KB Voodoo or UPTop Overland Bed Rack?

About to pull the trigger on a overland bed rack to hold gear and RTT. Requirements are:

• Aluminum
• Mid height
• Attach to Retrax XR Tonneau

I've narrowed it down to either KB Voodoo Max Modular or UpTop Truss AFS (retrax). Both have their pros and cons and was would like other's feedback with their experiences with either of these.
Thanks,

 

For anyone interested, the KB Voodoo Max Modular rack won out. More pros to the KB than UpTp plus they have inventory ready to ship versus waiting 2 months for an UpTop.

 

Update: KB's on their game. Received shipping notice exactly 40 minutes after order.

 

Thanks for the order!!

You made the right choice. We locked into material supply before the pandemic had a chance to affect us. We're shipping most items within 2 to 4 business days, some items same day.

We also just moved to a facility with 4x the space, so we can keep 4x the inventory.

You're going to like the new accessories that we're coming out with this winter as well.

 

You bet.... I appreciate the patience for all of my pre-sales questions as I worked through the checkboexes.

I'm hoping that there is not a challenge of mounting the RTT, and that the tent rails are not in the same location of where your cross bar and corner brackets meet. Your corner brackets are quite long and this seems to be a consistent challenge for some out there depending on the tent model. Crossing fingers.

 

You shouldn’t have any issues, but if you do, give us a call and we’ll help you out.

 

@BayRunner did you consider the Leitner designs ACS forged tonneau rack? If you did and didnt go with it, I'd be curious why. Big bucks but looks like a very high level quality product

 

@dittothat I did look at the ACS rack but it just did not appeal to me.

• I wanted a mid height rack so that the tent does not tower over the truck and raise center of gravity
• Plus, I just don’t like the look of the ACS. IMHO just not stylish at all.
• Not sure of the ACS weight but I wanted a light aluminum setup. KB comes in at 54lbs for full length 58”

It may be a fine rack but KB Voodoo mid height checked more of the boxes and was cheaper.

 

Love our KB Voodoo!!

 

The leitner

Nice! Sounds like you made a good choice. ACS is definitely a bit heavier as I believe its 80ish pounds.
One final follow up question. For the KB Voodoo rack, do you need to use those attachment brackets that raise the rack so it looks like it's floating (kinda weird looking to me), or will it sit right on top of the Retrax rails? I've looked and tried to figure this out but cant seem to get a definitive answer. Thanks for your help! Might help me in the future if I decide to upgrade.

 

Rago Fabrication has one that meets your needs. I was close to getting this for my Pro but ultimately looking to go with Leitner ACS to accommodate my RTT.

 

Negative on the "floating" question. KB makes a specific bracket for the Retrax XR series tonneau. The rack then fits over this bracket. The first pic is of the bracket for the Retrax XR and the second is the rack mounted directly on top of the Retrax with those brackets.

Edit: The Retrax adapter bolts into 2 T-nuts that slide into the Retrax T-Slot. It may just be one T-nut with two threaded holes but not sure since I have not received it yet. Perhaps @KB Voodoo can chime in for the exact detail.

 

Rago makes some fine gear and I run some of their other kit. However, I needed a mid height rack that mounted on a Retrax XR series tonneau. Rago's rack does not support a tonneau.

 

That’s pretty slick. Thanks for sharing the details!

 

We have literally everything you need.

 

It is two bolts per bracket, it's extremely solid. I've had our 18" ALUMAX with Retrax brackets on my truck for well over a year, and it's been perfect in every way.

 

Thanks... Looking forward to hear about your new offerings this winter. What's the ETA for these announcements?

 

We will have the new goodies on our Raptor, TRD Pro Tacoma, and Gladiator in 6 to 8 weeks. Pics will be posted.

We don't currently have a Tundra, but everything we make will fit all trucks.

I'm waiting for our local dealer to get a Pro Tundra, I kinda want to see what it looks like in person.

 

I found this post interesting as I just made a decision last night regarding this same situation. I have a Retrax pro XR and wanted a rack compatible with the T Slot channels and capable of holding a RTT. Ultimately it came down to the same 3 manufacturers (KB Voodoo, upTOP overland’s AFS truss rack, and the Leitner ACS forged rack)
From my research these are the only 3 companies that offer a true “overland rack” that’s compatible with the retrax tonneau. Yes, there’s the Thule and Yakima bars, but they don’t compete with the modularity the other 3 above offer.

Initially I wanted a rack like you mentioned @BayRunner - a rack that would sit low enough so that when the RTT was mounted, it would be or almost be flush with the cab. Well then I started researching RTTs, and made the decision I wanted a hard shell RTT (currently stuck on the Roofnest Falcon XL)
Well alot of the hardshell tents can be long (falcon XL is 7.5 ft) so this would require a higher rack to accommodate the longer tent which all of the aforementioned racks have a taller version to accommodate this.

