Roof Rack Recommendations

[stooy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close stooy]

G'day Guys,

I will be buying a 120 GXL at the end of the year and i am working up my list of extras to get included in the lease. I need some advice about roof Racks.

I plan to have an Iron man roof tent, a solar panel and two awnings on the roof of my 120.

My Questions are


- Can I use a set of roof bars on the standard roof rails or are they two weak to support the roof tent with two people in it? (I was thinking i could put the tent on two bars and mount the solar panel between one of the tent bars and the 3rd bar. )

- If i can use the standard roof rails, should I buy toyota bars or another brand?

- If the factory roof rails are too weak what should I get to replace them with?

Oppions would be much appriciated.


Cheers and thanks

Stewart

[Guest Close Guest]

Re: Roof Rack Recommendations

Fisrt thing you will need to do is get the weights of all the items you want to carry and roughly lay them out in your head so you know how much room/flat space you require.

The OEM roof rails are capable of carrying 80kg. This weight includes the crossbar that you need to buy to mount on the roof rails.
The 3 bar heavy duty cross bars are capable of carrying 100kg. This weight includes the 3 cross bars itself. Buying these crossbars means that you ahve to remove the OEM roof rails.

The weight rating for the roof racks is only applicable when the car is on the move. However, when you are sleeping in the tent, then having 2 people p on the roof is not a problem.

Whether or not you buy from Toyota or another brand like Rhinorack or Rola, there is not much different as Toyota bars are rebranded Rhino bars. I have found that the Toyota bars are cheaper (which is unusual) than Rhino when I bought the 3 bar HD racks.

Note thtat due to the geometry of the standard roof rails, the furthese apart you can mount the cross bars may limit your carrying capacity by decreasing your flat area. If you replaced the roof rails with a 3 bar system, then the distance from the front to the rear bar is further apart, therefore giving you more space up top.

[stooy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close stooy]

Re: Roof Rack Recommendations

Thanks Amts,

I beleive the roof tent is about 60kg and the solar panel will be about 5kg so weight wise i should be fine even with an awning or two i would still be only just 80Kg.

What do you do with the holes in the roof if you remove the factory rails and go for the heavy duty ones?

I must say I am still a little aprehensive about having potentially up to 200kg up there when parked including people, partucually if you move around in the tent.

How much did the toyota heavy duty ones set you back ?

Cheers

Stewart

[Guest Close Guest]

Re: Roof Rack Recommendations

Your weight is fine. Now its a matter of useable space. What else will you put up on the roof? Will converting to a 3 bar system provide me with a higher weight capacity and bigger area for future use?

Once you take the roof rails off, the holes are used by the feet of the 3-bar rack. There are 2 mounting holes per foot and this stays on the car. The leg and the crossbar are assembled together and can be taken off the car.

I bought mine for $282 whereas Rhino wanted to charge me a lot more
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5059&st=0&sk=t&sd=a#p93531

Note that buying crossbars is just as costly as buying the 3 bar HD racks. I started with a set of Thule crossbars which I bought for $279 or thereabouts. Once I found the thread I linked to above and found out the price, I changed the racks over. Managed to sell the Thule to a friend with a RAV4.

I don't think will be much of a problem with having 2 people up on the roof with the tent. The tent allows the weight to be pretty well spread out to the 6 mounting points on the roof.

[pjorek Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close pjorek]

Re: Roof Rack Recommendations

Tracklander roof racks do support 200kg and have options for roof tents (with no front/rear railings)

[lissted Member Find all posts View Profile Close lissted]

Re: Roof Rack Recommendations

It's not a limit of the roof rack its self it is the limit of the cars manufacturer. Just because the roof rack has a 200kg limit doesn't mean the car does. Also a bit of a 4x4 rule of thumb, 2/3rds of the limit to be used. So if 100kg rating 4x4ing around 66kg for the extra stresses put on the car and weight moving around.

[weasal4x4 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close weasal4x4]

Re: Roof Rack Recommendations

Whether or not you buy from Toyota or another brand like Rhinorack or Rola, there is not much different as Toyota bars are rebranded Rhino bars. I have found that the Toyota bars are cheaper (which is unusual) than Rhino when I bought the 3 bar HD racks.

I originally purchased the toyota sportz bars and found that whilst they are very similar to the ROLA sportz bars (RM Series) they are not the same. This i found out when i purchased the ROLA ski locking arms and found they wouldn't fit. It is only a slight difference in the oval/radius of the rack but nevertheless it's enough. This is only with the sportz bar style and i cannot comment on the HD style.

Being in melbourne check out tradesman roof racks in Bayswater, as they also do custom made racks with open front and backs if required.

Good luck with your choice there's plenty out there!

[stooy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close stooy]

Re: Roof Rack Recommendations

Ok, i had a look at a prado last night, the standard roof rails are definatly too short for what i want. So i think the Toyota heavy duty rails seem like a good thing at around $300. How long does it take to fit and remove them from the car?

Thanks for all the advice!

Stewart

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Re: Roof Rack Recommendations

Removing the factory rails is probably the hardest bit
How to remove Grande roof rails?

It doesn't take too long once you get a knack for it. Just remember that when you put on the feet for the HD bars, it would pay to add silicone around the white plastic tubes you will see sticking out of the mounting hole on the roof. The HD racks do come with O-rings for this purpose but better to be sure rather than have water leaking into the car through the mounting holes.

Rhinorack also makes platform baskets that might be suitable for you
http://www.rhinorack.com.au/AccSubCateg ... ts_50.aspx

[stooy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close stooy]

Re: Roof Rack Recommendations

Thanks Amts!

One more question for you or anyone else, with the heavy duty rails what is the length from the back rail to the front in their furthest apart position? I am just working out the length of things i need to fit up there.

Cheers

Stewart

[Guest Close Guest]

Re: Roof Rack Recommendations

See this post for center distances between front, mid and rear crossbar mounting points.
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7874&p=110819&hilit=middle#p10 9072

[chester Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close chester]

Re: Roof Rack Recommendations

I just fitted the HD set on the weekend a point or 2 to note

It took me about 2.5 hrs all up cause i had to take them apart not realising at the time that some bolts are longer than others. The longer bolts are for the front feet as they sit higher.

It says in the instructions to mount the feet on the cross bars first but i actually found it easier to mount the feet to the vehicle first and then slide the cross bars through and tighten.

The end caps are a bastard

I have some little black self tappers left over and there is no mention of them in the instructions so i am not sure what they are for?

I picked mine up for $300 and as they are now a non returnable special order some dealerships will want the money up front

[stooy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close stooy]

Re: Roof Rack Recommendations

Thanks Guys,

Chester, now that you have them installed are you happy with them?

Also with the bare bars with no gear on them can you fit into carparks?

Cheers

Stewart

[chester Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close chester]

Re: Roof Rack Recommendations

Hey Stewart yeah i do like them for what i do as i have a basket in the middle and bike rack each side you get maximum width, cause with the aero ones you loose a lot of width due to the end curve.

The do make a bit of noiise but i can only hear it with the radio off and in top gear at say 90kph any faster or with radio on other noises such as engine, or the red hot chilli peppers drown it out.

I can fit into the car park at work and it says 2.2 meters, there is some room to spare but i think at 2.1 you would be scraping cobwebs off the celing but doable if you had to. Mind you i do have a 2 inch lift so if you have standard suspension you would probably be right.

Mate put your location in your profile and i can give you some references e.g i know that with lift and racks i cannot fit into the car park at Star City Sydney or Southland Shopping centre Melbourne