Roof rack or roof bars

abloggs · Apr 16, 2014

Hi, Looking for advice. Have a maggiolina roof top tent and looking to mount it to my gwagon. I'm considering the frontrunner slim2 roof rack vs 4 roof bars. Hard to justify the cost of the full length rack when the tent takes up all the useable space!

Here are some examples

Roof bars

Full rack

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PNW/TRD Steve · Apr 16, 2014

In my opinion the only use for the rack (if you don't use it sans tent) is to raise you center of gravity even more. I would go for the bars (asuming they are lighter) and only use a rack without the tent.
Pleasant travels to you.

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Herbie · Apr 16, 2014

Also, double check w/ your Autohome dealer (Mike S?), but I thought that the preference was for 2 crossbars only, assuming the load rating works out. I seem to remember 3+ cross bars not being optimal because there's a chance you end up with a less-than-perfectly-flat surface (due to curving mounts or roof system, etc.) which can stress the autohome when everything is fastened. Two bars will always make a "flat" mounting surface.

abloggs · Apr 16, 2014

Cheers for info, was advised by frontrunner sales rep that maggiolina needed 3 bars. Unfortunately their roofbars come in packs of two.

Thinking of going with full rack but with some slats removed to save on weight but still have the option to mount a side awning or rear ladder.

Considering the RTT will only be attached for weekend trips, could be a real pain to have to remove rack each time.

Having a flat rack with ladder access could be mighty handy for loading windsurfing gear when not camping.

Tough decision!

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burquedoka · Apr 17, 2014

I run a full length Frontrunner with a Ezi Awn tent and a few pelican cases and a fox wing awning. I do this out of necessity due to the fact that I have two kids and the wife and all our crap, so no more room for junk inside. I hear the voiced opinions of avoiding higeher CG, it's physics after all and who can argue it, right? I can tell you, with lots of technical trail miles under my belt with this setup, don't be scared away from utilizing your roof rack on the G, within reason of course. The Frontrunner rack is a superior product and is easily the most versatile with all the ability in the world to mount what ever you want, how ever you want.

Now with your tent being the way it is, taking up majority of the space, I suppose it's really your call if you want a full rack or just load bars. Consider though that when the tent is not mounted, you have all that rack space for other duties (I have utilized mine a lot at our corner box store). You would also have a better base for mounting items like lights and awning ect with a full rack.

PNW/TRD Steve · Apr 17, 2014

Now knowing that you plan to mount the tent only as needed, I would agree that the full rack would be most useful.

DUTCH · Apr 18, 2014

Herbie said:
Also, double check w/ your Autohome dealer (Mike S?), but I thought that the preference was for 2 crossbars only, assuming the load rating works out. I seem to remember 3+ cross bars not being optimal because there's a chance you end up with a less-than-perfectly-flat surface (due to curving mounts or roof system, etc.) which can stress the autohome when everything is fastened. Two bars will always make a "flat" mounting surface.

You obviously don't know the G. It is perfectly flat from front to back - no curvature.

As an aside to the OP, the Rhino Rack bars, while extremely strong and stable, are too large to fit the Maggiolina mounting brackets; and you would have to jury rig your own from the hardware store. Rhino Rack bars NOT recommended. PS - That's my rig with three bars that you have pictured in your first post.

4D55 Performance · Apr 20, 2014

I have a Baja Rack and it has been very effective for carrying my RTT. I just returned from Easter Jeep Safari in Moab and I had no issues doing extreme rock crawling with the roof rack, 6 man RTT and 99" awning on top of the vehicle. The Gwagon took it all in stride. I was also able to achieve 15mpg for the trip which I feel is pretty good for a carrying that big tent on the roof and heavy beadlock wheels.

abloggs · Apr 20, 2014

Good to know about the rhino bars. It's either gonna be 3x thule bars or the front runner bars i think. Full rack is very tempting however just discovered i have only 12cm clearance at the lowest point in my basement carpark. Had already expected to leave the RTT at the folks house but removing the rack each time too won't be realistic. So next step is to take some proper measurements and see if the shorter rack feet will work out. Probably won't be able to store the camp table under the rack either

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otiswesty · Apr 20, 2014

My recommendation would be 4 Quik-N-Easy bars. The feet are comletely vertical. Many Thule and Yakima mounts have ended up dimpling the roof of a Gwagen. For a full length tent, one at the front, one at B pillar, one at C pillar and a rear bar as well would be ideal. This will cost much less that a platform rack and give you a robust mounting for the tent. Steve Smith has a similar set up using the QuikNEasy with some improvised crossbars that carry his full length tent. Looks and works great.
A reference:
http://www.clubgwagen.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=584&hilit=Quik

Magnus · Apr 20, 2014

I have a Maggiolina Grand Tour mounted on two Frontrunner roof bars. I had the choice of getting the special brackets for the wider Frontrunner bars from either Autohome or Frontrunner, they both sell them in pair. I figure two bars is enough.

Vegard_S · May 1, 2014

Custom made aluminium roof rack for LWB Geländewagen

Hello,

I allso have a Maggiolina rooftop tent om my Geländewagen (Maggiolina Extreme medium). Untill recent i used 4 medium height roofbars from Thule, but I didn't like the fact that they made the tent sitt so high up above the roof on the car. Therefor I wanted a more compact sollution as well as a more elegant way of fixing the tent to the roof. After a lot of research on available sollutions I concluded that the best thing would be to design and construct a roof rack myself since none of the sollutions i found fullfiled my requirements at a reasonable price.

I am a mechanical engineer for living, so the he wiconstruction progress was quite straight forward. The rack is made out of 3mm thick aluminium 5052 plates, wich is great for construction and has a good corrosion resistance. It is designed to keep an load of up to 200kg on each cross bar without getting permanent deformation. It is allso designed to sit as low as possible on the roof so that the total height of the car is as low as possible. The design is made in such a way that no welding is needed, only drilling and assembling with bolts and aluminium rivets. In that way the construction can flex a bit more and is not so exposed to cracking as a welded construction would be.

After the design was finished and analysed in a digital stress analysis program I sent the drawings away for laser cutting and bending at a local workshop. The final assembeling with rivets and bolts i did myself. I have to say that I am quite satisfied with the end result, and if any of you are interested in fabricating your own rack I would be happy to send you the drawings.