REVIEW; Front Runner 3 Bar Roof Rack (Load Bar Kit)

[Jeffro]

Anyone have any experience with this short basket?

http://www.bajarack.com/?id=racks_list_inside&idRack=110

This one appears to mount on the LR4 OEM short roof rails. I sent an email this morning to Baja Rack to ask for clarification. If I get a basket I could also put other things up there also, like extra fuel or water, or throw the cooler up there and tie it down for a day at the beach. The thing that potentially bothers me about this rack is its height. The rack itself is 5" in height, but then it looks like the mounting brackets add another 3-4 inches above the height of the roof rails. My parking garage at work is not very high - I think I only have about 3-4" of clearance with nothing up there at all except for the rails and the GPS fin.

Jeff

 

[Douglas225]

New member here from St. Augustine, FL and new to the LR world - been a VW Westy camper for many years and recently purchased a 2015 LR4.

After going through much of the conversation in this forum (and becoming increasingly excited about new possibilities), it would seem that our pursuits are very similar - i will need to be able to carry canoes, Jon boat, and surfboards (not all at once).

Your solution seems to be quite elegant and streamlined. HOwever, I was wondering if you could comment on how you like the racks after having them nearly a year now? Do you have any wishes that you should have just installed a roof rack? The rack would not be that much more expensive now that the price has gone up on the load rails (from when you bought them...by about $200 from what i can tell).

Thanks in advance. -Doug

 

[toddjb122]

New member here from St. Augustine, FL and new to the LR world - been a VW Westy camper for many years and recently purchased a 2015 LR4.

After going through much of the conversation in this forum (and becoming increasingly excited about new possibilities), it would seem that our pursuits are very similar - i will need to be able to carry canoes, Jon boat, and surfboards (not all at once).

Your solution seems to be quite elegant and streamlined. HOwever, I was wondering if you could comment on how you like the racks after having them nearly a year now? Do you have any wishes that you should have just installed a roof rack? The rack would not be that much more expensive now that the price has gone up on the load rails (from when you bought them...by about $200 from what i can tell).

Thanks in advance. -Doug

Doug, welcome to the forum and glad the review was useful! I'm hoping more people buy this solution so they put it into the main stream line-up. As you noted, it was a challenge to find. On cost, I haven't checked lately, but I would call up (rather than rely on web search) and ask the U.S distributor the cost on the part number I identified. I can't see it going up by $200, there isn't that much to it. It's just the base for their full platforms, so it could be a typo or they'll work with you if you are just using it as a stand-alone rack.

I have to say, the rack has been on for 14 months now and I love it. No regrets, as I haven't see anything else that would serve me better. Nothing is 100%, so I'm not saying it's perfect, but it works great for me. The weather just got warm again here so it was nice to put the Dakine pads back up top and I've already had kayaks, SUPs and the canoe up there this season. It's just so nice to be able to load these things myself, without damaging the truck, and having such a wide platform to do so with lots of tie down points.

Not sure if I mentioned it above, but those wide flat Dakine pads are nice because they bring the two front load bars up to roughly the same height of the dual back rollers I have. I also like the look of them.

If you have any specific questions, please let me know. Be glad to help.

 

[Douglas225]

Doug, welcome to the forum and glad the review was useful! I'm hoping more people buy this solution so they put it into the main stream line-up. As you noted, it was a challenge to find. On cost, I haven't checked lately, but I would call up (rather than rely on web search) and ask the U.S distributor the cost on the part number I identified. I can't see it going up by $200, there isn't that much to it. It's just the base for their full platforms, so it could be a typo or they'll work with you if you are just using it as a stand-alone rack.

I have to say, the rack has been on for 14 months now and I love it. No regrets, as I haven't see anything else that would serve me better. Nothing is 100%, so I'm not saying it's perfect, but it works great for me. The weather just got warm again here so it was nice to put the Dakine pads back up top and I've already had kayaks, SUPs and the canoe up there this season. It's just so nice to be able to load these things myself, without damaging the truck, and having such a wide platform to do so with lots of tie down points.

Not sure if I mentioned it above, but those wide flat Dakine pads are nice because they bring the two front load bars up to roughly the same height of the dual back rollers I have. I also like the look of them.

If you have any specific questions, please let me know. Be glad to help.

