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 This style has been replaced by what appears to be a long "channel" that sits down on the roof where rails / track would normally go.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

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 ............

[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.