Roof rack ON and OFFroad rating

[Jay]

I just watched a video on youtube of someone most of you surely know, ronny dhal
I learned there was a difference between ONroad and OFFroad capacity of my roof rack system...., I knew I was ok static and dynamic because they are clearly indicated but I never read ANYTHING about how the OFFroad rating is the actual rating,minus the weight of the rack itself divided by 1.5.

This leaves my JL backbone system a mear 148lbs of the original advertised 220lbs dynamics(rolling) weight! My tent alone is 180lbs!

Ronny was right in his video that this maybe something that should be advertise more clearly....

Maybe I didn’t look hard enough or was just thinking how all the overlanders were doing it so no biggie right?

My fault? Absolutely. Its our responsibility to be safe, both for us and those around us but now I cant help to think my rack is grossly overweight and could be dangerous and thats with only my tent and roadshower
(Yes yes im a diva I like taking hot showers everyday when im overlanding)

Should I/can I remove everything off the roof except the tent or maybe there is a way to strengthen it....idk

Just wanted to post this here in hopes others will find it useful when looking to outfit themselves with a rack system.

(Edit, no emojis lol)

 

[Boostpowered]

Funny I watched that early this morning.

There are ways to strengthen a rack they just aren't cheap depending on how you want to skin that cat.

Is a rack really worth it if you can pick only 1 item to put up there safely?

I thought about one for my truck but then remembered I have a truck and likely the only thing I'd put up there would be offroad lights, I've done the roof light bar thing before and didn't like it.

Something I wished he'd talked about when he was talking weight was how you change your center of gravity by loading up the rack and even if it says the rack can handle the load, it don't mean your vehicle can in all road and off road conditions. Lifted vehicles with weight up top tend to roll faster.

 

[Hogan]

I wish they would define what type of off-road conditions or driving they are basing the off-road rating on because I think that would be helpful so folks can make informed decisions using some common sense. Bombing down washboard roads and hitting ruts hard isn't the same as meandering up/down mountains at low speed without constant jarring or sharp impacts. Without knowing what they consider to be "off-road" it's difficult to properly interpret the off-road load rating and apply it to our individual use.

Put another way, the potholes on our less-well-maintained interstates and the wind resistance driving along at 70-75MPH, not including any head or crosswinds, as well as the weight/force put on the rack and components while in the RTT sure FEEL like they put more stress on things than the way I drive off-road.

That was a good video and brings up things that a lot of people likely don't consider but on the flip side there is still a lot of missing information that makes it impossible to come to a solid conclusion about whether or not anyone is exceeding any ratings.

 

[Jay]

Moral is don’t buy shit products from shit companies

Who said the product was shit? My roofrack has been loaded 24/7 for a year and no failures, only new light was shed as to what they rate it for “offroad” use.
Did you have a bad experience with thule or the rhinorack line ups?

 

[Jay]

Moral is don’t buy shit products from shit companies

Who said the product was shit? My roofrack has been loaded 24/7 for a year and no failures, only new light was shed as to what they rate it for “offroad” use.
Did you have a bad experience with thule or the rhinorack line ups?

Nope. But the on-road / off-road rating is pretty disingenuous legal speak on part of company. I had a Garvin roof rack that I beat the literal shit out of for 10 years and not once did I feel it was anything but solid. Loaded or overloaded, on-road or off-road 100% solid. Could probably have lifted the whole Jeep by it.

I just looked those up, they seem sturdy and it seems they do make them for the JL.

I can see how they would be stronger as they bolt on to the bumper points and where the front cowel covers are instead.

It would be an expensive replacement at this point. Ive been looking into building and adventure trailer allllll day instead lol...

 

[LostWoods]

Nope. But the on-road / off-road rating is pretty disingenuous legal speak on part of company. I had a Garvin roof rack that I beat the literal shit out of for 10 years and not once did I feel it was anything but solid. Loaded or overloaded, on-road or off-road 100% solid. Could probably have lifted the whole Jeep by it.

It's not the rack that's the weak point, it's the roof itself that's only rated to 65kg. The drip rails on the Hilux aren't designed for the weight. edit: speaking towards the video... the JL limitations are because the mounting design as it mounts through the roof.

And if you get a rack with only one rating, it's the on-road rating and the off-road rating will be much less. Getting both ratings out of a company is a sign of diligence, not being disingenuous.

 

[Hogan]

Nope. But the on-road / off-road rating is pretty disingenuous legal speak on part of company. I had a Garvin roof rack that I beat the literal shit out of for 10 years and not once did I feel it was anything but solid. Loaded or overloaded, on-road or off-road 100% solid. Could probably have lifted the whole Jeep by it.

Apples and oranges comparison there, a Garvin like that is nothing like a roof rack that mounts to rails or the actual roof.

For the Rhino Rack, they are an Australian company and their products have to meet Australian safety standards. If you think it's the company making crap products because the off-road rating is lower than the on-road rating then you should familiarize yourself with their standard AS1235-2000 as well as ISO 11154:2006 which are international standards for roof racks.

The punchline is that, legally, I don't think you'll find a rack that won't have a lower off-road rating vs on-road. The difficulty is finding what those limits actually are.

 

[sc0re]

Do they have standardized track widths for heavy things like rtt’s? I use a 3 bar system rather than 2....takes a little more height adjustment between the three but seems more stable, less shaking.