horrocks007

I have a 4 door jeep, RTT and a gobi rack. Had this for a few years now, love it, but have come to the realization that there is not enough room with kids in the jeep for long excursions.

I am building an M416 trailer up with a rack for camping. For the price of a gobi rack you can easily buy a decent trailer and they sell simple bolt on racks for them. This way you can carry all the gear you want and not get bogged down. You can also park the trailer and go exploring in the jeep and not be bogged down with that thing on your roof.

If you plan on running an annex with the tent, there is extra gear that you have to bring for that, add a cooler, cooking equipment and your clothes, now your loaded inside making the jeep feel cramped.

A loaded M416 is still under 2000# so you can tow that fine with a 2 door.

Just something else to consider anyway. Had my Gobi Rack for 8 years now.

Liz P

Do you trust one tiny screw to keep you safe? In the case of Rhino Rack cutting hardware and design corners, it could’ve killed me or someone else on the road. To earn the name Rhino Rack you should have a tough rack and strong hardware, not cheap plastic and baby screws.
I purchased a Rhino Roof Rack Backbone Base Rack System ($850+ and installation fee $400). After, I had a Roofnest Falcon tent mounted (140lbs, far below the 220lbs every Rhino Rack description states the rack can handle).
I was only driving 15-20 mph on a gravel road the second day of my trip when the rack broke and my tent went over my windshield. Rhino rack cut corners: only 1 tiny screw with minimal threading and no locking mechanism holds each crossbar base. One of those screws popped out and catapulted my tent over the front of my Jeep. I was left stranded in the desert with no signal. Five men had to spend the day helping with repairs.
I’ve tried working with Rhino Rack for over a month and suddenly they say this rack can only handle 138lbs while moving, the two extra pounds of my tent (140 lbs) was too much for it, despite every distributer’s description of this rack (Backcountry, Autoanything, even their own Rhino site) lists the racks can handle 220lbs. And I was also told by Rhino Rack’s customer service that I shouldn’t have driven it off road, even though I was going 15-20mph and every description they have on many sites say this rack is for “four-wheel driving” and is a “desert- assault rack” and that their racks are great for rooftop tents. Apparently Rhino Rack expects us to camp on pavement, maybe just pop your tent up in your driveway because it’s not safe to drive with a Rhino Rack.
The moral of this story: your life, your family’s lives, and other people’s lives deserve better than cheap material. There are better options than Rhino Rack, and a lot more companies are more deserving of your business.

LHalyk

Cool setup! Lift / tires size? Are you worried about having a higher centre of gravity?