Reviews: Smittybilt SRC Roof Racks

This is a great fitting & looking rack. It is reasonably easy to install. I installed it by myself, but had wifey hold inner door hinge plates. This does not fit the XRC Smittybuilt rack without removing the angle brackets & trimming wrap around part of the bumper.

Instructions appear to be written by someone who has never assembled the rack. Directions to install with OEM rear bumper lead me to put the rear supports on wrong, with required changing them the rest of the rack did not align with them. See photos of correct orientation and of the two nuts and one bolt that must be removed to install the supports. Also, found it easier to remove doors and hold the hinge backing plates myself then to find a contortionist to lay across the seats and hold them for me. Other than problems with the instructions, I love the rack and how it allows me to carry my canoe, ladders, lumber, etc. with a soft top.

Great rack for the price. Easy to assemble barring the somewhat off measurement of one of the cross bars. All the troubles came from my Jeep hardware being seized up.

I have put this rack on six Jeeps. The instructions are still not great and it would be awesome if they would include a template for drilling through the factory bumper. It also definitely requires 2 people to install and they should make that more clear.

I've had this on my 03 TJ for a few years now. I really like this rack, versatile and easy to use. I didn't have to modify anything with the stock bumper like other people mentioned. The instructions are poor but with a little fiddling, I figured it out. The hardware isn't great and the plastic knobs strip easily but it was easy enough to replace a few bolts with better hardware. Powder coating seems a bit thin and I have developed a few light rust spots in some areas but It has seen a lot of use so it's to be expected.The wind noise created by the rack was brutal so I added a wind deflector which took care of that problem. This might sound like a lot of issues but the were all easily taken care of and the rack has been great and really helpful for multi-day trips etc.

The instructions are vague, and not model specific. The “powder coating” doesn’t appear to me to be powder coating, and not especially durable. The windshield hinge bolts that have to be removed and reinstalled, were every bit the PITA that all of the reviews said they were. That having been said, once installed it has proven to be a very good rack. I am using it along with a Thule kayak rack, which fit the Smittybilt cross bars without any modifications. My four star rating reflects the “powder coating” issue.

Solid well priced roof rack, instructions from Smittybilt not great and as expected its a bit noisy.

Great quality product and easy setup. The only reason I did not give it 5 stars is due to the fitment. I have Smittybilt bumpers on my jeep and with description it sounded like I should be able to mount to my bumper. Unfortunately that was not the case and I had to mount it to my vehicle with minor drilling. The rest went great but it was not the installation I was hoping for. I have had a similar rack from a different manufacturer and I must say I definitely prefer Smittybilt.

Bolts to attach cross bars could have bee a little sturdier. Had to retighten and use loctite blue to help prevent further loosening. Install was pretty easy. Hinge bolts came loose also. Retightened using loctite blue . Its like playing poker trying to find things that attach to the crossbars. Bought some basket attachment brackets. Only used the bottom bracket and bolts to attach a custom platform. No loud noise on the road as told by some. The rack tube is open at the end by the door hinges. I put some removable plugs there . That could be a source of wind noise on other installs.

It was simple enough to install but a big pain, you can keep the lower door hinge backing plate in place with some duct tape when removing the lower door hinge bolts. The rear upright bars are not identified right or left a L or R sticker on these would have been helpful. Opening the rear lower mount boltholes to fit the bumper bolts was also a pain, the holes needed to be enlarged towards each other and towards the outboard side of each mount. Six hours things were finally done but I am old and disabled so I have a pass on that one. Good luck and happy wrenching.

The rack is on after two days. I installed the src bumper and the rear upright on Sat. Sunday, starting early found that to get the lower window hinge bolts out (4), on a 95 yj that I had to lower the windshield and remove the dash to get to the nuts that are not welded. Still ended up drilling the bolts and used a chisel to break them off. I used stainless bolts instead of theirs. I found that you need to prefit all pieces. When all together it looks great and will hold my canoe just fine.

