New Roof Rack Coming

[amick1995]

Sherpa Equipment will be releasing their roof rack for the 5th gen ranger sometime in the near future. They used my truck for the install instruction video and product photos.

They are a smaller local company to me, owned by great people and make great products.

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[OFC Ranger]

So the innovation with this product is a slightly different side wall design?

Don't mean to be a debbie downer but all these companies charging a premium and this is the best they can come up with? Why does every company just basically copy each other?

Meh sorry, just one of grinds my gears sort of thing.

It does look nice though.

 

[amick1995]

So the innovation with this product is a slightly different side wall design?

Don't mean to be a debbie downer but all these companies charging a premium and this is the best they can come up with? Why does every company just basically copy each other?

Meh sorry, just one of grinds my gears sort of thing.

It does look nice though.

I’m not sure they’re trying to innovate anything. They’ve made racks for Toyotas and other vehicles for years that are high quality, and this is their ranger compatible version of what they already do well and have for a while now.
I understand where you’re coming from, but I’ll gladly support a local company that I know has quality products and stands by them over something like a putco or prisnu rack.
IMO competition between companies is a good thing, it helps with pricing and will help with innovation as well.

 

[RoadBoss]

Agreed, you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you want to sell a new product.

Looks like a nice rack.

Do you have a link to their website or where to buy? or approximate price?

 

[ReigleCM]

I had a Shepra rack on my 4Runner and loved it. I'll be looking forward to this one!

 

[amick1995]

Agreed, you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time you want to sell a new product.

Looks like a nice rack.

Do you have a link to their website or where to buy? or approximate price?

I don’t have an approximate price, but I’m willing to bet it will be similar to their Tacoma offering. Sherpa Equipment Company, based out of Colorado. I don’t have an ETA on when it will be available, but it should be soon.

 

[ControlNode]

Stock antenna interference?

 

[Dr. Zaius]

Will have to wait for pricing and details to be revealed to make a real determination.

Looks like the Tacoma version is $900.

If the cost for the Ranger version is similar, there are already several Ranger racks (Prinsu, JCR, and Bravo) that can be found for a little over $700 so there needs to be something that stands out on this one to make it a consideration.

I'm glad to see more aftermarket for these trucks, but a new roof rack needs to be more than basically a "Me Too" rack to command a significantly higher price.

 

[Trigganometry]

Once you have been a manufacturer and quote stuff like this you begin to understand what is going on today.

Let’s use this for an example. In honesty their cost to build this couldn’t be more than $400 with materials, finish and labor. It’s not rocket science. To be charging more than $600 for it is robbery or gouging. Sure it’s a nice product but if people aren’t buying it then you got to lower your price so they will. Now if priced competitively they wouldn’t be able to make and ship them fast enough. Say the $500 range. In the long haul that make more profit on volume

 

[Rp930]

Look at UpTop.

 

[Xwaz]

I don’t have an approximate price, but I’m willing to bet it will be similar to their Tacoma offering. Sherpa Equipment Company, based out of Colorado. I don’t have an ETA on when it will be available, but it should be soon.

I worked with Sherpa and have Prototype #1 on my Truck and had #2 on another truck we built here at the shop.
I am happy to answer any questions y'all may have on it.

 

[DrewKD88]

It looks great!

 

[OFC Ranger]

Once you have been a manufacturer and quote stuff like this you begin to understand what is going on today.

Let’s use this for an example. In honesty their cost to build this couldn’t be more than $400 with materials, finish and labor. It’s not rocket science. To be charging more than $600 for it is robbery or gouging. Sure it’s a nice product but if people aren’t buying it then you got to lower your price so they will. Now if priced competitively they wouldn’t be able to make and ship them fast enough. Say the $500 range. In the long haul that make more profit on volume

You are far to generous my guess is material cost is sub $150 possibly $100 if bought in bulk.

It's cut on a machine which probably takes sub 1 hour maybe sub 15 minutes. I'll be generous and give the machine operator 1 hour wage of $30.

They then have the finished parts powder coated in bulk. Can't guess on the price but probably pennies on the dollar in bulk. I'd say $1.00-$2.00 per piece.

Yes I understand machine maintenance and shipping is an unknown factor. My guess is their machines were paid off long ago and now it's just "stuff broke or we need to expand" money baked into the price.

R&D is a joke as you can see they can get employees or customers to do it for them at materials cost to make a rack and give it to them in exchange for feedback or specific requests on how to beat it up.

They use current build designs then just modify them to so the mount points and roof curvature align with the vehicle in question.

I think I'm pretty close at least on my thought process. I think profit is going to be about triple the cost to manufacturer and I may be low balling at that.

Solid business product? Absolutely.

Innovative. No.

 

[AZRanger]

Sherpa is a great company that tests their products. If you look into them you’ll find they have a race truck that has one of their racks on it. The truck is battered and beaten but the rack is still 100%.

 

[Msfitoy]

So the innovation with this product is a slightly different side wall design?

Don't mean to be a debbie downer but all these companies charging a premium and this is the best they can come up with? Why does every company just basically copy each other?

Meh sorry, just one of grinds my gears sort of thing.

It does look nice though.

And 3 years late to the party...

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