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These heavy-duty, aluminum crossbars give you the muscle to carry serious gear. At 59" long and with a weight capacity of 220 lbs, they handle everything from kayaks and canoes to ladders and contractor-grade tools. The square design adds rigidity, and the sturdy build keeps your load secure mile after mile.
The square bars feature top channels that work perfectly with Rhino-Rack Heavy Duty accessories like ladder rollers, load stops, and eyebolts. Rubber strips inside the channels cushion your gear and add slip resistance, keeping everything stable while you drive. It’s the kind of setup that makes loading up for a trip or a job quick and straightforward.
This system installs cleanly on your vehicle's naked roof without the need for factory rails. The included custom fit kit ensures the legs sit right where they belong, giving you a solid base that won’t shift or damage the paint. Once mounted, lockable cover plates secure the legs so the rack stays put wherever you go.
The lockable cover plates on the legs keep your rack secure once installed, so there’s no worrying about theft or movement during travel. Built with durable aluminum construction, the crossbars come with a limited lifetime warranty, while the legs and fit kit carry 5-year limited warranties—making this a dependable choice for years of hauling adventures.
Alternate Instructions
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hi, Matt of etrailer. Today we're gonna be talking about the Rhino-Rack Roof Rack with the HD bars on our 2020 Ford F-150. Now this will be a great option if you're looking for some really sturdy roof rack, so if you wanna take a closer look at it, we can talk about that now. It is important that you're getting the right one for you since you can get this in different kits. So just make sure you're putting your vehicle's information into our fit guide to make sure you're getting the right one for your vehicle. Now with these, any type of roof rack, they're gonna be great, especially if you're just trying to save space in your bed or on the back of your vehicle because F-150 is already a longer vehicle so if you're putting a trailer or a cargo carrier back there, it's just gonna be a little bit harder to get into those tight spots as opposed to just using your roof here.
And your bed's not gonna be the best option for you if you have anything longer, like any type of skis or if you have any kayaks, this is gonna be the better option on your roof. So they're gonna be made up of three parts. The first one is gonna be the crossbar on the very top. Now this is gonna be a square type of bar and these are gonna be extra sturdy and we have this thick layer of rubber on the very top of it. So when you do have anything sitting on here, it's not gonna scratch anything up and it's gonna give it plain traction staying on there.
So it'll gonna give you a little bit more peace of mind if you have any accessories sitting here like a bike carrier or any type of roof box. Now when it comes to the part underneath it, we're gonna have our towers. So with these towers, we're gonna have a lock core on here. So yeah, it will give you more peace of mind. And underneath here we're gonna have the fit kit.
Now this fit kit's doing a really good job today. It's just gonna be comprised of a hook and a rubber pad underneath there. And that rubber pad, as you can see right here, we don't have any gaps. That's something I look for in a lot of roof racks because if we don't have any gaps, it's gonna reduce any wind noise up here and it's just gonna look nicer and gives me more peace of mind that's gonna do a good job at grabbing onto my roof. Get a couple measurements to see how it's sitting up here.
So the first one I'm gonna get is gonna be the overall height. So that's gonna add a little bit under five inches, which is kind of tall for a roof rack. What I'd recommend doing is taking the total height of your vehicle, grasp bars and anything sitting on top that so you know if you're gonna make it under a spot or not. Now another crossbar that I'd recommend with Rhino-Rack are gonna be those support bars. It's still gonna be something that's rugged and has a pretty good weight capacity, but they will sit a little bit more low profile to your vehicle. Now for the total distance underneath here, that's gonna be a little bit under three inches. So we're gonna be a little bit tight in that respect. If you have any type of clamps or a little bit more bulky, it might be kind of hard to reach 'them or if you have a sunroof on your vehicle, just be a little bit more mindful if that is expanding up so we don't make contact with anything. And for the overhang over here, we got a couple inches of spare. That's important to know if you have anything like skis 'cause you want to be able to reach that from point on the side of a vehicle. And as for how much they can handle, they're can handle quite a bit since they are the HD crossbars. But what's gonna be the most likely the limiting factor is gonna be your roof. So it's important just to check what your owner manual says about that and then go from the lowest rated component so you don't damage anything. So in my opinion, I think this is gonna be a solid choice for anyone who is looking for something that's just gonna give you more peace of mind, especially with those heavier items and they are gonna last quite a bit. So to begin the installation, what I like to do is just lay out all my stuff so I can take inventory. So we're gonna have the crossbar, we're gonna have the fit kit, both the hook and the pad, and we're gonna have the tower and the base that comes along with it. Now I do recommend having a tape measure in hand so you can make sure everything is even and make sure you have that tool that comes with your kit. I'll also grab some masking tape. Oh, we can talk a little bit more about this later on, but it helps, we just keep everything in the right spots. Now what we're gonna do from this point is just flip over this crossbar and you can take off these end caps. Now