Anyone installed a Frontrunner Rack or pulled their headliner?

[NorthwestDriver]

Just keep in mind static and dynamic loads are different things. Having 400 lbs of tent and people on the roof of a parked car are different than 400 lbs on the roof while driving or off-roading. My air suspension works just fine. Doesn’t change the physics.

Everyone is free to strap all the junk they want onto their vehicles wherever they want, lord knows Toyota owners do enough of that.

 

[leftcoastal]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm looking at grabbing an FSR80 RTT that's around 180lbs. Not real worried about the static weight when stopped as much as I am about flex offroad. That being said this RTT is going to hog up the whole rack so there won't be much added weight.

Did a rough layout yesterday of the rail system. Followed Lucky 8's directions and it leaves me with a gap in the front and rear. One option is to redrill and mount the rails as far forward as possible another is leave it as is and cut the factory cap to splice in the gaps. How have you guys done it? The rail isn't long enough to cover the full gutter but the weatherstripping is. Thinking of gluing the weather stripping down the full length perhaps with some clear silicone.

Also in Lucky 8's directions they're showing the mounting bolt as different from a stainless M8. They use a longer bolt with a washer assembly placed on top of the rails. In my mind a shorter M8 with a washer inside the channel would be more flex resistant. Any thoughts?

 

[A.J.M]

The FR rack fits to the 8 factory roof slots if it’s the full length. There is a 3/4 length one

the only part you need to keep is the black strip from the windscreen to the B pillar.
Beyond that, remove and discard.

the FR hardware supplied is perfectly fine for the job.

 

[leftcoastal]

The FR rack fits to the 8 factory roof slots if it’s the full length. There is a 3/4 length one

the only part you need to keep is the black strip from the windscreen to the B pillar.
Beyond that, remove and discard.

the FR hardware supplied is perfectly fine for the job.

On my 2006 Range Rover there's only six factory mounting points. I ordered this direct from Front Runner as their l322 rack.

The FR hardware was some kind of universal kit that was too thin in diameter. I had to buy M8 stainless bolts.

 

[NorthwestDriver]

Here’s a thread from the Disco3.uk forum regarding roof loading and potential failure (albeit rare):

DISCO3.CO.UK - View topic - Roof Rail Failure on D3 SE

Community site dedicated to Discovery 3, 4 LR3 and LR4 Owners and Enthusiasts. Totally free to join - message boards, galleries, wiki, off road events, social meetings.

www.disco3.co.uk

It has great photos of the interior captured nut design and is telling for why LR publishes such a low load rating. While this rating is often exceeded to no detriment, there can be no disagreement that failures with modest loads can occur.

 

[A.J.M]

On my 2006 Range Rover there's only six factory mounting points. I ordered this direct from Front Runner as their l322 rack.

The FR hardware was some kind of universal kit that was too thin in diameter. I had to buy M8 stainless bolts.

apologies.

for some unknown reason i completely missed you saying it was an L322 and I thought it was an L319.

As truthfully, I never knew they did one for the L322.

 

[leftcoastal]

Here’s a thread from the Disco3.uk forum regarding roof loading and potential failure (albeit rare):

DISCO3.CO.UK - View topic - Roof Rail Failure on D3 SE

Community site dedicated to Discovery 3, 4 LR3 and LR4 Owners and Enthusiasts. Totally free to join - message boards, galleries, wiki, off road events, social meetings.

www.disco3.co.uk

It has great photos of the interior captured nut design and is telling for why LR publishes such a low load rating. While this rating is often exceeded to no detriment, there can be no disagreement that failures with modest loads can occur.

Good thread and worth investigating my RR HSE further. I'd like to know if the six points are in fact captive nuts just welded in. I may pull the headliner and just drill through and fabricate some plates. I did have the rear headliner down to remove the 10mm bolts on the sharkfin antenna,not sure why they didn't use the same design.

 

[Dogpilot]

I have the factory cross bars and the associated mounting rails. The factory bars put the RTT so high it interfered with low flying aircraft. It also puts the CG of the vehicle a bit on the high side as well. So I ended up machining six mounts and incorporating elements of Front Runner mounts to make a really low profile mounting system. I use the Thule bars for the RTT, just because it is much faster to mount that way. I fabbed up a hoist system in the hanger so I can pull everything off in 10 minutes. You can mount some of the tents directly to the Front Runner Slimline. This way, however, I can also store one RotoPax can under the tent mounts (out of the sun). The larger wind fairing is also one I made from ABS sheet, patterned after a Yakima fairing, just bigger. The lower one is the Front Runner one supplied with the rack. Doesn't make much noise at all. Now, I didn't want to make the rack too low, since I mount long stuff, like poles and equipment tripods on the underside of the rack.

Now I am supposed to get a new 2022 Defender 90X, but it seems to be stalled in the port since the 25th of January (I ordered the bloody thing in August). I may eventually get it. I ordered it with the Expedition Roof Rack. So my upcoming dilemma is, which one works better. I may end up doing a similar mounting fabrication, since the one Front Runner sells is rather BS and hugely expensive for what it is. Then again, the factory rack may work after all, if I ever get it.

 

[leftcoastal]

Ay thanks for posting pics! Didn't get notifications for some reason and only been refreshing opened tabs.

The rig looks good! Nice work on the fairing.

Jealous of your new Defender they look and sound amazing.

 

[Victory_Overland]

If there is still a need or desire to see or do the headliner removal, let me know or check out my build page as I’ve had the entire interior out of my LR3; other than time, it’s quite easy and I can walk you or anyone else through it.