but this is going to be more of a fixed system, low to the bed like this. And you also have a couple different options here. We're taking a look at the kits here that include the Vortex Aero Bars as well as the quick release legs. We can get these crossbars in two different lengths.
65 inch, like we have here, or a 71 inch crossbar, if we want a little more overhang. You can also choose to just get the quick release feat on their own. You can get them in pack of two, four, or six, so you can mix and match, get as many as you want. If you want to add a third crossbar to this system, you can. And then you can choose whatever crossbar you want.
Maybe you wanna go with Rhino-Rack's HD bars. You have that option and you can customize it to fit your needs. With whatever tonneau cover we're using this on, it's going to retain all of those normal functions, we just have something in the rails on top. So anything we wanna put in the bed, we can. We can open up the cover to get access to the things inside our bed, or we can just slide it out, have everything covered up underneath and have it all protected. These crossbars are gonna have a 220 pound weight capacity and that is a dynamic weight capacity, which means when the vehicle's moving. So if you do plan on putting a tent up here, don't worry you can still sleep in it. It'll be just fine because at that point your car will be static and still. So we don't have to worry about that moving weight capacity. These Vortex Aero bars are perfect for clamp around accessories. They're a very standard size and we haven't had any issues with the accessories we keep in the shop down here, or that we test on other vehicles fitting on these. And you also have the T-track up top. If you peel back the weather stripping and trim it to size, you can slide accessories in there as well. So you've got a variety of options for how you want to attach these accessories to the cross bars. Everything in the system is gonna lock. The end caps on our cross bars here require a special tool to twist open and unlock. So any T-track accessories inside will be safe. And the quick release legs have an actual lock core with key. All of them will have that lock core and key. So all these tabs inside are gonna be completely locked up and safe. So I'm not gonna fully release this with the tent on top, but if you push those tabs in, that's what allows us to lift this out of the quick release mounts right here. So we can quickly get the crossbars off of those bases, leave the bases installed, and it's ready for next time whenever we need to get this set up. I did mention everything is pretty low profile. From the top of our tonneau cover rails to the top of the crossbars, we're sitting at 4 3/4 of an inch. Very low profile. It's gonna not stick up too much. So if we are adding stuff to the top here, it's not gonna be that high of a lift. The tracks run the entire length of the rails on our tonneau cover here, so we can slide the bases here along any point and have any crossbar spread that we might need. We set these up specifically to work with our rooftop tent today, but maybe you have some bike racks that you're looking to carry or a cargo basket, and you know, I need a different crossbar spread. You can set that up, move it around however you see fit, and get it set up really quickly. Speaking of that setup, let's check out that install process right now. Starting off the installation, we're gonna take the base of our legs and we're gonna get some stuff assembled. We're gonna start off with our screw right there, a lock washer and a flat washer on top of that. And that's gonna drop through one of these outer holes right here, just like that on either side. Then underneath, I'm gonna grab the little plate loosely thread that on. And this is going to slide into the rails of our tonneau cover, or wherever else we're mounting this. For our Mountain Top tonneau cover today, we're gonna take off the end cap right there to expose the track system. And these T-bolts are rectangular, so just make sure they're going in the narrow side facing inward just so they fit properly. And depending on the system you're using it might be a little bit different on yours. So you get those in. This one's being a little stubborn. If you find that it's getting a little bound up entering in, you can just loosen it a little bit. That's why we wanted to leave this loose from the start. So it can freely slide along the track. And we can get it set to our crossbar spread. That's gonna vary depending on what kind of accessories you plan on mounting. We're gonna be putting a tent up here, so I'm gonna be shooting for a 32 inch crossbar spread to work with our tent. So I'm just gonna be going from the center of one base to the center of the other. And once I've got it at that proper spread, I can go back to those bolts and tighten them down with the Allen wrench here. We can take our crossbars with the rest of our leg assembly and get those set up. We can take our key for our Aero bars here and pop that end cap off. Now if you went with the HD bars, that process will be slightly different. so just keep that in mind. We're gonna slide this little T-bolt into the track underneath. I'm just gonna pop on the end cap right now so I don't forget. And so, this doesn't slide out of the track accidentally. And then what I like to do is I actually like to come to the bolt underneath here. Right there, you can get a better look at it, and I'm actually going to tighten it up most of the way. Now the reason I'm doing this is so it's easier on us whenever getting it set up and spreading these out the appropriate amount. So I'm just gonna tighten it up, enough to where it won't move on its own, but I can still move it by hand pushing it with a little bit of force. This right here is perfect. One thing I'm gonna also do is push these locking tabs in and just push them into the leg there. That way they're just unlocked, ready to go, and drop into the bases. With those bases tighten down, everything should be good spacing wise from the front to the back. And now we just have to worry about our side to side. We can see everything locks in pretty well here. I can come to the back of the truck and get kind of a basic idea of how that crossbar spread is looking, or I can even get a little bit more precise and measure the overhang on either side make sure it's even. Once we're happy with the even overhang on both sides, we can just lift it out. Since we left it unlocked, it's easy to do. And since everything's mostly tight, these aren't gonna shift around on us. We can then take this opportunity to fully tighten them down. And at this point, everything should be lined up and tighten down. So it's as simple as dropping it back in and pulling out on those red locking tabs. Verify that they're all engaged. We don't want to forget to cover up the legs, lock them up. And then on our Mountain Top cover, install these caps on our rails. Get that lined up here. Lock up those legs just like that. That's gonna secure everything. And for our Mountain Top cover we can slide on those end caps to the rails, and everything's ready for our accessories. With our gear installed up top, we can close up our tonneau cover, get that latched in on both sides and we're good to go. And overall, I think this is going to be a very versatile system. The quick release legs are great because we can take them off really easily, put them on just as easily. We don't have to make any adjustments once it's all set. And the overall crossbar system is gonna be great for things like our tent here or for a bike rack. We don't have to lift it up all the way like we would on a ladder rack. It's just at a much more accessible height, while still leaving the whole bed and the tonneau cover open to use as we normally would. Thanks for watching..
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