Roof Rack for a 2003 Ford Explorer With Wide Accessory Compatibility
Updated 01/08/2018 | Published 01/02/2018
Question:
roof rack? I have an older 2003 ford explorer. This truck has the OEM chrome rails... but no cross bar for roof storage ontop of truck. There are many options, many vendors to choose from. What does etrailer recommended for this vehicle? What gives me the best options for snow toys, luggage carriers etc. Which brand/type crossing bar works best..
asked by: David
Expert Reply:
There's two variants of the 2003 Ford Explorer, a two door and a four door version. The bars will sit and mount slightly different so it's important to make sure that you get the kind that matches your vehicle. Both of these will clamp to the factory chrome rails and let you use a wide variety of accessories.
In either case, your actual capacity will be determined by the lowest weight capacity in the system, between the roof of the vehicle, the crossbars and the accessory you're loading things into. You can verify the weight capacity of your vehicle in your owners manual, but according to my research it's around 200 pounds, so you may be limited by these kits recommended here.
For either version, I recommend the Rola Rail Extreme Series roof rack. This is an aero bar shape with c-channels, giving you a wide range of accessory compatibility and the benefit of their wider shape letting bigger loads be more stable.
For the 4-door model use part # RBU47 and for the 2-door model use the longer bars, part # RBU53.
