Thread: What size rack - is bigger better?

I know this reply may seem obvious, but I'd suggest compiling a list of essential items for any given trip. Go over it several times and weed it out to a final list.

Work out what items are most suited to being carried on a roof rack (also including total weight) and ensure you purchase one that is suitably rated. If you can't, then re-think your items or re-allocate your in-vehicle storage options.

Hope this helps.

Nige

PS- for what it's worth, I have always managed without a roof rack. I appreciate this may prove difficult with a family, so I'd suggest spending lots of time in the planning stage of compiling a list of essential items to carry.

PPS - gutter thinking or not, I am a firm believer in quality over quantity

The rack on mine is pretty big. But mine is not supported by the roof, but rather my Safety Devices "ladder rack" with comes directly from the chassis.



I had the OEM rack but the overall weight you can put up on the roof will limit you more than the rack size. The bigger and heavier the rack, the less actual weight you can put up there. I needed the roof to be re-set ( under warranty) after a trip up to Cape York, the OEM rack as the doors ended up hitting the A-pillar. All we had was a roof top tent and some clothes on top, but would have been right on the limit as far as weight is concerned. The OEM rack was pretty noisy, and I ended up putting in some aluminium inserts in to reduce the noise - the photo shows the plywood trial bits I taped on as a test. My current rack has a no front bar and a mesh insert on the front, and is much quieter.

The OEM rack has 10 feet, and the more of less line up with all the pillar.



Since I have never driven mine without a roof rack or the roll cage, it is hard to tell about fuel consumption, but I get 10l/100km on average over the past three years.

I had the old school Land Rover rack on my 110 at first. It was full length and probably the best rack in terms of functionality, but it was steel and heavy, and rusted pretty quick and began staining my car. Replaced it for the frontrunner half length alloy rack and I am happy with that size. If you dont have it sitting in the right spot it can whistle and vibrate. The smaller rack obviously means less loading space but I didnt really like loading the old one up, always made the car feel too top heavy.

I've the Rhino pioneer on my 110, from memory 1.9m and covers the flat section only. Platform only, so no raised side bars.

Never had a problem with noise and combined with a roof top bag gets this family of 5 away on holiday (ok the rear load space is pretty full). All the light stuff goes up on the roof

The shop moved one set of legs for us which was a simple drill new holes along the side operation, so pretty sure you could add extra legs if you need to. Just bear in mind the rhino legs, even defender specific, may foul on the Alpine window rubbers and need some grinding

Go as short and light as you can get away with - I wouldn't bother with side rails either. I've been through 4 or 5 Defender racks over the years and have now got a 2.2m Front Runner 2 with 4 legs each side - seems to be a good option.

Our 110 came with a full-length Front Runner aluminium one (8 legs, I think, from memory).

No experience with it not being on there, so can't help with fuel economy comparison.

We usually run 2 adults, 3 kids, and 3 dogs - so you can work out that a roof rack is pretty essential for us for camping and road trips.

In summary... I can honestly say that there's never been a single instance of me wishing that I had a smaller one... and there are many, many times when I'm glad we had the full-size one.

And the aluminium one is light - I can take it off and put it back on myself.

Road noise... WHAT????? YOU'LL HAVE TO SPEAK UP - I DRIVE A DEFENDER.

It probably does contribute to road noise (especially as ours was missing the "wind deflector" component), but I'd be hard pressed picking it out over the other noises...

My defender had a 2.4 m TJM steel cage rack and ladder when I first bought it, I took it off as I couldn't handle the howling and buffeting it produced and also it was too tall for the carport. I saved about a litre per hundred km in fuel consumption without it.

I've just ordered a 2.2 m Frontrunner, which I'm hoping will be quieter and looks to be a good compromise on length covering the flat part of roof but not much more. I pick it up next week so I'll see how it goes then.

I scored three Rhino bars with the 2009 Defender I've just bought and I already had two Rhino bars, so have five in total.
On the Disco I just had a black Rhino flat mesh tray (not the silver-coloured aluminium rack with sides). If you get a Rhino catalogue they are there, but don't get as much mention as the aluminium racks, which cost more.They come in three sizes and cost about $2-300 depending on the size from memory. I got mine through Autobarn.
The one I have is the smallest and I plan to buy another - probably the larger - and use them both, as I already have all the required legs.
Doing it this way will be far cheaper for me than the cost of buying a new large flat rack, which could be $600-1000 depending on the one chosen.
I prefer flat racks with no bars at all because they make less noise and it reduces the weight up there.
It will only be used to carry TREDS, a jack and shovel, a second spare, possibly two fuel containers in racks for remote trips and maybe a swag or two and folding seats, so the weight will be low.
I don't have any need to extend it over the sloping front of the vehicle at present. However, I do plan to put a 80-100 watt solar panel up there eventually, probably at the front.
My advice would be to keep the weight down and minimize the size of your rack. Hope that helps.