Recommended Roof Rack for Tent on 2019 Ford Explorer

Question:

I’m trying to buy a roof tent for my vehicle, the gentleman said the static weight load has to be able to hold 600lbs. If horizontal bars were installed would that be able to hold the weight? If not, are there any options???

asked by: Mike

Expert Reply:

Adding a roof rack with horizontal crossbars to your 2019 Ford Explorer will be required to not only support the weight of the tent and its occupants but also to protect your vehicle's roof.

With that being said there is not a roof rack available that features a 600 pound capacity, as they all will still be limited by the capacity of the vehicle's roof, which looks to be 165 pounds on your Ford Explorer. Most roof tents though, such as the Yakima SkyRise Tent # Y07437 that we have available, will use an additional support that allows it to be used with lower rated roof racks. On the Yakima SkyRise Tent the ladder serves 2 purposes - getting in and out of the tent and also support for its weight. Because of this the tent itself has a 600 pound weight capacity but it just needs to be attached to roof rack crossbars that are rated for 165 pounds.

I recommend seeing if this is also the case with the tent you are looking at.

For a roof rack that will work perfectly on your Ford Explorer I recommend the Yakima JetStream System that consists of # Y00425 for the two 50 inch Aluminum Crossbars in Black, part # Y53TR for the SkyLine Towers, and # Y00245 for the Landing Pad. These bars will provide you with an extremely quiet ride and the needed capacity for a tent like this.

I have attached a couple short video demonstrations on these products that you can check out as well.