Mod 18: Rago Fabrication Molle Panels

I’ll be honest here. When I first saw the Rago Fabrication Molle Panels installed in 4th and 5th gen 4Runners, I thought to myself, “why in the hell would someone completely block out their rear windows with this crap?” Well, after hearing some anecdotes from some friends with them installed, I decided to take the plunge and grab a pair. I figured at best I would have some more storage in the trunk of the 4Runner, and at worst I could sell them for a few bucks less than I bought them for. Not a bad outcome ether way.

I will say though, these panels are pricey for what they are. I waited for a good sale from Rago to get them within a reasonable price point. If I had to buy them at their original price point (around $390 for the pair), I would have given it a second thought for sure. Just something to think about.

Installation was a breeze, and I fully expected it to be. These panels basically come with some adjustable mounting hardware and then you just bolt ‘em up in to factory locations in the hatch. I had to play around with adjustments forward and backward, and left and right to make them as flush as I wanted them, but after an hour and a half or so, they were in and rock solid.

To sum up my experience with them after installing, I would just say boy was I wrong. It's a weird, niche product, but if you have a use case for it, then I honestly couldn’t give you a reason NOT to pick up a set of these panels. Since I have installed them, I noticed two major upsides that have completely sold me on keeping them in my rig forever.

First, and by far the most important, these panels simply give you a way to get that small, annoying crap that rolls around everywhere when you’re out on the trail out of the way. Since these panels have universal MOLLE mounting slots, you can find a gajillion different bags on Amazon or your favorite outdoor retailer that will fit. I bought a bunch of different sizes of bags and now everything I routinely find myself losing in the rear of the 4Runner is nicely organized. I have a bag for zipties of every size, a bag for my portable jump-starter, a medkit, and I even found a paper towel holder that fits the bolt pattern of the Rago Fab panel. Imagine that! Paper towels readily on demand in the trunk. That sold me IMMEDIATELY.

And the second reason was actually the reason I bashed these panels in the first place. The rear windows are typically what you need to look out of when you are changing lanes. Let’s be real though, ever since I put those American Flag decals on the back, visibility was never top-notch. With these panels installed, it actually obscures the rear windows even more, and I thoroughly enjoy that. I typically keep some valuables in the rear including my big toolkit, compressor kit, recovery bag, and my favorite camp chair. And those things basically never come out of the truck. Knowing that these panels make it even harder for wandering eyes to look inside the trunk of my 4Runner just brings a smile to my face, even if it does mean I have to be extra careful when making lane changes on the highway.

So, are these panels right for you? That’s a question that I wish I could answer for you. The use case is certainly there, but you really need to thing if you would benefit from something like this. I thought long and hard about what I would mount up on the Rago Fab panels BEFORE I bought them, and I think that was the key to my liking them.