Kargo Master W/Congo Cage, Front Runner Slimline, or Gobi...Discuss
- Thread starter LilPoppa
- Start date
Longtallsally
Adventurer
Absolutely. It served me very well for many years and carried some pretty ridiculous loads.
I believe this is correct- I had to on my YJ. The only other downside is that the finish is known to fail sooner than you'd like. Mine did start to flake after a couple years, but it still held up very well. I'm not much into aesthetics, so I didn't really care.
LilPoppa
Adventurer
Hey thanks for all the input, everybody. I got an email from Front Runner saying they just got a shipment in an could send it out right away So I ended up going with a Front Runner Slimline. With the current exchange rate and shipping to a US address, a Slimline rack, a spare wheel step, and 2 sets of tiedown rings set me back $2300 CAN. I grabbed a couple overtime shifts tonight, and I'll get one more and my credit card will be none the wiser. Can't wait.
CaptainChaos
Member
Congrats on the purchase. I love my Front Runner. 
SilicaRich
Wandering Inverted
I feel like coating isn't a big deal at least for me. Worst case scenario, you throw down some cardboard and spray a few coats of black rustoleum. My Gobi even has its spots where the finish is gone after two years but its mainly from actual wear rather than the finish just failing. Garvin was my second choice but the Gobi's lack of drilling into the tub eventually sold me.
Fantastic setup on the old YJ BTW
Ive looked at all of these racks and went a different direction with the Rhino Rack Back Bone. Perfect for my raft and if I need to I can ghetto fab a couple of Harbor Freight racks together if I need to lash cargo up there. Rhino Rack also has a decent ski rack I can haul my monoskis on.
SamM
Adventurer
You made the right decision. The Front Runner is the right rack. I had a Gobi Stealth. It was the worst $2000+ I ever spend. It rusted, some of the bolts were too short, Gobi sent the wrong rack (I wanted the newer version), the ladder plates did not line up, it caused damage to my hardtop (it sagged and could not hold a 94# Tepui Ayers RTT) and rubbed the paint off the body. Major damage! The guy that made mine must have been drunk the night before. Buyer beware!
SamM
SamM
SilicaRich
Wandering Inverted
That's a rarity. Shame to see you had a poor experience with what is normally a very quality product
dstock
Explorer
Agreed, no issues with my Gobi either. Plus the idea of drilling 16 22mm holes in my JK roof to install the Frontrunner was a non-starter.
LilPoppa
Adventurer
Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that. Did you get any kind of refund? Sounds like you got a defective rack.
I'm pretty happy with my decision. I've been admiring the Slimline since before I even decided to get a Jeep. It looks like it should arrive on Thursday, which is perffect because I'll be near the border then anyway.
LilPoppa
Adventurer
Yeah I'm not looking forward to that bit, haha.
I have a Gobi and the only thing i can say bad about it is the mileage drop (about 1.5mpg) and the wind noise that goes with the front bars (Lightbar section). This is made worse running a soft top. I don't run a lightbar so i rigged an additional wind deflector covering the Lightbar. I also had to seal the Gobi wind deflector flush with the top of the windshield. With all these tweaks, i can honestly say that I can drive 70mph> above for long stretches and not ending up deaf. Now i just recently swapped back to a hard top in prep for the next trip and my wife is even happier now since we can now actually carry a conversation.
The thing i like about the Kargo Master is the cat walk. I would like one for my Gobi setup so i can jump on to the rack from the front. Although with Gobi, that's probably gonna cost 2x.
The thing i like about the Kargo Master is the cat walk. I would like one for my Gobi setup so i can jump on to the rack from the front. Although with Gobi, that's probably gonna cost 2x.
