Mars Adventure Gear Full rack system installed!

[chris_ace_14]

I just wanted to share my complete setup of my AWD CyberTruck with the Mars Adventure Gear full rack system, running boards and some other bed MOLLE accessories. I was able to install this full rack by myself and took me about 20-30 minutes. Most of the struggle was accessing the bolts on the front of the rack and getting the holes to align with all 6 mounting areas of the truck. The holes that are drilled into the rack are slightly larger to allow tolerances but it still took some fine adjusting to make it sit right.

The construction is really solid and weights about 58 lbs with all 5 cross bars installed. All hardware is stainless steel, the machined pieces are crafted from 6061 aluminum, and the sheet-metal components are made from 5-series aluminum. total leveled surface area is 86 in. X 54.5 in.
I really love how it makes the truck look and was considering a full rooftop tent in the future.

Sound/aero:
When I first installed the rack, the biggest problem I noticed was the increase in wind noise. It felt like it was completely unacceptable over 50mph. I was considering of returning it, it was that loud! I contacted MarsAG about it and they recommended to put the first cross bar further back and that made a huge difference. Initially the first cross bar was at the very front and was causing a lot wind turbulence but the way I have it shown in the photos makes it a lot quieter. I didn't have a way of measuring the sound difference but from my subjective measurement, having the first cross bar further back makes it feels like the wind noise is about 10-15% louder than without it.

Range/efficiency:
I’m surprised to say that the full rack system didn’t decrease my range by as much as I thought. On city driving below 45mph, I didn't really notice any difference. The range loss is definitely at freeway speeds over 65mph. Considering I’m doing a 50/50 mix city/freeway driving (keeping between 70-75mph) freeways, I was averaging about 455wh/mi with the rack (averaging 408wh/mi without the rack). Going between 75-80mph raises it to about 500-550wh/mi.

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[dorylee]

Sick photos!

I have the full rack too, and yeah if you move the first crossbar to the position they specified in the instruction manual, the noise is pretty negligible.

 

[chris_ace_14]

Sick photos!

I have the full rack too, and yeah if you move the first crossbar to the position they specified in the instruction manual, the noise is pretty negligible.

Thanks! What’s your setup look like?

 

[hemiarch]

I love it. With my Cybertent I think I can only have the front rack which is what has held me back thus far. Do you think the front rack in and of itself is very useful?
Cosmetically, the whole rack is obviously where it’s at.

 

[chris_ace_14]

I love it. With my Cybertent I think I can only have the front rack which is what has held me back thus far. Do you think the front rack in and of itself is very useful?
Cosmetically, the whole rack is obviously where it’s at.

lol the majority of this purchase decision was for aesthetics. Front rack alone looks good too but I don’t know what use case I would do because mounting anything on this rack is gonna increase noise and decrease range. They did announce a new slim roof top tent 3.5” thick

 

[hemiarch]

Has anyone here tried deploying the cybertent with the whole great looking rack on just with the bars moved forwards?
Was thinking maybe the inflatable frame would sit on the inside and the fly on the outside, but that’s very hard to envision without actually installing both and deploying.
if you are that person who has both and has tried this, pretty please post some photos

 

[chris_ace_14]

Has anyone here tried deploying the cybertent with the whole great looking rack on just with the bars moved forwards?
Was thinking maybe the inflatable frame would sit on the inside and the fly on the outside, but that’s very hard to envision without actually installing both and deploying.
if you are that person who has both and has tried this, pretty please post some photos

I don’t have the tent but it seems it would work placing all the crossbars at the front.

 

[dorylee]

Thanks! What’s your setup look like?

I can’t believe I only have this photo of my setup

 

[Pixelgeist]

Same photo that I uploaded in another thread, but here is my tent on the rack. Overall I've been really happy with the rack, although I ended up reinstalling the whole thing with blue locktite on the bolts because they would loosen every few hundred miles.

 

[Pixelgeist]

I should point out that my decision to purchase the rack was based on the fact that you could remove and reposition the crossbars. On similar racks, the rearmost crossbar is integral to the structure and I wanted to be able to remove them if I needed to carry something tall in the truck bed.

 

[Mars Adventure Gear]

Stories like yours—and the feedback and suggestions that come with them—are what keep Mars moving forward. Thank you for your continued support.

 

[wappone]

Looks great! Here's mine with similar plan in mind. In fact the mirror with camera is coming and I noticed you have it installed. Did you think about installing it upside down from the rack?

Ps. I starts to hear a noise in the 70s mph speed range, I need to check the position of the first bar, but I feel like it comes from the left side. I'm wondering if that foam would help.. are you worried about long term degradation of it?

 

[chris_ace_14]

Looks great! Here's mine with similar plan in mind. In fact the mirror with camera is coming and I noticed you have it installed. Did you think about installing it upside down from the rack?

Ps. I starts to hear a noise in the 70s mph speed range, I need to check the position of the first bar, but I feel like it comes from the left side. I'm wondering if that foam would help.. are you worried about long term degradation of it?

Thanks! I thought about the camera on the crossbars but I knew I would be moving the bars on different occasions so I didn’t want to deal with wiring.

Yeah my noise felt like it was coming from left side too when my front bars were too forward. Now that I moved it back it helped. The foam under the side panels might have helped with some wind noise too. If it degrades I’ll just remove and replace it.

 

[chris_ace_14]

Same photo that I uploaded in another thread, but here is my tent on the rack. Overall I've been really happy with the rack, although I ended up reinstalling the whole thing with blue locktite on the bolts because they would loosen every few hundred miles.

Nice setup! I haven’t had any issue with the bolts loosening.

 

[charliemagpie]

I like the design, and like the fact that it allows easy access to the bed, but unfortunately, I want to mount a longer 270 awning (about 2.3 mtrs / 90inches)

The awning would need to be offset a certain distance from the front end, and the mounting bracket would end up overhanging too much.

If only the rack was a foot or so longer.

**********

Hey Mars, perhaps a longer rack version to accommodate longer awnings. Yet not all the way to the tailgate.

And ship to Australia *************

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