Check www.discountramps.com ( http://www.discountramps.com/roof-rack-basket.htm ) - their rack seems to be exactly the same as the MOPAR rack (but half the price!). It doesn't come with the wind deflector, so you'll have to add it to your order (or make one yourself). I've got the "Black Widow" basket from discountramps.com, and it works great on the Patriot.

 

schwankster, did the black widow fit onto the factory cross rails without any additional adapters?

 

Take a look at the pics in my gallery. I have quite a few with the black widow on top and even one of the attaching hardware by itself. I have the factory rails and it fits pretty well. You can tell in my pics that it gets just the slightest warp to it to fit on the factory bar archs and with getting the crossbars into the preset holes in the roof rails, but all and all it is one of the few things that you can do with those factory cross bars.

For $100 I think the black widow works really well with the factory crossbars. The roof is only rated for 150lbs and the black widow is one of the lightest out there so you have more available weight to load it up with. I have used it and am a fan.

There are higher quality racks out there but this is the best value for the money and practicality in my opinion. It has a nice black powder coat finish as well and looks good on the pat. It somes in two pieces so is easy to store when you take it off. Adds a little air noise (I don't have the flaring thing though) but nothing I can't live with. I pull it off in the winter.

The hardware works well with factory crossbars and no additional adapters are necessary.

Heckler, we have pretty much the same exact vehicle down to the color so my pics will show you exactly what yours would look like with the basket on.

I spared no expense on my husky liners so I am not just a cheapskate, but when it comes to roof baskets they are all made of plenty durable metal and all seem to be powder coated. Seemed silly to spend 4x the $$ when they all do the same job. Just my 2 cents.

 

sweet. thanks kev

how's the paint holding up on the Black widow? Any rust showing through?

 

No rust, except as Schwanker said where the two halves join and that is to be expected. Unlike Schwanker mine came with no chips and the box in good condition.

I do use bungie tie downs with the rubber/plastic coated hooks though to minimize any scratching of the paint.

 

The wind deflector is a must if you use the basket very much. It whistles & makes a LOT of noise without it. I made my own deflector out of a piece of polycarbonate - it is extremely quiet now, even at highway speeds (over 70mph).

The only rust I have is where the two halves join together. When I received the basket via UPS, it was poking through the box - they must've dropped it at every opportunity. The paint was chipped there, and after many months it has a little surface rust. Everywhere else it looks like new. I've loaded all kinds of stuff up there, and it doesn't show any signs of wear. For under $130 delivered, this rack is hard to beat!

 

sweet. merry christmas to me, provided they'll ship USPS over the border.

 

I have the same exact basket. It fits the Pat perfectly size wise, for the simple fact that its not too tall that it makes the Pat look awkward, and it covers the whole section of the roof rails. I drove with it on for about 2 months before getting the fairing and oh my goodness its loud. All the whistling and howling was too much for me. I think its a very good basket for the price, with great quality. No rust yet on me, but I also used a solution that auto body repair shops use to neutralize rust, and prevent it on open spots. So far so good! Going to be mounting lights on the basket soon!

 

Ive been using mine for over a year. Well, just in periods, but on almost only salted roads. No sign of rust or other "damage" yet.
Im very pleased with it. The Pat is too small for a family of four, but with the roof basket it swallows the baggage you (we) need.

One thing to complain about - the connection to the crossbars. It takes about 15 minutes and is unessesary difficult.

It looks cool, but you got to remeber the extra 4 or so inches height when you enter a garage... *eehm*

 

I have the Mopar Basket




Have had it for about 1 year,
with no problems,
no sound issues,
No rust
and havent noticed any change in MPG,
driving style would affect MPG more so than the basket.
only issue i would have is i would prefer a larger basket,
next purchase will be light bar for the basket