Truck YeahThe trucks are good!Now that overlanding is firmly established as a popular car-look for 2019, I sure see a lot of trucks and SUVs lugging roof racks full of militaristic plastic boxes around the city. If that sounds like you, consider taking it easy on the top-heaviness.
This Land Cruiser’s rack might have been attached with cheap bolts, a bad idea to begin with if you’re going to challenge the drop-in at Gunshot Creek, but man, there is just so much crap being cradled above this truck’s ceiling it makes me shudder.
Most vehicles’ stock roof racks are only rated to carry 150 pounds or so, and not all the time. An aftermarket rack can up-rate that spec, but it doesn’t change the fact that your car itself was not designed to carry hundreds of pounds of anything above its roofline.
Not only does the raised center of gravity worsen the vehicle’s handling and aerodynamics; it’s also putting strain where your truck’s engineers never counted on strain happening. That can lead to all kinds of twists and breakage you don’t want to mess with.
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I won’t say you shouldn’t run a roof rack, but this video making the rounds online seemed like as good an excuse as any to remind everyone to be wary of how you hat your vehicle, whether you’re going on safari or just making a weekend ski run.
Hat tip to William!
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