Hi all, i'm trying to find the best bang for my buck when it comes to a roof rack, I'm open to anything just dont fully understand how the load ratings are determined. ive been looking at the Rugged Ridge 11703.22 Sherpa Rack or the smittybilt SRC rack, and the load capacity is 300lbs and in the questions its answered by who i presume is the manufacturer, and that rating is static AND dynamic which doesn't make sense. All in all I am just trying to buy a roof rack to support a tent with two people. would either of these two be good?

also I've seen people use the "bolt on to drip rail" racks and hold these tents. How is that even safe/possible/sturdy enough...

Also, i would like to add, i do not care if your opinion is against Roof top tents I'm tired of people caring what I spend MY money on...

Thanks in advanced

 

Welcome to the forum. One of the manufacturers I recall as Rhino have a complete backbone support system that bolts inside the Jeep and the rack on the exterior bolts through to this. The reason is the roof is not designed to support the weight of a tent under driving off road stresses. It is not cheap but will do you well during offroad adventures.

 

Right, I understand the load of the roof, but these racks bolt to the bumper and the body by the a pillars, this is my confusion the load is not on the roof. but yes I have seen those backbone things and i cant justify spending 7-800 on a rack system then another 6-700 bucks on the backbone system, and then on top of that the cost of the tent. its just ridiculous. I'm not sure if they dont explain the load of these racks to just make more money on stuff "specifically designed" for the tent when the rack should be perfectly capable to hold the weight of a tent and two people.

 

I’m a bit of a metalcloak fanboy so naturally I would suggest this:

https://metalcloak.com/pro-jk-4-door.html

Its a bit spendy but has a high static and dynamic load rating, is universal to add cargo crates to the top if need be, and whatever else you want to add to it.

If I understand your question in your original post about static and dynamic ratings, static rating is the weight the rack can hold while parked (tent and two people), and the dynamic rating is the weight the rack can hold while the vehicle is in motion.

 

Ok sorry for the confusion, but you will be ok with the rack you propose other than you get a little wider which could be a disadvantage in huge rock walls or tight tree runs. You probably only need the two bars to mount the tent and you will be aok. The backbone system is way cheaper if you just go with the tent mount bars and not a carrier system on top as how many times you going on a long trip without the tent? There is a YT video by Trailrecon that talks about this and he has great knowledge with overlanding and some pretty good wheeling experiences.