I was thinking of adding a roof rack to carry surf skis and a kayak but looking at the sticker on the windows it seems to imply you cant carry anything with that much wind resistance on the roof (?) Also the local roof rack people in Adelaide hinted that the fixings on the GC are not that strong and you have to be careful what you put up there....
This has made me a bit nervous - whats the real story, are the roof rail fixings that the racks attach to decent and properly secured or not ?
The problem is where the rails attach to the roof is quite weak, so if you push down on the rails with any force you will see it deforms quite easily.
Some roof racks move or disperse the mounting point weight to the pinch weld where the roof is stronger. Gobi do a rack like this, and uneek are about to release theirs.
The problem is where the rails attach to the roof is quite weak, so if you push down on the rails with any force you will see it deforms quite easily.
Some roof racks move or disperse the mounting point weight to the pinch weld where the roof is stronger. Gobi do a rack like this, and uneek are about to release theirs.
It think you may like to take the roof bars off and have a look.
The roof is not weak and you will probably be surprised by what is under the rail.
How do I know?
Well the garage door apparently has a habit of closing itself and apparently did so one day on the roof of the GC whilst I was at work!!
Rola roof Bars were on at the time and are now retired (ended up replacing the foot pack on my previous set of thule bars). One roof rail rail was bent and the roof skin needed a little persuasion to pop back up. Other than that all fine. All four mounting bolts were bent, and one foot was broken. No broken paint and nothing other than cosmetic stuff to fix.
Suffice to say if the roof bars can be pretty much moved and bolts bent, rail bent and the garage door bent etc within minimal damage to the roof, they are not weak IMHO.
But it is still only rated to 68kg, that is weak. And the fact that I can cause the roof to deform with one hand on the rail, that is weak.
While a single impact of say ~50kg wasn't enough to damage it, sustained driving over bumps and through turns with 100kg of downforce likely is. Not in the first few minutes of driving, but over time you are likely to do damage.
Large boats, kayaks, etc aren't particularly heavy, but they are going to catch the wind on the highway, increasing the down force on the roof at speed. I was thinking of using kayak holders to put them on their side, so the impact of the wind is lessened, but for camping I will be close to 100kg static on the roof, and over rough tracks, the roof won't take that with the standard rails.
What I dont understand is why the mounting points aren't attached to the steel frame where there should be no flex and ample strength ??? This just seems stupid - what am I missing ?
The 150lb/68kg limit goes back to the WJ, I guess the engineers were given a number and they just built what would meet the spec. It is pretty ordinary. I'm ordering a uneek rack.
I'm using the rhino rack mounts and crossbars with a roof top tent and awning on top. So far no problems with it, with the tent on top and mounted to the bars gives also more stability, so the rails don't move anymore like in the video.
Granted, this is overkill, but I went ahead with new roof rails back when there were not yet towers that fit the JGC existing rails. The Rack Attack versions are much stronger and lower profile. I can't give you weight capacity, but they are a helluva lot more robust than the flimsy stockers.
I should add to that that I carried a 17' canoe on every one of them for distances in excess of 1000 miles and had no problem with any of them. The only problem I forsee with the JGC is that there is no flipper glass so it will be difficult to access stuff in the rear when the canoe is mounted.
So what's the latest on roof racks (bars) in Oz? I may be up for a pair to carry a small kayak for relatively short trips. I don't need anything aerodynamic necessarily because I won't be leaving them on when not actually carrying something. Second hand is good too. I just want something that is easy to fit on the JGC and won't fall apart after a couple of trips.
the reason the inside is visible is being bars designed for tradies and being able to mount tie downs and such inside the track and move them as needed . They also have the tie down points on each end which other proracks dont have .
Tried both bars but found the whispbar much quieter and suits the 68 carry capacity.
I dont trust anything with more carry capacity due to the dramas with the roof strength.
Lucky to only need them occasionally for light weight items.
Cheers
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