Tub Racks

Ute Tub Rack Review

If you own a Ute and want to try and maximize the carrying capacity, or what you can load on the back of it, then a tub rack is what you need. Your Ute will finally be able to transport heaps of items, accessories, gear, and just stuff. A tub rack is a solution for you to be able to still use the space in the tub and carry even more things above it.

Tub racks, also known as bed racks, come in different shapes and sizes. Some of them drill onto the inner walls of the tub, some to the sides or the borders of the tub, and some just clamp or bolt onto the existing inner rails of your Ute.

Installation tends to be simple, not as complex as it may seem. However, depending on the size, weight, and mounting feet of the rack, you might need some guidance. Regardless, the tub racks we sell are all the highest quality, and you can be sure that you will find the best tub rack in Australia right here.

When we mean that they come in different shapes and sizes, that’s because amongst the tub racks you get different options:

• Bed or tub load bars
• Mid height tub rack
• Cab height tub rack
• Roof rack height tub rack

To quickly explain or differentiate amongst them, the tub load bars, or bed bars are basically two or three crossbars that go over the tub of your pick-up truck, come at an affordable price, tend to be easier to install, are much lower height and profile and can handle lighter items or gear.

Mid height tub racks are those that sit around 30 cm above the Ute’s tub height. A cab height tub rack is one that sits at 45 centimeters above the side of the tub, and finally a roof rack height tub rack will be around 50 centimeters tall. 

In this collection we will do our best to explain the different tub racks we offer, for the different Utes or vehicles you are interested in, as well as explaining the importance on the features, the load rating or weight carrying capacity, as well a show the height affects the items you can carry.

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Best Ute Tub Rack

Choosing the best Ute tub rack is not as easy as it seems. What this means is that there are heaps of brands out there, and although we carry some of the best, ideally you want to choose based on your vehicle and needs.

The Front Runner Slimline II Bed Rack is easy to install thanks to the 4 feet that go inside the tub of your Ute, it offers a 660 lbs load rating, and it has heaps of aftermarket accessories to install onto it. You will be able to easily mount roof top tents, as well as bike carriers, canoe carriers, shovel mounts you name it.

Nonetheless, before we continue, we will jump onto specific vehicles and make recommendations on the best tub racks per vehicle. We will go over some of the most popular utes in Australia, such as the Toyota Hilux, the Ford Ranger, or the Nissan Frontier NP300.

Front Runner Slimline II Toyota Hilux Tub Rack

Front Runner is one of the biggest brands of overlanding and 4wd drive accessories in the whole world. All of their tub racks are manufactured in South Africa and tested on tough outdoor trails and conditions, similar to those we have in Australia.

The Slimline II Toyota Hilux tub rack is no exception. As mentioned above, this rub rack offers a 300 kg load rating or weight capacity. This enables you to mount bicycles, roof top tents, recovery gear, ladders, and other tradie items that you might need. 

Thanks to the flat tray at mid height, you will easily mount anything on it without having to reach too high or too low. This Hilux tub rack still offers enough clearance from the bottom of the tub to carry items or gear underneath it. From the bottom of the tub to the rack itself there are around 55 centimeters, which are enough to store quite a few things underneath it.

A great feature of all Front Runner bed racks is the fact that Front Runner has hundreds of aftermarket rack accessories, such as surfboard carriers, bike carriers, shovel mounts, spare tire mounts and light mounts. Whatever you need, you will be able to easily install it on this Toyota Hilux tub rack. 

Ozroo Ford Ranger Tub Rack

Ozroo tub racks are made of high-quality tensile steel and powdercoated for a durable finish exterior, capable of withstanding any weather condition, even the outback burning sun. The OzRoo Ford Ranger Tub Rack comes with Wildtrak feet and it’s available in 3 heights: full height, 3/4 cab height, and half cab height (mid height).

This Ranger tub rack has a 400 kg load rating, making it ideal for any roof top tent. As a matter of fact, the OzRoo tub rack is great due to the fact that it has two additional bars going from front to back that are perpendicular to any roof top tent’s bottom rails, allowing you to install them easily.

This ute tub rack can be easily installed thanks to the Wildtrak feet. Another fantastic feature is the LED lights already installed at the back of the rack, for you to easily reverse improving visibility at the back of your ute. The modular height and width of the design ensures perfect fitment on the Ford Ranger. And let’s not forget a 2 year warranty that guarantee durability. 

Front Runner Slimline II Nissan NP300 Tub Rack

Like all of other Front Runner Tub Racks, the Slimline II Nissan NP300 Tub Rack is designed to easily be installed on any Nissan Navara or Frontier NP300 Ute from the 1997 to the current model.

It has the great advantage that it can even work if you have an EGR RollTrac tonneau or tub cover on it. The bed rack itself will simply have four legs, two on each side that fit onto the existing EGR RollTrac channels of your NP300 allowing you to install or use an EGR roll cover simultaneously with the tub rack.

Potentially, Front Runner also makes another NP300 tub rack, that works without any ute tub cover. It might not have the same use as this one, but it’s still a great option. Virtually the same, 4 legs and comes a tmid height.