sometimes I find they're a little bit hard to actually remove. Sometimes they'll kind of fight you. So if it's really fighting you, what you can do instead is just make sure that this is plenty loose. We'll put it on in this orientation back in face this way, and we'll just slide that block into place. From there, I'll tighten this slightly. You're gonna have a bolt right here on there and that should turn that block underneath there some, I might even come back over here, push this thumb with my finger until it locks into place and we want it perpendicular with the crossbar, just like that. And we'll just tighten it down a little bit more, just enough to grab on there. I'm gonna adjust this and then if you have your instructions, you can naturally see where this sits exactly. So make sure you grab that, get the number from the distance from the back of that tower to the end of that crossbar. And once it's in the correct spot, you can attach it down the rest of the way and do that same process on the other side. And then if you haven't yet, you can put that foot pad on here. I took mine off real quick, but the way it goes on is you reference this arrow on here, reference your instruction to make sure it's pointing the right direction. My case, it's facing out, I'll just grab onto this metal bar. Then we'll grab our rubber foot pad here. Again, this is also gonna have a error on it, letting you know which direction it should be facing, either forward or behind you, and a number for what side it goes on, passenger or driver's side. Once we get this in the right orientation, then you'll just press it on to that footpad til it wraps around it completely. (tower clicks) And once that's on there, then you'll repeat that on the other side. And now we can put on our roof. So what I'll do typically is just kind of roughly place it there. It doesn't have to be perfect at this point. If you need, you can also grab a friend to help you out with this process. But before we get any measurements, I recommend having the front one on there at least two. And I can ask you talk about how we put these in the correct positions so you can actually mount this to your roof. When you reference your instructions, it's gonna give you an A and B measurement. Your A measurement is gonna be from this seam here where the doors meet to the edge of this pad of your crossbar. Once you get that to be the right measurement of what's in your instructions, then you can do that on the other side and mount it up here. And to get the B measurement, it's gonna be from the center of one crossbar to the center of the other one. Now I can actually show you how to mount it up there. So that process is really just when me making sure this is fit in there correctly. If you find that this isn't wide enough or it's too wide, we can always adjust this. The way you can tell if it's wide or not wide enough is if this is grabbing on to this corner on our roof right here, this gutter. If it is, we're good to go. And then I'll open up my door and remove this bolt here. When that bolt is fully removed, I'm gonna grab one of those clamps and we'll install it just by pushing it through that hole on the clamp itself and threading it back into this nut up here. I'll typically grab my other hand and help guide it through the backside. If you find it's kind of hard to grab it with your fingers, you can always grab that tool that comes with your kit, help guide it that way. Now, I wouldn't recommend tightening this all the way down. I'd recommend just having a little bit of resistance and then going to the other side so we have a good even fit on a roof. You just go back and forth until this is all the way tightened down then. And the way you're gonna be able to tell if this is tightened all the way is once you're turning this around, you find that this blue tab here straightens out like it is now, it's good to go. Then you'll just grab your end cap, put that into place, lock it up. And I like to give it a good shake test, make sure it's not gonna go anywhere. And if it feels pretty good, you can take it out for a ride. Now if you guys have any other questions, let us know here at etrailer. And again, I'm Matt, and thanks for watching.
Ratings & Reviews
The Rhino racks are excellent. They are easy to put on and take off. They are quite without the need for a fairing. My kayak racks clamp down tight. Much better than the round racks.
I got the roof rack mounted anyways. Better pics to come when it's all finished!
Great packaging, timely delivery and good quality Rhino products! I watched a utube video on installing the rack system which made the install much easier.
I have to admit that I was a bit hesitant to go with a rack brand I never heard of as opposed to the “Y” or “T” brand. Those concerns soon disappeared as I assembled and mounted the Rhino Roof Rack onto my 2020 GMC 1500 Denali.
As an engineer, I appreciate engineering attention to details:
- the fit to my vehicle was accurate to +/- 1mm
- the hold done bolts are theft deterrent
- the mounting towers include locks
- placement of the mounting towers is mistake proof with integrated measuring system
- all of the surfaces that may whistle in the wind are closed
- the end caps are held in place with a unique latching mechanism
- even stickers are provided to allow you to remove and replace the racks without error
Rhino Rack ... your engineers and product execution team are #1 in the business!!!
Great product sturdy bars. Keep in mind anything you install on the bars needs to have longer bolts because of how big the bars are but that's a minor detail
Great product everything fit perfectly. With the heavy duty bars almost all the hardware for anything you put on the rack is too short
Ordered a Rhino Rack for my 2014 GMC Sierra 2500HD Denali. Rack arrived in very good shape and all items were there. Installing at this time and see no problems ahead.
The rhino rack assembled easily, fit the channels in my roof perfectly and looks great! 5 stars for on time delivery, good packaging, super easy ordering also. Very happy customer!
