Leitner Designs chose to unveil their new rooftop cargo system at this weekend’s Overland Expo Mountain West. The Active Cargo System Roof and GearPod Roof integrated rooftop storage system combines a platform rack and a dedicated rooftop cargo box under the umbrella of a single brand. The two products may be used independently but are best suited to each other and can be fitted to almost any vehicle.
The Active Cargo System Roof is essentially a platform rack that boasts adjustable load bars. Leitner Designs has designed the roof’s structural strength around its external frame in a unique departure from conventional platform racks. This flexibility remains available even after the ACS Roof is installed on the vehicle and offers the user a product that can be adapted as needed to carry specific loads, i.e., a minimal bar count to carry a rooftop tent or a higher bar count to carry loads or the GearPod Roof boxes.
Distinguished by its patented mounting system, the ACS Roof’s toothed channels permit users to slide load bars along the exterior of the rack, bypassing the need for fixed-position bolts through the frame. These load bars are not only adjustable along the length of the rack, but Leitner also claims that their load bars are twice as wide and twice as strong as those found on competitors’ platforms, with a width of 4 inches and a height of 1.2 inches, composed of 1.5- to 3.0-millimeter multi-wall-thickness aluminum.
One of the system’s standout features is the ease with which rooftop accessories can be mounted and wired. ACS Roof’s corner caps, which can be removed while the rack is in place, include pass-through holes for interior wiring. This streamlined approach ensures protection for wiring while eliminating unsightly external attachments.
In a parallel development, Leitner Designs introduced the GearPod Roof, a voluminous side-opening rooftop storage box. This design feature enhances accessibility and increases storage space, and the GearPod Roof accommodates up to 100 pounds of gear on its top surface, making it an ideal solution for off-road essentials like MaxTrax and Rotopax; the limit is the maximum load limit of the roof of your vehicle. Leitner Designs has pre-marked attachment points for the MaxTrax and Rotopax accessories, simplifying the installation process.
The GearPod Roof’s ingenuity extends to security mechanisms as well. Unlike traditional rooftop boxes that require external straps and locks, the GearPod Roof integrates internally mounted locks that safeguard against both the elements and potential theft.
Bernhard Leitner, Founder, and Chief Designer of Leitner Designs, expressed his commitment to extending the company’s design excellence beyond the realm of truck beds.
“We reinvented and perfected the truck bed rack with the Active Cargo System (ACS). But no matter how good it was, ACS only served a portion of the vehicle market: trucks. We wanted to extend our design leadership and know-how beyond the truck bed to every other vehicle. As we did for ACS pickups, we reenvisioned the roof rack with ACS Roof. We removed major issues and pain points; then we topped it off with the first-ever side-opening roof box, the GearPod Roof.”
The GearPod Roof boxes are priced at $699 each, and the ACS Roof retails at $1,300.
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