Rhino racks - opinions

[Ranga]

I'm considering getting rid of my heavy steel rack and replacing it with some type of alloy version. I've thought about getting one of those Rhino alloy cages. I figure 1 advantage is being able to remove the cage and still use the racks. I can get a 2.4m job with 4 racks for ~$1000 2nd hand.

Any opinions?

[MacFamily]

Been looking at this myself Ryan as I would like to get a OZ tent next year, plus it removes some of the gear from the back of the car.

As I seem to be accumulating more camping gear, as ive just made myself a camping kitchen which takes up room, simlar to the one Drifta makes.

The Rhino seem to be light which is what you need on the roof.

[Ranga]

Been looking at this myself Ryan as I would like to get a OZ tent next year, plus it removes some of the gear from the back of the car.

As I seem to be accumulating more camping gear, as I've just made myself a camping kitchen which takes up room, similar to the one Drifta makes.

The Rhino seem to be light which is what you need on the roof.

I've looked at the Drifters, and also thought they couldn't be too hard to make. Might have to drop in and check yours out one day

[greenhornet]

Hi
I just added a Rhino rack to the Puma.
It was the rack I had on our GQ Patrol.
We have had it for about 5 years and it is still going strong.
They are lightweight and come with good accessories for attaching a High Lift Jack, shovel, spare tyre and jerry cans. (Other brands do too).
I would recommend them.
It is not that easy to remove the tray and use the bars though.
In fact, I have never done it because each ‘north / south’ panel is secured to the bars on each side.
Hope this helps.

[WhiteD3]

Ranga, I use the alloy 1512 rack as you can see, on two Rhino bars. Easy to take on and off if you don't use all the bits (ie the centre slat anchors) that come with the anchor kit.

The rack is big enough to take my BW Turbo300 tent, cot, chairs, tarp poles, table, mattresses, blah, blah.

[amtravic1]

Rhino Racks are good. I regularly carry a lot of weight on them. Recently I had 4 sheets of chipboard flooring on them (3) on my Rangie when the timber yard decided they could not deliver what I needed in time. it was a bit of a challenge getting them off by myself though (must be getting old) as the guys at the timber yard needed 3 people to put them up there!

Ian

[KarlB]

That is a good price Ranga. Be mindful that the legs are plastic, though still very strong. From my recollection Rhino, while much lighter than a steel rack, were still considerably heavier than say an equivalent WindCheetah rack (imported from SA by Dolium and sold by Opposite Lock as Rackmaster). Couple of other things you need to consider is that baskets (and rails) can be a curse if you want to carry very long or wide objects as the underneath support is only on the edges of the basket. The basket also raises the overall height and that the basket is sitting on the rails also raises the rack load bed. We are talking centimetres hear but they all add up. A good measure of the height issue is how much space is between the top of your roof and the bottom of the rack.

To declare my interests here, I had Rhino roof bars on my old County. They then went onto my Disco. Carried huge loads. They are almost indestructible. When I got my Defender earlier this year, I opted for a WindCheetah rack. I got one with longer legs that allows me to slide a stainless table underneath. Very happy with it.

Cheers
KarlB

[numpty]

They're a damn fine piece of kit. I am going through the same process myself at the moment, I "had" a Rhino rack on 3 bars, now still have the bars and am looking at the platform rack for them.

Agree, it is a pain to remove the rack from the bars.

[Kelly928]

In the process of setting up my rack as well.

I will be using 3 Rhino heavy duty bars and have modified an alloy cage so that it will be a flat bed rack. The flat bed will be easier to load/unload our new extended touring tent considering I am vertically challenged and it weighs about 18kg.

[PBob]

They are good - mine was on my Discovery3 and now on my Puma dual cab.
Here's a couple of pics...