Roof rack better in the gutter or on the grab rails?

[Kruegerruda]

Most suppliers attach the roof rack to the gutter. Thomas from the company Blacksheep Innovation has explained to us that the gutter is not intended for this. He has a design with attachment to the handles. The handles have been designed by Ineos for this.

What is your opinion?

 

[grenadierboy]

Most suppliers attach the roof rack to the gutter. Thomas from the company Blacksheep Innovation has explained to us that the gutter is not intended for this. He has a design with attachment to the handles. The handles have been designed by Ineos for this.

What is your opinion?

I haven't read anything from INEOS that specifically says the grab handles can be used to support loads but that's not to ay they can't.

I have only read comments from INEOS that the handles are for grabbing a hold of and attaching side lights or similar items.

I wonder if anyone has asked INEOS to formally confirm the ability of the 4 grab handles to support a roof rack & weight??

 

[Davman]

The rack that Ineos are selling uses the gutter - that says it all doesn’t it?

 

[Tazzieman]

The grab rails will be certified for certain stresses.
I'd only trust what Ineos officially say at this stage.

 

[grenadierboy]

The grab rails will be certified for certain stresses.
I'd only trust what Ineos officially say at this stage.

Agree -and I wonder if Thomas from Blacksheep has already asked INEOS and got confirmation the handles can be used for supporting a roof rack.

 

[DCPU]

The rack that Ineos are selling uses the gutter - that says it all doesn’t it?

I think that only tells us that Ineos potentially ran out of time/resources to fully develop such bespoke systems.

Just the same with gullwing panels, inverters, built in compressors, etc...

 

[Tazzieman]

But it's perfect that BS will beta test it to the max.
RTT and a coupla loved up fatties should be essy to procure.

 

[Ovrland Bill]

This style of roof rack from Black Sheep appears to largely rest the load on the roof itself, via the lengthwise strips that Ineos designed in for such a purpose. It is also nice to see the not-so-transparent ‘alpine grab-handles’ being put to use!

 

[DCPU]

This style of roof rack from Black Sheep appears to largely rest the load on the roof itself, via the lengthwise strips that Ineos designed in for such a purpose.

You need to look closely at these strips ~ I would not trust them to hold a rated load and if they did, the movement in them would play havoc with the paint finish on the roof.

 

[Ovrland Bill]

You need to look closely at these strips ~ I would not trust them to hold a rated load and if they did, the movement in them would play havoc with the paint finish on the roof.

I hope that ratings from Ineos do mean something, but I must confess to have only briefly examined the roof rails at Grenadier events the U.S.

 

[anand]

I would much rather trust the gutters, if only for the reasons that Ineos has openly said they are structural, have a capacity rating (higher than the grab bars), and also distribute the load across a much larger area (even the 3/4 rack gutter mounts sit further forward than the grab bars).

Additionally the purpose of a rack is to take the load off the center (weaker/less supported) portion of the roof.

The gutters are definitely strong and hold up to impacts from trail side objects quite well.

 

[Xrford]

The grab handles are bolted to the strongest part of the roof sub structure. The roof itself has 5 cross members supporting it. The gutters are two pieces of thin gauge metal lapped together. You do not need to be an ineos engineer to determine what method is strongest. see pic below of the assembly of the roof and it will become apparent

 

[Sillius Soddus]

see pic below of the assembly of the roof and it will become apparent

Not really. Those crossmembers appear to be designed to resist deformation of the cabin in case of rollover. I cannot infer from that image how the grab bars are attached to the overall structure or how vertical spike loads are transferred into the chassis. Looking at the rhino rack mount it appears that the attachment points are placed either directly at, or close to vertical structural members, all but eliminating bending moments unless you load everything over the back or front set of mounts. I’d be quite alarmed If Ineos’s design brief to Rhino Rack did not specify what type of mounting system to use and what the maximum allowable loads are.

 

[Tom109]

The grab handles are bolted to the strongest part of the roof sub structure. The roof itself has 5 cross members supporting it. The gutters are two pieces of thin gauge metal lapped together. You do not need to be an ineos engineer to determine what method is strongest. see pic below of the assembly of the roof and it will become apparent

And held on with what, six M6 bolts per tie-down bar?

After decades loading Land Rover roof racks, I can see this is a modern internet armchair issue.

 

[Xrford]

And held on with what, six M6 bolts per tie-down bar?

After decades loading Land Rover roof racks, I can see this is a modern internet armchair issue.

load capacity of the bolts should not be an issue

 

[Telliottaus]

Having taken one of the grab bars off to route my uhf radio antenna, they are mounted on strong metal, the concern would be the plastic mouldings that hold the aluminium pipe.

 

[Ovrland Bill]

Having taken one of the grab bars off to route my uhf radio antenna, they are mounted on strong metal, the concern would be the plastic mouldings that hold the aluminium pipe.

Could you also post, on one of the radio sections here, details of mounting the UHF antenna and routing its coaxial cable? Thanks in Advance, Bill

 

[DCPU]

Having taken one of the grab bars off to route my uhf radio antenna, they are mounted on strong metal, the concern would be the plastic mouldings that hold the aluminium pipe.

Tell me you took photos...

 

[KDJDGrenadier]

Having taken one of the grab bars off to route my uhf radio antenna, they are mounted on strong metal, the concern would be the plastic mouldings that hold the aluminium pipe.

Was it easy to route the uhf cable? Also, where did you mount the transceiver? Thanks Telliottaus, i was thinking the same thing, routing the antennae up near the grab bars. It would be great if someone made a bracket that could connect to the grab bar for the Antennae mount

 

[Christoph]

So, I had discussed this in another thread (https://www.theineosforum.com/threads/hard-shell-rooftop-tent.12411517/post-1333193363) and am not convinced that a standard gutter fixture will do good to the gutter, if mounted to the outside, and that is because the gutter is more than 30mm wide, compared to some 5 mm on a classic Defender.

I did now, for my roof tent, move the fixtures to the inner side to reduce the lever and thus the pressure on the gutters and hope this will work fine. Makes a good impression so far.

I achieved this by adding some tailor made PVC blocks in, here's a photo: