roof rails?

[morpheus]

Hi all,

I have been putting this off for ages, but it is time to do something about rails and or a rack for my D3. The previous owner took his 3/4 rails with him so I have two open grooves on my roof with the bolt holes exposed to the elements. Has been this way since I bought it so hopefully I haven't had too much water ingress.... What are my options for rails? I got a quote for Thule racks with rails for about $500 but I have no idea what else I could do, or what options limit me for other racks. I do like the look of Baja Racks. Over to you!

[lpj]

Hi all,

I have been putting this off for ages, but it is time to do something about rails and or a rack for my D3. The previous owner took his 3/4 rails with him so I have two open grooves on my roof with the bolt holes exposed to the elements. Has been this way since I bought it so hopefully I haven't had too much water ingress.... What are my options for rails? I got a quote for Thule racks with rails for about $500 but I have no idea what else I could do, or what options limit me for other racks. I do like the look of Baja Racks. Over to you!

You can get little plastic caps from autobarn/repco that you can shove into the exposed holes to start with.

[BMKal]

Have a look at the new style of Frontrunner / Windcheater roofrack for the D3/D4.

The older style (which I have) has six "legs" that connect the rack to the roof. This style has been replaced by what appears to be a long "channel" that sits down on the roof where rails / track would normally go. Might kill two birds with one stone. ;)

From what I've seen, the new style places the rack slightly lower than the one I have, which is not a bad thing either.

[Epic pooh]

Although I have a general aversion to roof racks (glass roof), I do like the look/practicality of the 3/4th length rhino rack thingo (the flat tray one with short legs). Such as - Pioneer Platforms | Rhino-Rack (http://www.rhinorack.com.au/products/roof-trays/pioneer-platforms)

If you weren't going with a rack, you could source the required bits from TRS in Adelaide from a wrecked vehicle or eBay.

[morpheus]

Thanks all!

I will get the exposed bolt holes plugged as a matter of urgency - thanks for the advice. I didn't even think of autobarn.

The frontrunner rack looks quite nice, BMKal. Hmmm.

Anyway, now I have some options. Thanks again.

[Geedublya]

Rhino also do channels, they are lower profile then the Landrover ones and cheaper.

[BMKal]

I might have the advantage of being able to do a direct comparison ........

Parked downstairs under the office are two D4's -


Mine, with a full length Fontrunner / Windcheater rack, and


My bosses with a 3/4 length Rhino Platform.

I definitely prefer the Frontrunner on both appearance and strength. Mine is also slightly lower than the Rhino. The new Frontrunner is even lower than mine, and I believe would be better again.

Just my opinion of course ............ :D

[lpj]

Thanks all! I will get the exposed bolt holes plugged as a matter of urgency - thanks for the advice. I didn't even think of autobarn. The frontrunner rack looks quite nice, BMKal. Hmmm. Anyway, now I have some options. Thanks again.

If I had time I'd look up what the bit is called. My local auto barn had a whole rack of assorted 'plugs' of various sizes.
A word of warning though- make sure it's not too tight a fit, and lubricate the plug. I almost broke one off in the hole, which would have been a major pain!

[morpheus]

Thanks! Just found that out. Took a different car up to autobarn and they had heaps of different size grommets. About to take the Centurion back up there now!

[Epic pooh]

I think there are a bunch of different height legs for the rhino rack and that a very short set will make it mount very low but are not on the list of d3 compatible legs or something like that.

[morpheus]

Well that ended up being harder than I thought.. I went to my local Autobarn and Supercheap but couldn't for the life of me find a grommet or anything that fit. Ended up buying some stainless steel M6 x 12mm bolts. These will at least keep the water out while I sort of what rack to get.

[jon3950]

I think there are a bunch of different height legs for the rhino rack and that a very short set will make it mount very low but are not on the list of d3 compatible legs or something like that.

That's correct if you have factory rails. Rhino recommend the RLT leg, but you can use the RLTP leg which is shorter (can't remember by how much but have both at home). They are bit more fiddly to set-up because of all the funny angles in the factory rails, but once set-up work just fine.

If you use the Rhino rails, they recommend the RLTP leg anyway. I think the Rhino rails are lower than the factory rails too, not to mention cheaper.

Something else to consider; I have the factory rails and RLTP legs. With this set-up I can only just get my hand underneath the rack to tie things on as the planks on the Rhino platform are quite wide and its not practical to use eye-bolts for everything. So although I could probably get something lower still, which may look better, this set-up is a good compromise between looks and practicality.

I really like the Frontrunner racks too, but what swayed me in favour of the Rhino was that it is a lot cheaper and much easier to get on and off.

Cheers,
Jon

[winaje]

These fit perfectly as a replacement for the rails that were removed

Land Rover Discovery 3 Extended Roof Rails Track Black 2 Lockable Cross Bars | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Land-Rover-Discovery-3-Extended-Roof-Rails-Track-Black-2-Lockable-Cross-Bars-/300889396506?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item460e67d51a)

$329 rails only.