| Author | Message | ||
     Tarek Khalil (Pharaohdisco) New Member Username: Pharaohdisco Post Number: 32 Registered: 12-2003 |
What is the maximum load which can be carried on a full length roof rack which will not harm the rain gutters on a D1. | ||
| Nadim Samara (Discodino) Member Username: Discodino Post Number: 237 Registered: 02-2003 |
NOt too scientific a way of telling, BUT, i did have a HEAVY ass roofrack (look at old photo´s in gallery) and TWELVE people on it watching the mountain rallye for 3 hours straight WITH 2 HUGE coolers of beer...granted, we got some weight savings with the girlies in bikini tops and us in shorts only ( I was 280lbs, so that was not a compensation) FWIW, the rails are a WEE bit bent! | ||
| Nathan Hindman (Nathanh) Member Username: Nathanh Post Number: 139 Registered: 07-2002 |
If it's static weight, like in Nadim's case, you can pretty easily put a bunch of weight on the top of your truck with out too much of a problem. However, if you're going to be driving around with the weight up top. I'd hesitate to have much more than 100-150 lbs of weight up there. On expedition, I sometimes carry 300+ lbs of stuff on the rack of my Disco, but it get's VERY tippy when you do that and I really wouldn't recommend it. Thanks, Nathan Hindman http://www.pangaea-expeditions.com | ||
| Nadim Samara (Discodino) Member Username: Discodino Post Number: 243 Registered: 02-2003 |
Yeah...THAT is the reason why the rack is now the porch of my garage  ... Dunno if someone can caluclate the weight, but it was made of 2.5cm (1") square tubing, 3mm thick, siye was 220cm x 150cm (size of my tent) and was straight with the rear roof hump...with 5mm 4 legs per side! now I took off the rera seats and al devising a hammock style sleeping area OFF the ground when I get my cage in so that we do not have to move hte heavy parts on the bottom! | ||
| gp (Garrett) Senior Member Username: Garrett Post Number: 2422 Registered: 10-2001 |
i have had up to 600+ pounds on my roof. not always a static load either. the number of supports or 'feet' on the gutters makes a difference for sure. spreading the load out along the gutters. | ||
| Jamie (Rover_puppy) Senior Member Username: Rover_puppy Post Number: 911 Registered: 05-2003 |
Tarek, I'm not sure about the D1, but if I remember correcty, specs for the D2 are 120# limit above the rain gutter. Roof rack alone uses much of that. Like Nathan said, it can get very tippy when there is alot of weight up there. I do everything I can to keep the bulk of the weight as low as possible. Heavy tools, recovery gear, and hydrating fluids travel low. I also try to keep the center of gravity as centered as possible. My highlift jack should arrive this week and I'm going to find some way to have it mounted on the front bumper since I've already got way more than enough weight in the tail. I just hope my tires don't pop from all the weight Jamie | ||
| Rob Davison (Nosivad_bor) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Nosivad_bor Post Number: 1620 Registered: 02-2003 |
jamie, keep the jack in the back, it's pretty ugly up front and the less wight you have on the front the better. better yet mount the jack to your Roof Rack. out front it effects steering and flex, this is why the spring rate is greater for the rear than the front. i'm not sure if you are joking but your idea of center of gravity might be a little bit off. Rob | ||
| Jamie (Rover_puppy) Senior Member Username: Rover_puppy Post Number: 912 Registered: 05-2003 |
Thanks Rob, I'm glad you posted that, I had no idea the weight up front effects the steering and flex. I wondered why everyone seems to carry their jack on the roof rack. I wasn't joking about the center of gravity. Weight and balance has been a problem for me since carrying a heavy load on the road is all new to me. This has been stretching my "comfort zone" to the max for sure. I wasn't doing so well until I shifted some of the weight forward when training with Bill. I appreciate your comments and I will definitely do some more research on both. I need all the help I can get - especially since I haven't even been up big hills yet. I was joking about the tires popping, but sometimes I do marvel that they support so much weight Thanks again, Jamie | ||
| R. B. Bailey (Rover50987) Senior Member Username: Rover50987 Post Number: 743 Registered: 07-2002 |
I think (emphasize think) the adventure rack was 40 or 50 lbs, I have put a HiLift, and probably 100 lbs more of stuff up there, and had my 200 lbs brother sitting on top with a 1.5 lbs video camera while crossing a river - no problem, (knock, knock, knock) but don't take those side angles - think of all that leverage!! | ||
| Big Ed (Sandman) New Member Username: Sandman Post Number: 9 Registered: 02-2004 |
LR specifies 75kg (165 pounds) for their rack system. That might help. | ||
| Tarek Khalil (Pharaohdisco) New Member Username: Pharaohdisco Post Number: 34 Registered: 12-2003 |
My roof rack weighs 50 kgs and I plan on loading one extra tire on the rack which should way approx. 40 kgs and two full 20 lit. jerry cans which weigh abt. 50 kgs, that's a total of 140 kgs (about 300 lbs) and still there is nothing else on the rack. The rack can ofcourse carry this load and much more but can the rain gutters carry them without damage. I also plan to carry a pelican case on the rack with some tools and spare parts which should weigh another 40 kgs, so in total I would like to carry 180 kgs on the rack (abt. 400 lbs). This weight is distributed on the 6 legs carrying the rack, so is this weight safe for the gutters. Thks. | ||
