Dropracks XL roof loading system (includes extra 1445mm connecting parts)

What's Dropracks?

Dropracks, designed and developed in Trondheim by an enthusiastic team of Norwegian engineers, is the sort of truly innovative but also truly useful product that only very occasionally comes to market in the car racks sector. It's a brilliant piece of kit, a roof rack that's lowered, under complete control, from a vehicle roof to approximately waist height, leaving a horizontal loading platform.

Dropracks allows you to load the car roof at waist or chest height, with reduced strain on your back. It's much safer for you, and the car's bodywork, and sometimes it makes the almost impossible not only possible but easy!

Typical uses

• Carrying boats or kayaks: It's not just getting kayaks onto the roof of tall vehicles that's a challenge; strapping them down properly always takes longer than it should when access is difficult. Let Dropracks solve the whole problem!
• Trades people use Dropracks for loading anything which won't easily fit inside the vehicle - safely, quickly, and easily.

How it works

After releasing the load lock catches and sliding the load away from the car roof, you use a crank system to lower the rack. An automatic brake, developed together with the Japanese company TOK, a world leader in rotary dampers and braking systems, will stop the load from moving unless the crank is being turned. When you are ready to move the load back to the roof, crank the handle again - there's a longer setting which provides more leverage, if required. As before, the failsafe braking system holds the load, wherever it is on its journey back to the roof. And, when the Dropracks has been slid back to the locked position, it's rock solid, no vibration at all. It really is the business!

Have a look at the video below, where Pål, the Engineering and Design Manager, shows you how it works. You surely cannot fail to be impressed!

The parts you need for a Dropracks system

As well as the Dropracks itself you'll need a set of connecting bars for 1445mm fixpoint centres. These are pre-ticked and included in the price shown.

You'll also need a set of Thule feet and a Thule fitting kit to join the Dropracks to the roof of your vehicle; these are not pre-ticked because you may already have them, or the previous Thule Rapid System feet 751 and fitting kit 3149.

You slide two feet into the full length slot on the bottom of each Dropracks main bar (two feet into the front main bar, two feet into the rear main bar) and use the adapter kit to connect the feet to the vehicle. Note that the Thule Evo fitting kit 7001 can be left attached to the roof and the Dropracks and Thule feet lifted off; a neat solution but lifting this assembly off the back of the van will require planning and strength!

The Dropracks XL - specifications

• Loading capacity: 80kg
• Product weight: 30kg
• Length (width across vehicle): 160cm
• Loading surface: 150cm
• Lowering distance: 80cm
• Distance between front and rear units, centre to centre: 144.5cm
• This Dropracks assembly fits to the 1st and 3rd fixing points on the VW T5/T6.

About Dropracks

Dropracks is a registered brand name, owned and developed by the Norwegian company Dropracks AS, a company that was originally formed by The Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. Dropracks has been tested and approved by the German TÜV SÜD, also by Volkswagen, and is manufactured by the German company Hettich, one of the world's largest manufacturers of sliding fittings and hinges (mostly used in furniture and kitchen fittings) with over 6,700 employees; they are precision manufacturers.

Delivery charges and arrangements:

We charge a contribution towards delivery costs, depending on what you order, where you live, and how quickly you want the goods.

These are our standard charges; there are usually surcharges for all offshore destinations and some remote postcodes - for details please see our delivery information page.

Delivery of this item

Delivery of other items

Delivery times

Delivery times are calculated in working days (Monday to Friday, excluding Bank holidays).

Cut-off times for Express Delivery orders
Express Delivery orders placed before before the cut-off times shown below will usually be desptached on the date of order. Express Delivery orders placed after these cut-off times will be despatched the next working day.

Delivery FAQs

When will my order arrive?
There are no deliveries on Saturdays, Sundays or Bank Holidays, except for postable items where Royal Mail has a Saturday delivery. Express Delivery orders placed on a Friday (before 1pm) should be delivered on the Monday or Tuesday, Express Delivery orders placed on a Saturday or Sunday should be delivered on the Tuesday or Wednesday. The arrangements for Very Heavy Items are different and are shown above.

What about Next Working Day delivery?
We have offered a reliable Next Working Day service for well over 20 years but, due to the pressure on the couriers caused by the coronavirus crisis and the huge increase in online shopping, we can no longer be confident about the delivery date, which is why we now call the service ‘Express delivery’. Most Express delivery orders will arrive on the next or second working day, but some will arrive on the second or third working day, or be split between these days. So-called “split deliveries” happen when the couriers do not have enough trailer space for everything that should be moved around the UK, so they will load what they can and leave the rest for the next trailer.

Is my delivery day guaranteed?
No retailer or courier company can ever "guarantee" a Next Working Day delivery. As well as split deliveries, all courier companies occasionally have the same transport problems as can happen to everyone else, including snow blocked roads, closed roads, traffic jams, mechanical breakdown, an inability to find the delivery address, or to gain access to it if, for example, it's in a block of flats. We work with some of the best couriers in the business, and overall they provide an outstanding service.

Do I need to be at home?
We are very flexible with our deliveries and will aim to deliver to an address which suits you – this does not need to be your home address. Goods can usually be left without signature - we prefer this with roof boxes. There's a "Special Delivery Instructions" box in the checkout area where we'll ask you to choose a typical instruction and then amend it to suit your particular requirements.

Payment options:

We take the following cards, and also PayPal. Please note that the entry on your card statement will be from "The Roof Box Company".

Secure payments

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