Like all Front Runner tub rack kits, it can hold 300 kgs of weight, which make it ideal for roof top tents, bikes, surboards, fishing rods and heaps of other rack accessories. It is an elegant tub rack for your ute, made of high quality steel and powder coated in black, which can withstand any Aussie weather condition.

Rhino-Rack Tub Rack

In this section we will very quickly cover the Rhino tub rack, which at the moment doesn’t work with many utes in the Aussie market. As a matter of fact, it’s available only for the Jeep Gladiator and the Dodge RAM. Hopefully, Rhino-Rack will soon develop other tub racks for more Utes.

If you own any of the after mentioned models, then the Rhino Rack Reconn-Deck 2 bar ute tub system is a great choice. These are two load bed or load tub bars, sitting at a mid height, so lower profile, helping minimize your ute’s height and giving you an easy access to whatever you mount over the rack itself.

The Reconn-Deck tub bars come with integrated channels on all four sides, so you can mount a high range of accessories, amongst them most Rhino-Rack accessories integrate perfectly with them. No drilling is required for them, they’re very simple to install as they mount onto the existing trail rails on the tub of your Ute. The load rating is not as much, but they can handle boards, ladders, even roof top tents.

Universal Tub Rack

This section will mention one of our preferred tub racks in Australia, one that’s universal and capable of being installed and working perfectly well with most utes in the country. It needs to be adjusted, but all in all it’s a fantastic option. As a universal tub rack, besides the adjustments it is not as vehicle specific, so there are certain features it may not have, but it certainly comes at a great price and quality is top of the line.

PSR Universal Tub Rack

A universal tub rack is that which can fit most utes in the market, and as explained above, they tend to be adjustable and have legs that are easily installed into most tub inner rails. PSR does a great job of making one of the top tub racks in the market, the Baja Rack Flat Universal Tub Rack. 

It’s particularly designed to fit late model dual cab utes. Made from 42NB thin wall tube, this tub rack is only 29 kg of weight, reducing the stress or weight on the sides. The legs are adjustable, as needed for any universal tub rack, allowing you to mount it to any ute with a tub that has an internal minimum width of 1380mm and a maximum width of 1610mm.

The legs are also adjustable in height, ¼ leg height sitting on 105mm above the top of the tub, ½ height at 230mm above the tub line, ¾ height at 405 mm above the tub line and finally the full roof height at 70mm above the cab of the roof. Overall, a fantastic choice for an adjustable long lasting tub rack.  

Roof Top Tent Tub Rack

Choosing the correct tub ack to mount a roof top tent can be a bit tricky. Honestly, the most important thing is that the tub rack itself can hold a dynamic weight capacity (that’s when the ute is in motion), that’s higher than the weight of the roof top tent itself.

We could say that given that most tents don’t weigh over 100 kgs, you will want a tub rack that has a weight capacity of at least 100 kgs, hopefully more. Besides that, the choice is then down to you, do you want the tent to be sitting at the same height as if it was installed on the roof? Or do you prefer it mounted lower with a mid-height tub rack?

One of the preferred roof top tent tub racks in this collection are the OzRoo as well as the Front Runner Slimline II tub rack. The Front Runner bed rack has a lot of aftermarket accessories, such as the Quick Release Roof Top Tent Mount Kit, which makes putting on and taking off the tent a much faster and simpler process than using the traditional brackets.

We recommend that if you end up getting a Slimline II, then adding the Quick Release is a must. With this tent mounting system, you are going to be able to turn your tub rack into a roof top tent rack in seconds. No more spending literally an hour just loosening the bolts from under the tent, and bending in awkward positions. In a matter of seconds, you and a mate can lift on or off the tent from the tub rack.

Tub Rack FAQs

How easy is it to install the tub rack?

Installation of most if not all the tub racks that we sell is quite simple. Of course, it’s not a 5 minute job, but these tub racks we offer, whether that’s the OzRoo tub rack, the Front Runner model or even the Rhino tub rack, don’t require any drilling. Therefore, you either install the feet to the inner tub rails, by using nuts and bolts, or mount it over the tracks of a tub cover (depending on what you have). Given they can be a bit big, a help of a mate is encouraged, but around 30 to 45 minutes is enough to install one.

Can I use my tub rack to mount a roof top tent?

Sure, as long as the tub rack has a dynamic l weight capacity (DWC) that’s higher or larger than the weight of the tent itself. The DWC is when the Ute is in motion, and if the tent weighs 100 kg and the DWC of the tub rack is 110 kg, then you are good to go.

Will a universal tub rack fit my Mitsubishi Triton?

Yes it will. The PSR Baja Rack universal tub rack will certainly fit a Mitsubishi Triton, as well as Toyota Hilux, Nissan NP300 and a Ford Ranger, as well as many other models. If not, we also sell specific models for each of these vehicles.

Can I use a tub rack with a tonneau cover?

Depending on the model, and the answer is that not all of them do. Front Runner does make a tub rack that fits the EGR Roll Cover, but the other ones we offer won’t work. However, there are other brands out there we don’t carry that do!