Vantech Universal Pickup Topper M1000 Ladder Rack w/ 60" Bar Steel Black

I recently (Oct 2021) purchased a ROOFNEST 'Sparrow' roof-top tent for my 1995 Chevy K1500 Extended Cab pickup and tried to order a Thule, Yakima and Rhino Rack system upon which to install it. "Sorry, but they're all back ordered with no restock date available!" (Thanks a heap, Mr. President, for taking such QUICk action to resolve the container cargo bottleneck problem at the ports...which is where all three of those popular systems are waiting for unloading!). Frustrated, I grabbed whatever was available NOW and that turned out to be the Vantech Universal Pickup Topper M1000 Ladder Rack w/ 60" Bar Steel Black assembly. It actually arrived a day early (a miracle?) and today I installed it on my pickup's camper cap (a LEER fiberglass type). This I did very quickly and with absolutely no problems with any of the components whatsoever! The fact that installation was such an easy 'snap' is a testament both to VANTECH and to the fact that any system that can be quickly installed by a hopeless clutz like me (with no inherent handyman skills to speak of) HAS to be great! Thank you, VANTECH, for providing a system that may not be THE status rack system (like Thule, Yakima and Rhino), nevertheless it is solid, well designed, well fabricated and very economical! In fact it's probably a good illustration of Occam's Razor applied...whatever gets you there satisfactorily and simply is usually the best (and wisest) approach to take!

The Vantech Universal Pickup Topper M1000 Ladder rack w/ 60" bar is a perfect fit over my Chevy Silverado 2500 HD long bed truck cap. I was impressed with the thickness of the steel and the workmanship quality and finish. But for a area of the spray finish, about the size of a thumb print on one of the small brackets that attaches the cross bars to the bracket that attaches the whole assembly to the top of my truck cap., the White finish was perfect, and looked to be of very high quality. But for that one defect this is a five star product. It is obviously very strong. There were no instructions but it was intuitively obvious enough for any experienced DIY person to figure out how to install. My truck cap has a double layer of fiberglas with insulation in the roof, so I bought mounting bolts that matched the OEM bolts in everything, but 1/2" longer. I got my wife to help tighten the nuts in side while I put the out side together and held the carriage head bolts down so they would not pop up and rotate while she was tightening them with a socket wrench. Measuring and Marking the holes you need to drill in the truck cap for mounting, needs to be precise, and because there are out side brackets and inside load spreading backing plates, each with slotted holes that overlap but do not match exactly, I measured and located the assembled rack and marked the top of the cap with a felt tip pen by making a single line in each of the mounting bracket slots that was the full length of each slot I then layed the in side backing plate centered over those lines, and drew a cross line near the inner ends of the slots in the backing plate. That locates the center of your mounting holes as close together as the backing plate will allow. The next step is to cut a cross shaped opening for the bolts to pass through the gasket material that matches the bolt locations you've laid out. I did that using a skinny paring knife and the backing plate as a template. I installed the bolts into the mounting brackets and pushed the gasket sticky side down onto the bolts before removing the paper tape from the adhesive side. and once it was all the way on I peeled the tape and inserted both bolts into my predrilled holes. I used a woodworking bit for the fiberglass top because it has a centering pin on the bit that assures it drills right where you start it and it has cutters that carve a groove at the edge of the hole before it starts gouging out the meat of what is being removed. So you get a get neat hole, right where you want it. Two people could do the whole job in a less than an hour. with a bit of practice maybe in half an hour. I am very happy with this product.

Installed on my ARE Z series on my 1999 f250. Straightforward assembly. They seem to be thick and sturdy. The paint also appears to be high quality. I used my own hardware. I used grade 8. The flat metal pieces used to mount on the inside of the cap were not great. The holes aren't drilled far enough apart so I couldn't get the bolts on the inside of the cap thru them. It took alot of measuring and marking out with masking tape to drill the holes straight and even. Take your time and measure twice and you won't have any problems. I used marine grade sealant around the mounting bolts to prevent leaks. I plan on mounting my roof top tent on the racks. The racks high weight limit should be perfect for it. No experience yet but I have confidence in how sturdy these are. I will probably end up making a metal brace/frame on the inside of the cap to support the weight of the tent. The weak point wouldn't be in the racks but in the fiberglass shell.

The bars and brackets are very sturdy, and assemble very easily. The silver bracket on the inside has holes that are not as forgiving as the top bracket. The top bracket has "slots" so you have leeway to drill, but the silver bracket is "holes" not a slot. I ended up having to drill larger holes in the silver under bracket. Also, the bolts to hold the bracket to the roof twist in the bracket when you try to tighten it. The "slot" in the bracket is just slightly larger than the square piece on the bolt to stop it from twisting. Since I installed this myself I needed to use a needle nose pliers and channel locks to hold the bolts in place. Two people for this part would have been much easier. Other than the complications of installation, it took me twice as long as it really should have, it's a very sturdy roof rack.

This is a very sturdy rack. I installed it myself, having never done this before it took about an hour, including all the measuring. Some of the bolts didn’t seat completely, but I just use a metal drill and bore out the holes tiny bit and everything worked out great

Heavy gage steel very strong

Great

Installed in 1 hour, easy instruction

None of the carriage bolts worked that came with the rack so had to use different hardware. Rack itself seems sturdy.