SamM
Adventurer
Thanks! I was very bummed out about the problems that I had. I really wanted to like the Gobi. The Gobi started out as a great addition to my Jeep MOAB. I was very pleased with it for a year or so. After the Tepui Ayers RTT was added the rack started to sag a little at the back. This was not an issue with a soft top but after buying a hardtop the rear crossbar was very close to it. I was watching it but on a long trip to Florida, the rack eventually dropped down and rubbed a groove into my brand new hardtop. The rear crossbar is sleeved with a larger diameter tube welding over the crossbar. The diameter is too big as this bar sits low and close to the top. A better solution would be to sleeve the tubing inside and weld it together to have the same diameter. The rear crossbar could be made a little higher. I lifted the rear bar by rotating it back but lost the use of my ladder, as it would no longer fit.
My solution was going to be extending the bars a couple inches to move it up and away from the roof. I just got aggravated and ended up selling it for $1500. Overall, I think the Gobi is a great product. I had a bad experience but I may have just got a bad one. The rear bar could have been bent in the wrong place. It had a few features that I thought could be better. Mine was also starting to rust badly.
My Jeep MOAB has AEV bumpers. The AEV mounts ended up bending my body work and rubbing off some paint. Not an issue because I'll be added AEV corner protectors. No doubt the movement of the rack from the weight caused the damage. I do miss the rack. My Jeep has a Goal Zero solar charging system added to it. There is no place to mount the panels now without the rack. That will be changed soon.
SamM
Copasspupil
Observer
I own the Gobi's JK45 model for 3 months now. My only issue was the wind dam near the front light bar. It did not have the correct hole location for attach to the front bar. I called, spoke to someone but he never helped me after. I love the rack, looks great and no other issues.
Sorry to hear that you had issues on yours.
Sorry to hear that you had issues on yours.
LilPoppa
Adventurer
So I got my Slimline rack installed today. I can't upload photos for some reason, so imagine a white Rubicon with a Slimline rack in a piney forest.
The install went well. I really took my time when it came to drilling holes in the roof. As dstock mentioned, I needed to drill 16 22mm (7/8"ish) holes in my roof. That was pretty nerve-racking, and I definitely rewarded myself with a beer afterwards. Each hole is surrounded by a dense foam ring to keep water out. I'm thinking about putting a bead of silicon around each ring after it's had a chance to settle a bit. The roof is pretty hard, and can wear down a hole saw pretty quickly. By the fourth hole, it was smoking quite a bit and there wasn't much teeth left. From then on I coated the saw with chain oil frequently. That helped quite a bit. I still went through 4 saws for 16 holes, but they probably could have gone further. I wasn't about to cheap out though. I went for a cruise down some back roads, then drove 2 hours on the highway to my work apartment. The rack is looking a little crooked, so I'm going to readjust it when I get a chance. The instructions recommend taking it out and re-tightening the bolts.
I'm going to return the Spare Wheel Steps. It's a neat idea and it certainly looks well built, but it doesn't seem as useful as I had imagined. By the time you get to the first rung you're standing on the bumper and are high enough to deal with whatever is on the roof anyway. I'd rather just a get a plastic folding step-ladder.
Thank you again, Everybody, for all of your input.
The install went well. I really took my time when it came to drilling holes in the roof. As dstock mentioned, I needed to drill 16 22mm (7/8"ish) holes in my roof. That was pretty nerve-racking, and I definitely rewarded myself with a beer afterwards. Each hole is surrounded by a dense foam ring to keep water out. I'm thinking about putting a bead of silicon around each ring after it's had a chance to settle a bit. The roof is pretty hard, and can wear down a hole saw pretty quickly. By the fourth hole, it was smoking quite a bit and there wasn't much teeth left. From then on I coated the saw with chain oil frequently. That helped quite a bit. I still went through 4 saws for 16 holes, but they probably could have gone further. I wasn't about to cheap out though. I went for a cruise down some back roads, then drove 2 hours on the highway to my work apartment. The rack is looking a little crooked, so I'm going to readjust it when I get a chance. The instructions recommend taking it out and re-tightening the bolts.
I'm going to return the Spare Wheel Steps. It's a neat idea and it certainly looks well built, but it doesn't seem as useful as I had imagined. By the time you get to the first rung you're standing on the bumper and are high enough to deal with whatever is on the roof anyway. I'd rather just a get a plastic folding step-ladder.
Thank you again, Everybody, for all of your input.