Massif – Rear Door Storage Mounting System

So I had a surprise Mojave Road (150 mile 4x4 trail between Needles and Barstow) trip pop up and I needed some gear for my Advanced 4X4 Solutions NV3500. Avatar Offroad is one of the few manufacturers that still make things specifically for this model. Had about a week or two to get everything in hand and bolted up. Wes let me know that things would be tight when I inquired about the Massif and Mega 28 box, but they would try. To add insult to injury, I also ordered the Rock Body Side Steps (which ended up living up to their name). Wes and crew indeed pulled out all stops and made it happen and got everything to me in time.

The product arrived in perfect condition and was absolutely beautiful. Bolted up with the greatest of ease. The quality was evident in both fit and finish. Love this stuff and once my wallet recovers, I’ll buy the Massif for the passenger side.

Now for the trail. The NV is a 5.6L V8 that absolutely loves gas. With the 34ish” tires, and lower gearing in the diffs, I get just north of 10 MPG average. This means I needed to take some safety stock in fuel. I loaded 3 twenty-liter Jerry cans (~100 lbs) into the Mega box along with tons of tools. Cans were sitting on and separated by heavy cardboard and locked in with foam spacers to knock down the battle rattle. Very likely exceeded the 150 lb overall “guidance” suggestion by Avatar. Everything held up perfectly. Some areas (Soda Lake) were taken at speeds that can only be described as abusive. Like, everything internal to the Mega box getting tossed airborne abusive. I don’t intentionally abuse my gear, but sometimes you gotta do some stuff.. The Mega box had no issues containing the travesty! The whole trail was made up of either, as described by our trail map, "significant undulations" (sometimes challenging overall travel of the van itself) or washboard. All rock and sand. Post trip battle damage assessment revealed that the Rock Body Side Steps did encounter some side on impacts that only succeeded in removing some Duraliner coating. Hopefully patchable in my driveway. Saved the van body from any damage that would have resulted. Highlight of the trip, recovering a buddy’s Sprinter that got stuck in the sand… She’s thirsty, but has the horsepower…

Bottom line, I wholeheartedly recommend Avatar Offroad, not only for their superb customer service, but also for the heavy duty build quality of their products. If you think that customer service was killed by COVID (largely true), think again, Avatar went above and beyond. The box internally looks no worse for wear and is ready for the next challenge. Thanks fellas! Pictures of the big girl on the trail provided (don’t judge, that ladder came with the van!).

After reviewing a lot of options out there, I found the Massif to be the best possible choice. It mounts directly on the hinges, keeping the weight transfer close to the body and down to the frame of the ProMaster, as well as a small amount to the door lock area, which is already reinforced to handle a lot of forces that come with every open/close of the doors. From an engineer's POV, this is a fantastic design. From an installer's POV, it's amazingly easy. Less than an hour. From an owner's POV, I'm thrilled because it doesn't mean any drilling or cutting of the sheetmetal. This means no rust, no dings, no warps, no rattles: No problems.

I can say that a lot of good thought went into the design of this rack. I'm impressed, and it takes a lot to impress me.

On top of that, there was a small issue with fitment on the brackets- I told them about it and they immediately said they'd take care of it; and they have.

Super responsive customer service, fantastic products. Doesn't get much better than this. I'll be getting more from these professionals.