Thread: Roof Rack Advice

my vote would go to a Hannibal full length with half cage. That's based on looking at their previous design. The roof rack leg design looks like its changed.

Also it makes more sense to me to have the cage at the front of the rack. All the photos on the net I've seen have the half cage at the back. There may be a reason for that.

Hannibal, no question. I bought the Frontrunner and wish I spent the extra bucks on a Hannibal for the extra strength for attaching awnings etc. If it wasn't for my desire to have the Hannibal self supporting awning now I would be very happy with my Frontrunner.

Another vote for Hannibal. Love mine, very sturdy and price includes the ladder. I took the cage (side rails) off mine. Was better for loading the kayaks, but now have their rooftop tent up there anyway.
Kenley

Originally Posted by carlschmid2002

Hannibal, no question. I bought the Frontrunner and wish I spent the extra bucks on a Hannibal for the extra strength for attaching awnings etc. If it wasn't for my desire to have the Hannibal self supporting awning now I would be very happy with my Frontrunner.

i have an awning on my front runner and the mounting system is very solid.....pretty sure you would be able to mount a hannibal with ease...may need to adapt the bracket

to the OP i am happy with my front runner and believe i got good value for money.....the cross bars to flex when you walk on them........i would go with a straight flat one as i dont see the benefit witht he cage as you have to tie everything down anyway

Hi Spencer 72,

I have a Patriot rack and ladder, very sturdy and very quiet rack. They are expensive, however they are very well made and I love the ladder. I have posted some potos in 'show us your defender'

Show us your Deefers !

Here's a pic of my setup.

imgur: the simple image sharer

Basically 4 "Load Rail" racks with a home made cage bolted on with U bolts.

The cage is a simple SHS frame with 5 cross braces and 50mm mesh with some side rails forward of the tent

The tent and cage are only on the car for trips away and are normally housed up under the car port above the car. Easily jacked up or lowered down to take on/off.

I find this setup supremely practical in that it doubles nicely as a work or play roof rack.

It's also immensely strong but at the same time allows for typical Defender body flex.

Cheap too, although, it took a little tweaking to get just right.

For me the most important decision was the weight of the rack, from memory the roof is rated to 80kg or 85kg so the full length Hannibal without cage weighing in at 45kg uses over 50% of your total allowance. You now basically get a couple of jerry cans or a tent a little bit of other kit and your at the limit.

I cant find it now however I seem to remember the frontrunner weighing in at 25kg.

The other thing I found was the range of accessories for the front runner way way more extensive, I have the slide under table and it gets used every single day and its awesome. I used to carry a 6th tyre on the roof and the bracket for that was sturdy and easy to fit (two blots for the bracket and one wing nut for the tyre) where as the hannibal uses straps.

Also I have noticed on a couple of vehicles I have been in the hannibal whistles at some speeds where as the front runner didnt.

These are the points that I decided on, I have had the Front runner for 3 years now, have LED bar, Awning, reversing lights, shovel, axe hanging off it and it holds my oztent and two pole tubes as well as surfboards just fine.

I have full length hannibal with side rails.

I got it because it was low profile, lightweight (def. not 45kg as per the previous poster – maybe we’re talking about different racks?), side rails were removable, comes with a ladder, doesn’t make any noise, I liked the way it had a continuos rail along the gutter to spread the load evenly…. And it looks the business!