Thanks for follow up. Unfortunately, i have been cooresponding with the US manufacturer and, while courtesous and quick, they have been clear - from their response: “You can try ordering the item from our international site, but we are unable to get our hands on the fitment”.

Consequently, I have reached out to, what i believe is the international site, (in Joanasberg?) and i am waiting to hear back from them. Sounds like your experience was different (i.e. ordered from US and they coordinated internally).

Oh well, i guess i will just wait to hear back from International sales.

 

[DirtyHal]

I just emailed frontrunner USA inquiring about the rack and they told me it has been discontinued

 

[toddjb122]

I just emailed frontrunner USA inquiring about the rack and they told me it has been discontinued

That would be unfortunate. It's such a nice setup. I'd recommend calling.

Here's what I learned from the process... This is just the base of their platform. So they can pull it form in-stock components and charge you for those. They took it off the website because there wasn't a lot of demand for it, but even when I spoke to the guy, he said it wasn't an issue.

It's basically two "kits" that you marry together. A rear two bar kit, and the front extension. Once you build what I have, you'd then typically put another 10 or so aluminum cross pieces down and then you have a tent platform. All the accessories still work with the 3 bar rack because the cross members are the same.

 

[toddjb122]

Thanks for follow up. Unfortunately, i have been cooresponding with the US manufacturer and, while courtesous and quick, they have been clear - from their response: “You can try ordering the item from our international site, but we are unable to get our hands on the fitment”.

Consequently, I have reached out to, what i believe is the international site, (in Joanasberg?) and i am waiting to hear back from them. Sounds like your experience was different (i.e. ordered from US and they coordinated internally).

Oh well, i guess i will just wait to hear back from International sales.

Ugh, that sucks.
It's also a very odd response unless they completely changed the bundling.
Everything on their racks was really a-la-cart so you could build what you wanted. This was just pieces that worked nice on their own.

I think the *only* unique piece may have been these wind deflectors they sent which are supposed to go under the bars, but I don't think they really work anyway.

I'll look when I get home tonight and see if I can find the specific part numbers of the two kits I mentioned in my response above. They are made in Italy (I think) and the U.S. guys were just distributors. Stock a bunch of stuff and then send out whatever configuration people want. So, if the person responds "...unable to get our hands on the fitment," I'm suspicious because I don't think it is anything unique. Maybe they had an overall part number for the bundle, but it's really just to other things. I'll dig around a bit more.

I'm sure you have been down this road already, but it is still listed on the British site. Even if it's out of stock.
And, since all the parts are bundled the same regardless, I think you just have to get a person on the phone in the U.S. that cares;
https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.c...l-foot-rail-land-rover-discovery-lr3-lr4.html

 

[toddjb122]

The guy who helped me was Bryan, card below.

I looked up my manuals and found 3, if it is of any help.
The overall kit manual looked like this - PIC
You actually start with this full rack manual, but only go through the first half of it - PIC2
Then you put these Foot Rail Adapters on - PIC3

Maybe those foot rail adapters are the only unique part here that isn't on their other racks. So if they don't have any more of those, that could be the issue. Dunno, it all seemed like pretty common Front Runner parts all told.

If it's worth anything, I was able to go on their website and find all those manuals prior to ordering, so I knew what I was dealing with.

Best of luck!

 

[DirtyHal]

I just tried again and actually spoke with Bryan on the phone, he said that they don't offer the rails anymore as people were overloading them and it is just simply not possible to get this system anymore. Guess I'll have to go the full rack route..

 

[toddjb122]

I just tried again and actually spoke with Bryan on the phone, he said that they don't offer the rails anymore as people were overloading them and it is just simply not possible to get this system anymore. Guess I'll have to go the full rack route..

Thanks for the update and details.

That's a shame. Different story than I heard last time so I'll likely give him a call as well just to make sure there is nothing I have to be wary of. Maybe people were treating the three bars as platforms and putting too much weight and bending the bars. If so, seems that could be solved with a warning label or manufacturing stronger bars! Ahhh well.

So, the next closest thing I found was a ProSpeed rack, @DirtyHal. I think I actually had one on order and was going to buy it until I realized that even with modifications I wouldn't be able to get my storage box up there (needed clearance for the clamps). If you don't need a box, that may work out for you. They make a nice low profile solution.