Thread: Roof Rack advice, please.

Originally Posted by inken_dave

The Landrover roof is not strong enough to really load it up. My experience has been that with my Puma 2013 110, the ARB unit is quite heavy, and now the roof moves(becomes loose, breaking the water-proofing) on rough roads etc.

I think this is a very important consideration. The Defender body likes to move around - a lot. Putting a heavy, rigid rack on the roof restricts its ability to flex with the rest of the body. This can lead to cracking and breaking of the seal between the roof and the rest of the body as it tries to move around.

I actually think the best option for a Defender is a set of bars. These do very little to restrict movement, as long as whatever you have loaded them with does not tie them together too rigidly - eg a rooftop tent.

If bars don't suit your purpose I would go for as flexible a rack as possible. Using this logic, I went for a Rhino Pioneer Platform. I like these because the legs are plastic, so can flex a little. Also the single bolt connection between the leg and the rack allows some movement as well. The downside is you need to keep an eye on all the connections to make sure they don't vibrate loose, as mine have out near Mt Dare. Prior to this I just had a set of bars and by adding a basket these suited 90% of my use. The main reason I replaced them with a rack was that I felt it was easier to carry jerry cans on it.

I also considered the Front Runner rack. I think its lightweight, bolted construction would probably give a similar result. My final decision came down to price - I already had a lot of bits for the Rhino.

Cheers,
Jon