Maximum load on roof rack

[Aldo]

Good evening all

I'm considering a roof rack for my car. One thing bothering me is the maximum allowable load on the roof rack. Frontrunner and Big Country (and I'm sure many others) test their racks to loads as high as 1000 kg, so the rack itself is not an issue. The problem is that cars (as far as I can tell) are rated for only 100kg.

100kg is basically nothing. The rack itself will be around 20kg. If you then add 4 jerry cans including the brackets, you will be over 100kg total weight. Im sure the cars are capable of carrying 200kg to 300kg rather easily , but since they are rated for 100kg, isnt this technically overloading? I'm worried about what the insurance will say if something were to happen.

Does anyone have experience with this?

I'll ask Tuffstuff as well.

Thanks

[mvcoller]

According to a local motor vehicle website I consulted some time ago, the Patrol bakkie has a roof carring capacity (dynamic limit) of 60 kg and the wagon has a limit of 200 kg. Some other sources give the wagon's limit at 150 kg (dynamic limit).

Those limits are for on a moving vehicle. If you have a RTT, with two people sleeping in the RTT, the roof will be strong enough. I would guess that the static limit is possibly 2.5 times that.

That would be 150 kg for the bakkie and 500kg for the wagon.

Personally, I did a 14 day trip to Namibia with my GQ 4.2 Patrol with more than 200kg on the roof, this included the "Faces of the Namib" tour for 5 days with 80lt of water, 60lt of fuel, several bags of wood and a rooftop tent on the roof without any hint of problems.

[Alex Roux]

I had 6 jerries, one 55 liter tank, an RTT, and three ammo boxes on my GQ (Skilpad) on our 2018 Bots trip.
It must have been at least 350kg. I also did a “slalom” with this load on top when a tire burst. Did not roll, and roof is fine.

AFAIK the GU pillars are stronger than te GQ. Just make sure te roofrack pillars are set in line with the car’s pilllars.

[Tinus lotz]

Aldo ....ek worry net oor die kar nie oor die dak nielq
Nee ou sort die roofrack op die pillars en laai hom hou net matigheid voor oë

[Jorrie]

300 kg No Problem provided your roof rack is up to it.

[graham1]

Those factory stated weights are for safety. It’s referring to the weight causing instability in cornering etc, so they’re really conservative to save their own asses.
pack what you need and just adjust your driving style, ie, no sharp, fast cornering.
I’ve had 6 jerries, roof tent, gas bottle and chairs on my roof on trips. No problem.

[Spike]

I reckon you can pretty much load anything on there provided you adjust your driving. This photo was a ton of weight on a heavy steel cantilever rack on a flimsy fibreglass canopy during a training exercise and no harm done

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[Aldo]

Thanks guys

Yes, agreed that the vehicles would handle much more than the stated masses.

I was concerned about possible insurance implications.

I’ll provide feedback when get info from my insurance

[Peter Connan]

As was said in the thread about general overloading, the insurance company is highly unlikely to find out, and even less likely to be able to prove it one way or another, as they don't send assessors to the scene of the accident.

So by the time they inspect the wreck, you would typically have removed most of the removable assets, if only to stop people from stealing them.

Having said that, the less weight there is up top, the more pleasant your car is to drive, so it's a good idea to keep the load as light as you can anyway.

[Aldo]

Thanks Peter

Yes. I think jerry cans in the car is a safety issue. So it will mainly be the jerries on the roof.

Ill obviously fill up the jerries as late as possible on the trip