| Nadim Samara (Discodino) Senior Member Username: Discodino Post Number: 255 Registered: 02-2003 |
As mentioned before, the amount of "legs" is essential, the more the better, AND the fact that they meed the gutters at the pillars would help... Best of all, why not do with a full-on leg like the Hannible racks do? | ||
| Tarek Khalil (Pharaohdisco) New Member Username: Pharaohdisco Post Number: 35 Registered: 12-2003 |
My rack is a replica of the Hannibal rack done at a workshop here in Cairo with almost the exact dimensions as we already had one original Hannibal roof rack. The only difference is instead of having a full-on leg, I welded this metal strip connecting all three legs on each side about 2 cm above the rain gutter. | ||
| Jamie (Rover_puppy) Senior Member Username: Rover_puppy Post Number: 921 Registered: 05-2003 |
A funny thing happened yesterday. When I was out yesterday, someone left a business card under my passenger side windsheild wiper. I didn't notice it until I got back home. It is from a business in another state has the name of a metal roof installer on it from an architectural sheet metal mechanics company. I've never heard of such a thing. Whoever left it, wrote 2 local phone numbers on the front and a note on the back that says "Extreme Roofing " (with a smiley face). I have no clue why the card was put there and I'm curious. Any ideas? I've been wanting to rig up something on (or from) my roof rack to make it faster and easier to pull heavy loads up to it and bring them back down again. I've been really tempted to throw my synthetic winch line up and over my truck instead of fighting with my (self made) rinky dink cam strap pulley system. I wonder if a metal roof installer architectural sheet metal mechanic could figure something out? | ||
| Nadim Samara (Discodino) Senior Member Username: Discodino Post Number: 256 Registered: 02-2003 |
Call and let´s see... | ||
| Justin Kurosaki (Kurosaki) New Member Username: Kurosaki Post Number: 6 Registered: 02-2004 |
Jamie, I've seen a couple of H1 Hummer setups with loading winches for their racks. One guy loads up his dirt bikes (4 of them) on top of his rack. He welded a post that connects the back left corner of his bumper to the left corner of the rack. This hollow tube contains a smaller diameter tub that telescopes up and down. Welded to this tube is a cross bar with a pulley system mounted to end of it. This allows 360 degree rotation. I'm sure something like that could be adapted to a Disco. Hopefully my explaination makes sense. I can draw it out if need be. Now I just need a roof rack.... -justin | ||
| Shane Lesteberg (Snwbord24) New Member Username: Snwbord24 Post Number: 23 Registered: 01-2004 |
some simple math works wonders. Take the amount of weight + the rack weight and divide that number by the number of legs on your rack. That's how much weight is supported by each leg and is being transferred to the gutter at each leg. That's the weight you want to minimize, so yes more legs are better. | ||
| Rob Davison (Nosivad_bor) Dweb Lounge Member Username: Nosivad_bor Post Number: 1635 Registered: 02-2003 |
folks, this has bee n berat to death over the years. yes more legs are better, but you have scores of peole here that have loaded up the Land Rover Adventure Rack wit 300+ pounds and wheeled the hell out of it and the rails have no damamge. i've had over 400 pounds of wood and drywall stacked on mine and no issues. this issue is can the driver handle the load on the roof. i feel completely safe with the gutters. rd | ||
| Big Ed (Sandman) New Member Username: Sandman Post Number: 22 Registered: 02-2004 |
In order to take advantage of each leg's weight bearing strength, the load should be evenly distributed. If you load everything to the rear of the rack, then that defeats the purpose of having 6 legs. But you all knew that already so I'm shutting the pie hole now. SandMan | ||
| Nathan Hindman (Nathanh) Member Username: Nathanh Post Number: 145 Registered: 07-2002 |
I think that a better question that "how much can I put on my rack?" is "how much should I put on my rack?". Remember, just because you can do somthing, doesn't necessarily make it a good idea. In most instances, if you have over 300 lbs of stuff on your rack, you ought to rethink your packing situation. Either you're bringing too much crap, or your gear is packed very inenfficiently. Packed that heavily, your handling suffers, your mileage suffers, your rollover angle increases significantly. With a few exceptions, such as roof top tents, sand ladders, hi-lifts, you should be packing lightweight, bulky stuff on the rack like clothes, etc (in waterproof containers of course). Not gas, tools, spare parts, etc. Now, I know that I said above that I've run 300+ lbs on top of my rack, but its also usually with four people in the truck, a fridge, and a communal set of spares for client vehicles and enough food and water for said people for multiple days in the desert. Thanks, Nathan Hindman http://www.pangaea-expeditions.com | ||
| Nathan Hindman (Nathanh) Member Username: Nathanh Post Number: 146 Registered: 07-2002 |
Whoops, that should have read "In most instances, if you have over 150-200 lbs worth of stuff on your rack..." Thanks, Nathan | ||
| Tarek Khalil (Pharaohdisco) New Member Username: Pharaohdisco Post Number: 36 Registered: 12-2003 |
Thanks Rob, that is what I wanted to hear. | ||
| Jamie (Rover_puppy) Senior Member Username: Rover_puppy Post Number: 951 Registered: 05-2003 |
Rob, Can you explain how the steering and flex would be effected by carrying the jack out front? Are there certain conditions that this would be evident? Thanks in advance, Jamie |