If I have any advice to anyone else reading this thread, I would say it really does help to know or at least have some kind of idea what type of tent you want to go with before choosing your rack.

I think it would be better to have a rack suitable for all kinds of RTTs, in the event you want to change your tent later you can, and not have to change your rack.

I decided to go with the Leitner and a full height rack for several reasons.

- I decided on a hardshell tent (for many reasons that I won’t ramble on about HERE) so even though I initially wasn’t crazy about having a tent above the cab, the Falcon XL paired with the Leitner has a very sleek look that makes going above/over the cab not so bad looking.

- The modularity and storage capability of the Leitner. I did order one XL gear pod with my order. I would have gotten two but they state the Retrax latch won’t clear gear pod on the driver’s side. (Side note: I went out to my truck and played with the latch. opening and closing my tonneau cover. I found that the latch can be almost in the “lock” position (roughly 2 o clock) and the cover will still open/close. So I plan on testing that gearPod on the driver’s side to see if The gearpod is truly in the way of the latch like they say. (Leitner recommends using the Electric Retrax tonneau cover to avoid this) If I am able to run 2 XL gear pods, that is a TON of storage space, in addition to all the space under the tonneau cover. Storage is very important to me because I plan on doing long trips and don’t want to crowd the back seats of my truck as I want potential passengers to still be comfortable.

- Using a full height rack still enables me to use my truck for truck things if I have to. My Tundra both my daily driver and “overland rig” so I like the idea of not having the height restriction that a lower rack might cause. Obviously, you can remove the rack (which also might require removing your tent) in order to do what you need to do (ie: haul furniture or any other tall item)
But with a full height rack it may eliminate the need to do any of the above.

- Again, if you decide to change to a different tent later (ie: large hardshell)
and you originally bought a low profile rack, your new tent could be sticking off the end of your truck up to 2 ft if you have a 5.5ft bed (crew max, like I do). I suppose you could get away with 1-2ft (double cab) hanging off but I would not want that personally for the serious off roading I plan on doing.

If you aren’t using a RTT and never plan to, then obviously a lot of the above doesn’t apply, but I believe alot of us buy a rack for a RTT.

Yes, the Leitner is more expensive than both the KB Voodoo and upTOP ($400-500 more) so I understand that can be major influencer of choice.

I really don’t think you can go wrong with either of the 3 racks. They all appear to be very high quality. it just depends on your needs and the particular tent you are wanting to mount.

I’ll post some pics when I get the Leitner mounted with my tent but I attached some pics below of the setup/look I am going for. Thanks Edward Shin!

 

Great write up! Another thing to consider for those that swap out truck frequently. If you were to originally have a DC and move to a crew, it appears that uptop’s rack is easily shortened. So you could in theory use the same rack on both trucks. You could probably do the same with the Leitner as well, although you may need to cut/weld a piece or two. KBVoodoo doesn’t look like you could and would have to buy pretty much a new rack. This situation doesn’t apply to 99.8% of the people out there, but for the 0.2, it’s worth noting.

 

Nice looking setup. It really boils down to personal preference. There are basically 2 tiles of hard shell RTTs. The long ones like the Falcon you mentioned which are about 85+ inches long. The other type is the side hinged which are typically shorter. There are many of these types such as the Condor, Condor XL, SkyCamp mini, MIA Overland and many more. For those such as myself who don’t want a full height rack, there are many options for large hard shell RTT that easily mounts on a mid or low height. But again, it’s all personal preference and personally I have absolutely no regret gong mid height. For my personal needs going full height would be counter productive. However, I acknowledge others such as yourself may have other needs or requirements.

 

KB offers a 46” or 58” length rack. It can easily be moved from truck to truck. If you wanted to go from long to short, you simply just replace the side rails and do not need a whole new rack.

Edit: forgot about the top rails as well. So, changing the length would need to replace side an top rails.

 

Aren’t the top pieces length specific, too? If so, after buying the sides and the top, it’d probably be pretty expensive

 

Yes, I did forget about the top rails but did edit my original post.

 

No worries!

At the end of the day all three are top quality racks. I do feel the voodoo is the most accessory friendly rack of the bunch

 

BTW, I mentioned this in the Black Friday thread, but RoofNest just released the Condor Overlander RTT which is the form factor of the Condor with the case of the Falcon. Kinda a hybrid of the 2.

 

this is a very valid point. What I also want to ask Leitner Monday when I call is - say For whatever reason I were to get rid of my retrax tonneau. would the ACS tonneau rack I have then be useless or could I convert it to “regular” Leitner ACS forged that mounts on the factory bed sides.

 

This might be the one…damn.

 

I’m happy with my Voodoo Rack. The text customer service I didn’t feel was inviting at all from my experience. If I were to do it over again I probably would have spent my money else where that appreciated my business.

Here’s some photos with the rtt, rack and diamondback tonneau cover.

 

That’s nice looking… What do you mean by “The text customer service”? Was this pre sale or post sale?