Flat Roof rack - which brand

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brianvicki

Member
Looking at putting a flat roof rack on the grand Cherokee, am deciding between rola and rhino?

prices are different between them, looking at putting 2 x 20l, the shorter versions and some light stuff for when we go to Birdsville in July
 
G_ute

G_ute

Well-Known Member
I had a Frontrunner - strong construction, no problems. Extra crossbars are a good idea.
I have heard "Tradesman" are good too.
 
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brianvicki

Member
smitty_r51 said:
Front runner... No contest.

Great platform strong secure accessories mounting.

Rola and rhino rack are fine for around town... Seen to many faults outback with them with mounts cracking or watch Tyler Thompson's latest on YouTube
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Thanks,just watching it now, very interesting, wasnt aware of the mounting problems, very lucky years ago with my navara and roof bars and roof top tent, when we did cape york...
 
RDM

RDM

Active Member
Personally I wouldn't worry too much about Tyler Thompsons experiences, when you overload a rack and go bouncing down a beach and through mud holes that sort of stuff is bound to happen.

100kg limit on road on the track system, the rack its self is about 25kg, the smaller of the 2 of those tents is 52kg plus say 6kg of awning so a total of 83kg best case. Common sense aside and despite what he says it is plan as day in the instruction and specs sheet that off road there is a safety factor of 1.5 which equals 66kg (this part is also in the instructions so you don't even have to do the math's) and you don't need to be a mathematician to work out 83kg is more than 66kg. To be honest I am surprised it didn't happen sooner.
 
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brianvicki

Member
G_ute said:
I had a Frontrunner - strong construction, no problems. Extra crossbars are a good idea.
I have heard "Tradesman" are good too.
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Just looked at the front runner and the unit itself weighs 27kgs.... if it uses my current roof mounts on the Grand Cherokee , I don’t have weight left to carry much
 
CaptainBanana

CaptainBanana

Well-Known Member
RDM said:
Personally I wouldn't worry too much about Tyler Thompsons experiences, when you overload a rack and go bouncing down a beach and through mud holes that sort of stuff is bound to happen.

100kg limit on road on the track system, the rack its self is about 25kg, the smaller of the 2 of those tents is 52kg plus say 6kg of awning so a total of 83kg best case. Common sense aside and despite what he says it is plan as day in the instruction and specs sheet that off road there is a safety factor of 1.5 which equals 66kg (this part is also in the instructions so you don't even have to do the math's) and you don't need to be a mathematician to work out 83kg is more than 66kg. To be honest I am surprised it didn't happen sooner.
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Regardless of his experience you do realise if they are pop riveted or fixed with nutserts you are going to fatigue the very thin steel and rip them out right.
 
CaptainBanana

CaptainBanana

Well-Known Member
brianvicki said:
Just looked at the front runner and the unit itself weighs 27kgs.... if it uses my current roof mounts on the Grand Cherokee , I don’t have weight left to carry much
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What model grand do you have is it a WK? Jeep is already using nutserts to fix their racks on other models and that is not good enough.
 
RDM

RDM

Active Member
CaptainBanana said:
Regardless of his experience you do realise if they are pop riveted or fixed with nutserts you are going to fatigue the very thin steel and rip them out right.
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I had that exact setup on my last 4wd for almost 10 years and never had a drama with it. I did all the High Country, Coffs Coast, Fraiser and not once did it fall off or come loose. The only difference between my set up and his is I didn't over load mine by almost 20kg.

I am all for criticism of a company when its warranted but in this case the failure is completely on him, like I said commonsense aside all the info is there and easy to find so there is no excuse for his ignorance. Rhino said that the load limit was 66kg off road and he put substantially more up there and it doesn't take a physicist to work out what the consequences of that might be.
 
CaptainBanana

CaptainBanana

Well-Known Member
I hate to break it to you but plenty of people have had the problem some/many not being overloaded. What I think you don't realise his it's not simply a matter of how much weight is up there in but the effects of leverage for example overhang, height of load and much much more none of which is specified by the manufacturer. At the end of the day if your roof rack is fitted with pop rivets or nutserts you will fatigue the metal and you will pull it out if you drive off road with the load. It's good for you that yours didn't tear out but you are not everyone just so you know.
 
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tonza

New Member
I've been eyeing this one off, i want something with sides on it so i can mount a shovel etc.

www.autobarn.com.au

PLATFORM TRAY LARGE

160CM(L) x 125CM(D) x 14.5CM (H)Heavy duty powder coated steel construction.Includes fitting kit (stainless steel bolts included).Universal fitment onto most roof bars up to 87MM wide.24-month warranty.
www.autobarn.com.au www.autobarn.com.au
 
RDM

RDM

Active Member
CaptainBanana said:
I hate to break it to you but plenty of people have had the problem some/many not being overloaded. What I think you don't realise his it's not simply a matter of how much weight is up there in but the effects of leverage for example overhang, height of load and much much more none of which is specified by the manufacturer. At the end of the day if your roof rack is fitted with pop rivets or nutserts you will fatigue the metal and you will pull it out if you drive off road with the load. It's good for you that yours didn't tear out but you are not everyone just so you know.
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Just because someone takes a photo of an empty rack sitting on the ground that's just fallen off their car doesn't mean it was empty when it came off. I don't think I would want to advertise that my stupidity caused my roof rack to fall off either.

Metal will fatigue around any hole you use to secure something too whether its rivets, nutserts or nuts and bolt. Of course rivets will fatigue faster because they have less surface area, Thats exactly why they tell you to reduce the load ect when you go off road, and yes of course there are a myriad of other forces at play on a roof rack but it is weight that amplifies them all that why weight is the deciding factor. If you want to put 100kg on your roof off road my advice would be don't get a rhino rack and look else where but to say they are shit because some idiot overloaded one and it fell off is as dumb as the guy who over loaded it in the first place.

Any how I think we are probably getting a little off the OP's topic now...
 
CaptainBanana

CaptainBanana

Well-Known Member
Mine are fitted with 8mm bolts and backed by 3mm plate steel square washers at 50x50mm....mounted in 12 different locations, sure it could fatigue but unlike rhino's rubbish system it probably won't.
 
discomatt

discomatt

Well-Known Member
I saw one guy trying to fix his near empty roof rack on the way into Mitchell falls 2 years ago, bad roads will kill anything if its on or near its limits.
I quickly discounted nearly every rack on the Aussie market when I got mine and went for an overseas product, stronger, lighter than some and better design so no wind noise. Search everywhere not just ARB catalogs
 
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boobook

Well-Known Member
discomatt said:
I saw one guy trying to fix his near empty roof rack on the way into Mitchell falls 2 years ago, bad roads will kill anything if its on or near its limits.
I quickly discounted nearly every rack on the Aussie market when I got mine and went for an overseas product, stronger, lighter than some and better design so no wind noise. Search everywhere not just ARB catalogs
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What did you get Matt? I've been looking at Front Runner. They have a great track record and very complete range of accessories.

I did look at the Yakima one but the guy ( roof Rack Superstore) said they were an awful design, unusual for Yakima. They are noisy as hell and vibrate like crazy according to this guy. They put the rails sideways not longways. He recons a lot of people wanted their money back so he refuses to sell them now.
 
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