Quote Originally Posted by Michael2 View Post
An extended rack has some drawbacks :

[1] reduced visibility when travelling down a hill and having an ascent in front of you.

[2] increased stiffness in the Land Rover, making it more susceptible to cracking the roof. The body wants to flex and you're bolting something to the bullbar / chassis - you're asking for strain.

[3] increased centre of gravity

[4] weight / handling - while in Australia most recommendations are not to carry a trailer in desert expeditions, in Europe, where their desert travel is usually the Sahara, and distances are longer between services, the recommendation (ie in Tom Sheppards books) is to take a trailer and distribute the weight evenly over 3 axles, rather than over load two. He shows a photo of an overloaded Range Rover towing a trailer, the Range Rover is bogged in soft sand and the trailer is sitting up on top of the sand. In this case the load should have been spread onto the trailer. Persoanlly I prefer to travel light and not tow a trailer, but if you must carry that much, then maybe consider a small offroad trailer, and keep the vehicle light for better handling.

I'd like to say don't do it, but it's up to you to assess your situation.
Hey mate, thanks for the great advice. I'm now thinking just to extend it a good 400mm or so from its current position, and it wont be carrying any serious weight. To avoid the strain, perhaps I should weld bars next to the vents? I'd just like a little more space with the rooftent on

Alex