Advice for loading roofrack?

Wanger,

As I reply to your question I feel I must state at the outset that I hate roof racks. I understand why people use them but I won't. I have had two near misses directly attributable to the excess weight on the roof. I have used them extensively in the past and so i write with some experience to back me up.

I'll start wiht the last part of the ? Open the luggage space of the car and climb in. Now move from side to side as violently as you can and note how the car moves on the suspension. Now climb on the roof rack and do the same. Feel the difference. Now try to imagine driving through your favourite corners with you on the roof. This will give you some idea how the load will affect driving.

Now for loading. Buy a good quality poly tarp that will completely wrap your load. Lay this in the tray of the roofrack and load you gear into it. Fold in the back tehn teh sides and finally pull the front over the top and tuck inany loose corners. Hold it in place with one of those elastic nets and then tie it down with some good ropes or tie downs rated to carry the full load. Should keep everything clean and dry.

Finally, pray that it is not raining when you get to the camp site, cos if it is you are going to get a very wet tail.

Hope you have a great Easter
Duncs

Wanger,
I'm the same as Duncs, I'm not keen on roof racks the C of G rises quite significantly especially if you've also lifted the vehicle and have harder springs etc. I have a rack sack which for me when I've used the roof rack has worked very well, there has been posts saying they are a waste of time but if packed correctly my experiences have only been good ones. I only bought a half rack, if you buy a full rack you will fill it, the less I can fit up there the better. The rack sack is easy to work with dust proof and doesn't require loads of ropes etc. personally I think it's great and wouldn't use anything else.
140 kilos is a lot, especially if you will be doing a lot of rough road stuff your gutters will take a battering and it would be advisable to check the holding down bolts tightness regularly. Just cause the roof rack is good for 150 kilo you don't have to put a 150 kilo up there. Hope you have a good & safe trip at Easter with the gang.

Wanger,
That name is dangerously close to something else :-)
Don't forget if you want to stay legal (Insurance wise), check the load rating of your 4b's roof capacity, bet it's not 150kg's!
Glenn B.

I'll third the dislike for them, also the cost of them for what they are...

You could buy a good second hand offroad box trailer, that has many more uses - then again I dislike trailers too..

Sold my roofrack to someoene from here, they are like a parachute... Take it off when not needed, then you will see how often your $800 investment is actually used...

YMMV

Wanger
When packing the roof rack place all the heavist items in the vehicle,
Lighter Bulky stuff like swags Etc in the rack.
The lighter the rack is the better off you are!

Brian

Wanger,

The posters above are right about the rated capacity of the roof (as opposed to the rack). On the Prado for example, Toyota says max of 100kg roof load. This also includes the rack itself so I would be checking it out for ypur vehicle before whacking 140kg of stuff up there in addition to the rack!!

Best of Luck

Steven

Am pretty sure that the legal limit is 120 kg and that is inclusive of the roof rack !!!

Wanger,

I think its a bit dangerous to say you will drive carefully with it fully loaded. We had a di**head come down the pacific highway on our side of the road. Thankfully I swerved off the highway and missed him, but if I would have had more than a swag on the roof racks there would have been no way I could have kept the car upright.

My word of advise is pack your rack to be able to potentially handle the worst situations. I trust my self to drive carefully but not the other clowns that get their license.

Cheers,

Glenno.

I need to carry ladders for work so a roof rack is a necessary evil for me. I take the ladders off every weekend and the difference in handling, fuel consumption and noise is unbelievable. Having a ute storage is not a big issue for me but I wouldn't carry anything other than swags on the roof if space was tight. Even with swags the weight isn't a huge issue but the extra wind resistance is a problem.

Before you load the rack, check what weight you can put on the gutters. My GU has a 150kg capacity, the rack weighs 50kg therefore I can only carry a maximum of 100kg on the rack.

I just put some rhino sportz bars and a basket on my roof (the basket only goes on when we travel). It is fantastic, surprisingly quiet, didn't notice much difference in fuel eceonomy. I had two tents (1 big, 1 small) 2 air matresses, a bag of winter clothes (as we though we would not need them but just in case!) 3 foldup chairs and a tarp covering it all up. Hardly notice a difference on the sand with our beech/dune driving and other than a tiny amount of wind noise wouldn't have even known it was up there. But the amount of space in the back made life SO EASY. Making lunch without juggling chairs and bags around.
But on the other side we have one on our work van with 3 ladders and some PVC pipe, it's a full length aliminium jobby, it's noisey, it gussels juice and the friggin van changes lanes in the wind. I spose the etra weight of the 4by helps a bit, and keeping the load "shaped" so the wind blows over it instead of smacking into it makes a difference too.