Nice Rack! Or not? What's the diff? Please advise.

[apocalypsegrrrl]

I'm new and clueless, so please help with my education. I need a basket style roof rack for my HJ60. What's the difference between the standard Yakama or Thule racks and the more expensive Wilderness, etc. racks that look basically the same to me? I need it for sticking the christmas tree up there, maybe, but this is probably wishful thinking, a mule deer, and general taking the family to the hills stuff.

I appreciate your input.

 

[Brindleboxer]

Apocalyp,

Basically it comes down to durability and weight rating. The Thule and Yakima racks are for light general use --- you could use these for a Xmas tree but unless you bag Bambi (< 40 lbs.) neither of these racks will last long.

The advantage is that these racks are light and can be installed and removed quite easily. Also both companies offer options to convert them to your needs.

As for the heavy duty racks, they are built to last and they will hold just about anything that you can load onto the roof --- IMO the weakest link in this setup is the roof mounts.

Drawback is the exact opposite of the lighter duty racks but most of the companies offer attahcements to put most of your off-road neccessities up top and out of the cabin.

Glen

 

[sirenmoses]

[what he said: must be quicker at the keyboard than I]

Yak/Thule usually require assembly out of the box, along w/bars & towers to mount to the raingutter.

From what I've seen the Wilderness etc are often welded together using stronger/heavier materials, and have integrated mounts to attach to vehicle.

That said, I've used a Thule basket on Yakima bars for a few seasons of xmas tree/car camping haulage, and it works quite well. I rarely need to stand on the rack and anything that goes up there has to be lifted over my head by myself, so the really heavy stuff stays inside the cruiser anyway, or on a rear hitch rack. I've carried hundreds of pounds up top once I got it up there, but who wants Bambi leaking all over the cruiser???

HTH

 

[nastav]

Rack Ideas.

I have a Yakima Megawarrior on top of &quot;free&quot; Thule crossbars. I think the light weight, price, and ease of removability and storage are what sold me. I surf, so it is easy to put the crossbar pads on and go. I used to have a full-length Con-Ferr rack, it was nice but heavy, and once it was on there, it was on there. I will say an ARB or INTI or similar will look really cool, and if you can use it, that is great. I bought my MegaWarrior (larger than loadwarrior) used on Craigslist for $150.00, I had the crossbars (**** Thule......If you have a choice, get Yakima) and for $90 I will get the extension to bring it close to full-length. Add another (third) set of Craigslist crossbars, and I'm in for Less than $300.00. (note&quot; take off cheezy little plastic wind deflector and it will look way better) If I were buying all this stuff new, the price would be close enough to a serious rack to make the choice harder. My set up seems stong enough for how I will use it, and I also have to wrangle it around solo, so the weight make a difference to me. I think that either way you go, you'll be happy, shop around and see what pops up used on here and CL.

 

[e9999]

for heavy duty (big loads over rough roads, people up there etc) I would much prefer a mounting system with a full length rail that fits in the gutter, a la Tradesman. Much better than discrete feet IMHO...