Oops!!!

[Disco4Play]

Well I've been debating on whether to post my not so smart move or just forget about the whole ordeal. But after thinking about it for 2 weeks I guess I'll share with you my not so good moment.

As several of you are aware I installed a Voyager Roof Rack on my LR4. I kindly asked my neighbor for his assistance and we took the rack and ever so gently placed the rack on the roof of the truck. Not thinking anything of it we easily installed the rack with 8 spacers and bolts and I was on my way. Later the next morning while admiring my new rack my wife said "hey look there's a CRACK in your panoramic roof glass". My heart skipped a beat (I had read on this forum and other forums of folks breaking the roof glass by accident and I took note of that and was extra careful) and I looked and sure enough it was cracked.

My trucks been in the shop for two weeks waiting for glass from the UK. My bill is at $1500 bucks right now and I was told it could go higher. Please whatever you do be very careful as the glass is fragile. I know it's hard to understand why LR couldn't have made it a little tougher but that's the way it is. After looking at what I had done the roof glass has a slight upward curve on it. With the rack on top of the roof, just that limited amount of weight on the bowed part of the glass cracked it right in the middle as you can see by the pics I've uploaded. I hope this info helps anyone else in the future. Whatever you do don't put anything on the glass if you can avoid it.

 

[Finlayforprez]

Oh man, I am so sorry to hear this!

Sorry if I didn't catch on, but do you think that your weight on the rack pressed against the glass? I know when I had my Voyager rack, I had to be careful standing on the rack - especially when it was loaded - because the bars seemed to go down close to the glass. I currently have an Urban offroad rack with a lot of crap on the roof and haven't had any trouble. Still, this makes me very nervous!

 

[Disco4Play]

Absolutely no weight on glass. I only lifted the rack up with my neighbor and gently sat it down. I never got on the rack or put any weight or anything on it what so ever. Even with the rack on there's still at least a good 2 inches of clearance between the bars and the roof. That center bar on top of where the crack happened is what got the glass. There's always a weak spot on any glass and I think I found it. The rack doesn't weigh very much and I think that focused pressure on the curved portion of the glass popped it. I sure hope my truck is put back together perfectly as I'm a little on the OCD side! By the way it's going to be 20 degrees here tonight in Houston, I hope the sealant cured properly. Fingers Crossed that they left my truck in the shop and not outside.

 

[PaulLR3]

From my experience, the OE load bars can carry far more weight then they are rated for without any damage to the glass. In early December I went to buy a ping-pong table at ****'s Sporting Goods. They only had 3 left and I was told I had to take it home immediately if I bought it. So with the help of 2 ***** employees we put the 270 pound table on top of LR3 cross bars. Thankfully they held the weight just fine, but I sure did have my doubts that it was a good idea.

 

[mbw]

So, just to be clear, you set the rack on the glass without the mount spacers to start? and that cracked it? Or did you sit on the glass and that was it?

 

[Disco4Play]

We set the rack down on top first. And yes I didn't follow the directions which stated that I needed to preset the spacers on the roof and then set the rack on top. It's totally my fault, but I never thought that would have got me like it did. And I never attempted to get on top of the truck. There was never any weight distributed on the roof except for the rack itself.

 

[mbw]

We set the rack down on top first. And yes I didn't follow the directions which stated that I needed to preset the spacers on the roof and then set the rack on top. It's totally my fault, but I never thought that would have got me like it did.

Ok. Well, sorry to hear about it. I do want to say thank you for posting though because it may help someone else avoid the issue. It reminds us all that the glass is a bit more fragile than we would like. The voyager rack should protect the glass for the most part. Put some flooring up top and its pretty safe. Nothing wimpy about the voyager rack eh? I love my low profile rack from them.

 

[Disco4Play]

The rack from Voyager is built like a tank. Andy does great work and the powder coating on my rack was flawless. I'm very particular and I couldn't find anything wrong with it. That being said, hopefully folks will follow my warning and be very careful. I hope to get my truck back this afternoon from the LR Dealership!

 

[Expat93]

So sorry to hear about this. I was nervous as a cat when I installed mine. I do want to add my vote to the voyager build. It looked awesome and was built well. I got rid of it due to the height and wind noise without the fairing. No reflection on Andy.


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[mbw]

So sorry to hear about this. I was nervous as a cat when I installed mine. I do want to add my vote to the voyager build. It looked awesome and was built well. I got rid of it due to the height and wind noise without the fairing. No reflection on Andy.


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I have to say I am glad you did. I haven't had any issue with the wind noise and im still using the same fairing you sent me. I do think I am going to pick up the new style fairing from voyager soon though.