Thread: Frontrunner roof rack

Hi Graeme,

After fixing the noise in your roof rack did the draw noise persist?

I have a set of the Front Runner twin draws and have been experiencing the passenger side "squeaking" in the draw front corner.

I got the other half to get in the back seat and seek out the source of the sound. Front left hand corner of the box near the slider screw, but inside the box. The slider rails are firm and secure.

I left the drawers in installed and spent 5 minutes removing the top carpet covered boards to exposed the draws and and rails.

I found the source of the "squeak" to be a small rubber locating grommet that has been installed as a buffer/stop for the back of the draw. There is another on the opposite side.

The grommet can be moved back and forward to apply pressure to the closed draw. The rubber cup seems to be able o flop about and the screw seems to have been sourced from a watch maker. It is so fine.

I think it is a rather flimsy solution to solve a drawer wobble issue. If you find a better way please let me know


Another benefit of going through this exercise was to show that access to the draw contents is very quick and easy should the rear tail gate latch fail.


Agro

I may raise a query with Front Runner in any case. Since the adjustment I've made the noise has come back ocasionally.

Hi Agro,

The noise from the racks has gone with a piece of shrinkwrap placed under the rail and tightened down on to it.

The drawers are all quiet now, and you are correct the rubber stops at the end of the drawers were not in position against the stop bolts...I have sorted them by glueing the rubber grommets onto the end of the drawer in the correct place. ( My drawers are Frontrunner also but the stop bolts are 13mm head bolts...not ones out of a watch...perhaps drill a couple of holes and use some bigger bolts and glue some rubber on the end of the drawer)

The D3 is very quiet now...I also put a set of General Grabber AT's on Thursday and they seem quieter than the AT2's that I had on previously.

Cheers
Graeme

A little tip with the Frontrunner rack - don't mount a LED lightbar under the rack.

I've got a 40 inch Baja Designs Stealth bar under mine, mounted between the front pair of legs. Nice tidy installation and very "discrete" and the light works well from that position - but - the wind noise level has increased dramatically.

The rack was pretty quiet before I fitted the light bar, but I am now having to think of re-locating the light bar purely due to the increase in wind noise. I could easily mount the light bar directly in front of the roofrack as it's a slim-line LED bar with only a single row of LED's. This would probably still be a "discrete" location and not too obviously visible - but I'm thinking that this position will be too far forward and the light is likely to glare off the bonnet. Where the light bar is currently mounted, the bonnet is in shadow.

Will think of something that works - but have to do something about the noise.....................

BMKal...have you seen the wind deflector plate that FR supply to reduce the noise? I have same issue on my FR rack but the turbulence reduced significantly after fitting the deflector plate.
I hate the design of the FR racks though...the slates going across the width of the car constantly vibrate....I'd never buy another or recommend it to anyone for that matter!

Hi Streaky. Yes, mine has the wind deflector plate, and it worked well - until I mounted the light bar below it. I think the light bar pretty much cancels out the effect of the deflector plate.

I don't have any issues with the cross slats vibrating on my rack. I agree that in theory you should get less noise from a rack with the slats running along rather than across the rack, but I can't say that this has been an issue for me. As mine is a full length rack, I would think that the slats across the rack would have to be significantly stronger than a similar size rack with the slats running front to read, unless there was one or two additional cross members added in.

Just did 11,000km with the new slimline 2 FR roof rack 2.2m, Melbourne to the Tip and back, found it to be a great rack. The only rattle was one span not bolted down on the ARB dual jerry can holder, spread across three bars. Once I drilled an extra hole in the ARB holder base to ensure all three cross bars were well held, I had no other issues with camping chairs, tables and folding solar panel.

However, I used octopus straps across all cross bars to ensure no rattling.

In my view the new Slimline 2 is a great roof rack for my application.

Regards

Gerald

VK3GJM

I have the front runner racks with the wind deflector and have had no issues at all.

Originally Posted by BMKal

A little tip with the Frontrunner rack - don't mount a LED lightbar under the rack.

I've got a 40 inch Baja Designs Stealth bar under mine, mounted between the front pair of legs. Nice tidy installation and very "discrete" and the light works well from that position - but - the wind noise level has increased dramatically.

The rack was pretty quiet before I fitted the light bar, but I am now having to think of re-locating the light bar purely due to the increase in wind noise. I could easily mount the light bar directly in front of the roofrack as it's a slim-line LED bar with only a single row of LED's. This would probably still be a "discrete" location and not too obviously visible - but I'm thinking that this position will be too far forward and the light is likely to glare off the bonnet. Where the light bar is currently mounted, the bonnet is in shadow.

Will think of something that works - but have to do something about the noise.....................

Did you end up mounting the light bar in front of the rack? I’m facing the same issue at the moment, too much wind noise and about to install a snorkel which will only add to it. I’ve just started fabricating up some brackets but might try and experiment with a small shield at the bottom of the brackets to block the light shining on the bonnet. I don’t have the wind deflector but I imagine it wouldn’t be very effective sitting behind the light bar, will be interesting to see if the noise gets better or worse once the light bar is out front.