Challenger roof racks
Submitted: Sunday, Aug 17, 2008 at 14:18
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Charlgrave
I have a 2001 Challenger without factory rails. We do a facir bit of travelling on unsealed roads. 2
places so far have recommended I have tracks permanently bolted to the roof to fix a roof rack system, if I intend to go off road, even on rutted tracks. Apart from not liking the idea of anyone putting holes in my car, I have see some old posts where people have had problems with this type of system (dents in the roof etc).
Is anyone able to recommend an alternative roof rack sytem?
Reply By: Louie the fly (SA) - Sunday, Aug 17, 2008 at 14:57
Sunday, Aug 17, 2008 at 14:57
I have one of those 1/2 length roof racks that is permanently attached to the roof of my Toyota 4Runner (was on there when we bought it). It only has 2 self tapping screws at each corner holding it on. Although we did a trip to Qld & back home (SA) without ANY problem, roof rack loaded with a canvas bag with bedding, I personally wouldn't fit one to a car. & I'm always checking the screws to make sure they are tight.
My Holden Cross8 wagon has factory fitted Euro-style roof rails. You can get cross bars for them so I suspect that Mitsi's had them as an option for the Challenger. A call to a Mitsi dealer P&A department is probably the go. Then you can put whatever on there. I was going to get one of those roof boxes but decided not to as we probably wouldn't use it much.
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Reply By: Ballfyboy - Sunday, Aug 17, 2008 at 21:54
Sunday, Aug 17, 2008 at 21:54
Charlygrave,
I have a challenger and I have fitted the Thula roof racks as they had the largest load capacity that I could find.
I am happy with them and have had no issues whilst driving (except when I reversed under the house with my mtb on top, thankfully knocked the whole lot off without damage to my car).
I have seen a quite a few challengers with the roof rails fitted but did not want to put holes in my roof. You could try a post on www.pajeroclub.com.au/home/publicforum/ under the challenger section.
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Follow Up By: Charlgrave - Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008 at 21:29
Wednesday, Aug 20, 2008 at 21:29
Thanks, I appreciate everyone's advice.
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Reply By: WanderGC - Sunday, Sep 07, 2008 at 21:36
Sunday, Sep 07, 2008 at 21:36
We have rola racks 80 KG bars to the fasctory mounts on the roof. We have a custom made steel rack that attaches to this and had it full for trips through western and eastern NSW without a problem.
Fitted these as they were apparently the only ones that did not sound like a hurrican on the roof when fitted. They have an rounder profile then the rhino tradie bars.
I didn't want to drill the roof either and check this all out and found that if you are going to load too much to crack the factory mounts then nothing is going to help that.
We carry one jerry, two small tents, sleeping bags and mats and a swag and a 4.5 kg gass bottle and a few extra things in a light wieght gal box and total weight is about 95-100kg for the total roof. This did a trip down the darling this year on some pretty rought roads and the only noise was from not having the screws from the bar legs to the roof mounting brackets tight enough. Its is plastic on a steel and sounded like something was hitting the roof when it was the most minute rub between then. Gave it a tweak and did 2500km for the trip with out incident.
Also had a similar load and hit a gutter on
the beach north of Noosa. Family went flighing but nothing moved on the racks.
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Follow Up By: Charlgrave - Monday, Sep 08, 2008 at 17:23
Monday, Sep 08, 2008 at 17:23
Thanks WanderGC. Don't tell Mitsubishi you have 100kg on a Challenger. One more thing. Did you fit these middle and front or middle and rear, or do you have 3 racks?
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Follow Up By: WanderGC - Monday, Sep 08, 2008 at 17:33
Monday, Sep 08, 2008 at 17:33
We put three bars front middle and rear. One of them (front or rear) has an extra spacer to get a level playing field.
We spoke with a number of mechanics and dealers about this setup and decided that based on the driving we were going to do it would be fine. 100kg would be the absolute max. This was across three bars and six attach points. Means each point (if the wight is distributed properly is only 16kg per point. Or 32 kg in each section.
I have heard of one guy who put six railway sleepers on his rack and then brock of the attach point and 'Bishi replaced it under warrantee (althoughI think the story they got would have been different).
The bars we have are a "ROLA HEAVY DUTY Removable Mount". They are aluminium and fit all the standard accessories for tradie bars.
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