Thread: Roof rack too heavy?

According to the Defender brouchure
"Land Rover recommend a maximum of 75kg including the roof rack"
as quoted in the Defender brouchure in front of me therefore it leaves you with the ability to load 30- 35kg on the roof.

Where would you get a lighter one though?

Originally Posted by Gascoigne

My father-in-law tells me that the genuine Land Rover Defender Roof Rack I got with my purchase of '99 XTreme is too heavy (estimated weight around 35-40kg) for the vehicle because "they don't make 'em (Defenders) like they used to." Its full length with a mesh floor.

I suggested that may be nonsense but don't think that went down too well. Haven't fitted it yet though.

Any thoughts either way?

1. They don't make 'em like they used to - but this applies to things like galvanised body capping, and as far as I can tell nothing has changed to reduce body strength.

2. It has never been a good idea to carry a lot of weight on the roof of Landrovers or any other vehicle, and the roof structure of Landrovers is not particularly strong. I am reminded that years ago I saw a Ford Cortina stopped in Punt Road in Melbourne - his roof rack, carrying five bags of cement had just collapsed, and his roof was now about six inches lower......
This sort of collapse is unlikely on a Landrover with a properly built roof rack, but cracking of the perimeter frame and other body parts are possible. Then, of course, there are the handling problems of high up weight.

John

If this helps I weighed a East Coast Bull bar full length alloy rack for the defender. It was 30kg. They told me it was 16kg... but there you go.

I weighed a mates steel disco rack and it was 33kg.

Neither of those is enough difference to warrant trowing out a good rack

Back in the 70s and 80s 109 inch Land Rovers were used for running overland through Asia to London this and the setups used in vehicles running from Joburg to London a lot was learnt about what you could and couldnt do.
It was learnt that the manufacturers recommendations needed to be ignored but you had to expect some damage to the vehicle as a result. A good roof rack nearly uses up all of the 75 kg recommended by Land Rover so overloading is inevitable. Due to the extreme distances needed to be travelled most of these vehicles carried 9 20 litre steel jerry cans across the back of the roof rack then was then loaded with lightish stuff and away you went usually over conditions that you wouldnt believe and usually much slower than people do nowdays. With the series 3 the windscreen frame would crack in the corners and as a result needed to be strengthened. In the UK it is common to find shops claiming to be experts on Overland Journeys selling racks that extend over the bonnet this is insanity causing issues with the front diff housings and making the vehicles nearly impossible to drive in sand dunes as you couldnt see where you were going when you are going down steep dunes.
So is your 40 kg roof rack too heavy? Probably not but it would be stupidity to heavily load a roof rack on a coil sprung 4x4 and drive it normally.
I dont know if anyone has subjected the later Land Rovers to such extremes of abuse I would say yes but probably not in Australia.
Although I thought the Red Cross in Africa were in the process of getting rid of thier Land Cruisers and taking up defenders because they were lasting up to 3 times longer, not sure what this means maybe Toyotas are getting really bad.

9x20 litre steel Jerries! And concentrated on one part of the roof!

Thanks. That helps. I anticipate only light loads on it at this point (e.g. fishing gear, light camping gear) so I guess that shouldn't be too much of a problem if I don't drive like Schumacher.

Cheers

Gascoigne

Originally Posted by Gascoigne

Thanks. That helps. I anticipate only light loads on it at this point (e.g. fishing gear, light camping gear) so I guess that shouldn't be too much of a problem if I don't drive like Schumacher.

Cheers

Gascoigne

And block the track to stop everyone else ???

I reckon you can safely load a Defender roof to 100kg if you have a properly built rack. Roof racks have come a long way since the early days. A good rack should have it's legs connected together with a solid beam to spread the load across the roof gutter. Example below:





Leg spacing is also important. I recently fitted a Hannibal rack to a GU Patrol, the legs were spaced to line up with the A, B and C pillar. This design is not always possible but these are the considerations that make up a good rack.

There is a whole industry built around roof racks and roof tents. Your average rack and tent is already over the load limit as per the Land Rover manual, those figures are conservative at best. You still see a great number of overland Defenders that carry 4 + jerries and a roof tent. That is bordering 200kg. If this was a huge issue we would know about it .. especially because Land Rovers (Series/Defender) seem to last forever and we as LR owners discuss any issue with our vehicles .. unlike our Jap driving firends.

Moral of the story .. get a good rack and load her up .. when she starts to handle like a drunk camel .. then you've probably reached the limit

P.S: Yes, I am affiliated with Hannibal Safari Equipment .. because their racks are so far ahead of anything else on the market.