Ok… giving this item four stars as an overall view. The good: it fits a Jeep Wrangler perfectly. With the appropriate legs, it canvases across the entire roof of the Jeep with the legs attaching to the gutters. The bad: just a bit too noisy for my liking, even with the appropriate wind faring (I don’t expect absolute silence since I have a one touch sky top). The noise is not a big deal on short trips, but it was definitely driving my wife and kids nuts on a 2+ hour drive (stick some headphones on the kids, problem fixed)
In the future, I might switch it up from these square rails and go with something a bit more aerodynamic…
I needed roof racks on my 2023 Silverado to accommodate the shape of my canoe. I had Yakima racks on the camper shell but the canoe was hitting the top of my truck. My Rhino racks showed up yesterday evening and I’m ready to go this morning!
Fits 2017+ Super Duty!
I had the vortex 2500 on my previous truck which I removed when I traded it in for the 2017 super duty. I knew all I needed was the foot kit to make the switch over to the new truck. But, for some reason Rhino rack didn’t have a kit for the new body super duty. They did however have kits for the 2015+ F150 which I knew would work because they share the same cab. My hunch was correct and the foot kit worked great.
The measurement for the spacing between the feet were a little off. The F150 calls for 169mm and 166mm between feet (front bar/rear bar). I found that to be a bit too narrow. I added about 5mm on each and it fit perfectly.
Thanks to Etrailer, I am ready to do some serious summer exploring with my 2013 Mazda 3! Rhino Racks, Malone top box, and Kuat bike rack!
Great product, very well built, heavy duty. the assembly and settings instructions are easy to follow and when I placed it on the roof of my 2015 f150 super cab, it fit perfectly with no further adjustments necessary. I am very impressed with this Rhino Rack and feel it will probably outlast me and be handed down through many generations. Also purchasing from etrailer was an awesome experience, fast free shipping. easy website to navigate.
Excellent.. roof barts come out out of box like they were a returned.
Definitely my truck has another grate look now looking for tuxedo elevate side bars..
The roof rack continued to get loose and I lost 2 kayaks going down the highway. I was able to recover them after significant damage. The whole rear rack fell off. Once reinstalled I added numerous straps and continued to stop every 50-75 miles to retighten and adjust so it didn’t happen again. I will not be using these roof racks again.
I've had Thule & Yakima products over the years, with no issues. But I'm really glad I ordered this set-up for my 2021 F-150. I think you get just as good of a product from Rhino, maybe even better, for a slightly lower price. Everything feels sturdy and well made (with the possible exception of the locking covers, which feel a bit flimsy). I really like this set-up, and the precise measurements and guides made for a perfect snug fit. The rubber strip running on the upper long edge of the bars feels like it will definately help keep accessories from sliding out of place.
Excellent product. Excellent service.
I just finished the install of the Rhino Rack 2500 with the Vortex Bars. It looks fantastic on my 2020 Silverado. It's solid and very well built. I'm a surfcaster on Long Island and I use 1 piece fishing rods up to 11ft long so the easiest and best way to transport them is on top of my vehicle. I selected this rack because it's aerodynamic and with the accessory channel I was able to easily attach them by sliding a 1inch stainless bolt and stainless washer in the channel. This hides the attachment and makes it impossible to remove unless you have the keys to access my rod rack which has a padlock.
This rack works perfectly on my Nissan Versa for carrying my two Perception Sound 9'6" kayaks. The Rhino-Racks look good to me. The kayaks can rest directly on the rubber pads on the rails, unlike the Yakama racks I had in the past that had bare pipe rails. Also, I expect I can buy parts to adapt this product to a different car without having to buy new towers. I am sorry there are not hooks or loops to attach bungees when carrying lumber. They are noisy in the wind, but less so when carrying the kayaks.
We originally got this rack system (Custom DK Fit Kit for 4 Rhino-Rack 2500 Series Roof Rack Legs - Naked Roof Item #DK427) mostly for our Kayak racks on our 2015 Ford F-150, which worked great. Then we totaled our F-150 and the racks actually fit on our new 2022 GMC Sierra 2500 HD P/U. We took it on a 16,000 mile trip from the East Coast to Alaska with both 12 ft. kayaks on the top. Through the various speeds (sometimes up to 80 mph), weather conditions, and the high crosswinds of the mid-West, the racks help up perfectly. No issues or problems. I would recommend these to anyone.
Shipping was on time and it was the exact product I need for my 25 f150.
These replacement legs for my Rhino Rack are really great. They are a big improvement over the original legs. The fit is much tighter and secure. very happy with this product.
Fits perfect and is solid as a rock. Installation took some patience to get it just right but wasn't difficult at all, just make sure you have plenty of time to full adjust it. Used it for the first time with a 14' 100+lb kayak and it handled the weight no problem at all.
This kit has been perfect for my new truck and allowed me to use my bars from my other truck on the new one. This kit is actually more succeed than the ones that I replaced. I use the rhino rack to carry the kayak shown in the picture
Brooke M.
4/26/2025
Man, looks like a lot of fun having a kayak! I see lots of gear aboard - do you use it for fishing?
The install was super easy, the quality is excellent. I bought this rack as an extension for my bed rack. I carry long materials for work and wanted some cab protection. But i can use it without my bed rack when traveling also so works out.
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John
7/30/2025
Still very happy with the product and would recommend it to others.