As with anything Chinese manufactored the cost is resonable but the ultimate product is a little lacking. Installation took a little over 3 hours because I still have the factory rear bumper (or what's left of it after converting it into a stubby with a razor knife). Most holes lined up pretty good and the gaps inbetween crossbars aren't too large. The rack is very strong and the wind noise isn't too bad. For the money, I think this is a fine product, but make no mistake- this is not American engineered and produced, but than again I didn't spend over $1,000...

Going straight to the point, it is a great rack from the price. Installing this will definitely require two people at least. The rack is solid and doesn't wiggle under it's own weight. I was able to keep my windshield lights on with the rack installed. One major problem I will point out is the way the rack attaches to the frame at the rear. I have tube bumpers that curved around the body, but I wasn't able to install the bumper back without a slight modification of the brackets holding the bumper. At 40 mph and higher, there is a "wind tunnel" effect through the cross bars, making a loud wind noise but that can be solved with a few clicks of the radio. The rack also changes the handling with the added weight above the tub of the Jeep. Overall, great product for the price.

This system is getting a bad rap on the difficulty of the install. It doesn't come out of the box & just jump on the Jeep, but with common sense & patience, you can install it without the instructions, if needed. They do hit on a couple important steps. It looks really cool, (which is why we buy it), & it works very well for it's application. The price is very reasonable too!!! I have a SmittyBuilt XRC bumper & had to trim off the corners of my bumper & remove the corner braces for this to work. Which was easy to do with a grinder. Some are complaining about the holes needing enlarged, it takes 5-10 minutes with a good 1/2" bit to just eat away at the holes from the inside. The bolts supplied for the rear connection are shorter than I like, so I bought 4 3/8's x 2" grade 8 bolts to replace them. Once I had it all put together, I used self drilling screws on all the joints & the basket cross bars, this took care of the rattling. It does make some hum & noise going down the road, but so do cool tires, other cool accessories, etc....... I really like mine & think it is a good product!!

Great product, but hard to install

Directions were not specific enough for the YJ, windshield bolts are not welded in place, better have a long wrench and a skinny arm.

Once I added a 2nd mount point to the rear up-rights it was as sturdy as though it were part of the frame. Just the two bolts down at the bottom on the bumper mount allowed too much "wobble" for me so I ran a 4" long 1/4-20 bolt into the corner of my 98 Wrangler through a 1" stand-off spacer and used a 1" fender washer inside to firm it up. Now when I grab hold of the rack and "yank" on it real hard all it does is shake the whole Jeep. I plan on using it to haul my boat and we all know what wind will do to a boat if it isn't secured like it was to withstand a hurricane.

Good Instructions except for rear connection to frame. The cross bars add significant wind noise to the already noisy interior when driving at slow and faster speeds.

The roof was fairly easy to install however, would have been much easier with two people. Only draw back was low frequency hum at speeds above 30 miles per hour. I went [...] and bought 5 - 1/4X1in stanless steel screws, washers, lock nuts and 5-1 inch cable clamps with rubber grommets. Went to TAP plastics and had a fairing made 1/4 inch thick smoked plastic 54" long, 7 1/2" wide, 1" radiused corners. They drilled 5 - 1/4 holes 1 inch in on a long edge equally spaced. Mounted it to the front cross bar. Jeep is quieter than it was without the roof rack. Cost around $40 for the fairing. The fairing is absolutely necessary if you want to save your hearing! Looks pretty good also!

I took a look at the directions and immediately forgot about them. It was easier to get all the parts separated and laid out. It's heavy duty steel so that's a plus but cumbersome if you are installing it yourself. The hardest part is that once I tightened everything down, the other side wouldn't fit. I suggest putting the nuts on and then ratchet everything down at the end. Another con is that the overhead bars are not labeled, one is shorter for the front. My last complaint is that the knobs are garbage, bottom line. The nut is glued in there and you probably won't get more than two turns before it snaps or breaks the seal. If you keep a trail bag you should already have the sockets/Allen wrenches, if not, I suggest going to lowes and buying sturdy ones. All in all, a good product with some minor problems that are easily remedied.