Do you REALLY know the rating for your roof rack?

[sgtsandman]

 

[wildbill23c]

I know the rating of mine is 0 pounds because I don't have one, and don't care to. Bronco 2 is top heavy enough without putting any crap on top of the roof LOL. Plus mine don't have the luggage rack bars on it in the first place.

 

[sgtsandman]

 

[sgtsandman]

 

[dvdswan]

A roof rack that is pop rivetted to the roof of vehicle. Let's think about this for a minute. Pop rivet, come in various sizes, aluminum or steel. Roof steel IDK, 14 gauge maybe less. Cross winds and driving winds say 60 mph. I'm not an engineer or claim to have any knowledge of engineering, but saying the rack has 4 points of contact (one at each corner of the roof) and 2 rivets in each contact. I cannot image this would be any type of good contact with winds coming at the rack and trying to lift it off the roof. I would be more inclined to use 1/4-20 bolts, rather than rivets, with a plate on the inside of the roof.

Sorry just thinking about pros and cons.

 

[Dirtman]

The sheetmetal on most truck roofs is probably 18 guage at best. If the rack isn't bolting into the drip rail/upper door frame area I wouldn't trust it to hold a can of soup.

I had a kayak roof rack on my little 2003 2 door cavalier. Yes it was very hilarious. But it held my 14 foot kayak sideways (roughly 80 pounds and actually bigger than the car). Now 80 pounds is not much but it held it sideways, so it was a massive sail on my roof. Do the math on how much pressure that withstood doing 70 down the highway especially with a cross wind. It clamped (no bolts) around the door frame and never budged an inch. On long trips I put on the front and rear straps that went to the actual car, but the main straps only wrapped around the cradles on the rack...

Man I looked so less gross and creepy 15 years ago...

 

[dvdswan]

Dale would be proud of your Cavalier.

 

[Dirtman]

Dale would be proud of your Cavalier.

I've cried 3 times as an adult. When my grandmother died, when my 67 c-10 longbed stepside burnt to the ground, and when Dale Earnhardt died.

 

[dvdswan]

I was lucky enough to watch him at Daytona on Chevrolet's dime. Great trip.

 

[MikeG]

The sheetmetal on most truck roofs is probably 18 guage at best. If the rack isn't bolting into the drip rail/upper door frame area I wouldn't trust it to hold a can of soup.

I had a kayak roof rack on my little 2003 2 door cavalier. Yes it was very hilarious. But it held my 14 foot kayak sideways (roughly 80 pounds and actually bigger than the car). Now 80 pounds is not much but it held it sideways, so it was a massive sail on my roof. Do the math on how much pressure that withstood doing 70 down the highway especially with a cross wind. It clamped (no bolts) around the door frame and never budged an inch. On long trips I put on the front and rear straps that went to the actual car, but the main straps only wrapped around the cradles on the rack...

Man I looked so less gross and creepy 15 years ago...

View attachment 57057

Once you got the kayak in the water, could you haul the car with it???

 

[duffy]

My stock (1989 B2) rack "had" a sticker on it that said "maximum weight allowed 100 lbs. Now if I installed an aluminum safari rack that weighs 60 lbs I would be capable of carrying a whopping 40 lbs of cargo in it. Worth the cost/effort? I don't think so.

 

[dvdswan]

A lot of vehicles have that rating of 100-150 lbs. Just enough for the aunt on "Vacation".

 

[wildbill23c]

Putting anything on the roof just makes your center of gravity that much higher, and there isn't much up there to attach anything to that would support much weight at all. I think a trailer would be a much safer and better idea LOL.

 

[Dirtman]

Once you got the kayak in the water, could you haul the car with it???

 

[dvdswan]

^^^ asking for a friend?