427LBS on Factory Roof Rack?

F

fable

New member
Here's the plan:

- Throw (3) 2x4s on top of the roof rack for stability (39LBS)
- Put one layer of 4x8 plywood (40LBS)
- Stack (4) sheets of 8x12 drywall (308LBS)
- Put one final layer of 4x8 plywood (40LBS)
- Ratchet those bad boys down and cross my fingers!

It's a 15 minute ride home and I can go 25 mph the whole time.

Waddya think? Am I crazy?

Thanks in advance.
 
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I'm sure the roof itself can take the weight as we see many with aftermarket racks, RTT's, and other accessories. These surely must be pushing 500 lbs with equipment and occupants.

It's the factory rack and crossbars that would concern me. If the weight of all you are carrying is loaded on the side rails I think it can be managed.

Disclaimer: Only my opinion and take no responsibility for whatever you choose to do.
 
Mike07SE said:
I'm sure the roof itself can take the weight as we see many with aftermarket racks, RTT's, and other accessories. These surely must be pushing 500 lbs with equipment and occupants.

It's the factory rack and crossbars that would concern me. If the weight of all you are carrying is loaded on the side rails I think it can be managed.

Disclaimer: Only my opinion and take no responsibility for whatever you choose to do.
Click to expand...

Hey Mike. Yeah, I am hoping that arranging 2x4s in such a way will take the weight off the cross bars, resulting in better distribution. I've got a moon roof as well (maybe I should retract it before loading?)....not sure if that is a concern.

Full Disclaimer for all! I take full responsibility for what happens...haha
 
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Honestly IMO of course but would take cross rails off & have the weight on just side rails & as long as evenly distributed should be good !
 
With that much weight, the crossbars will just flatten out and the load will go directly to the side rails. I mean since it's only a 15 minute drive, you could do it in two trips if you had to if the rack seemed stressed after starting to load it.
 
Un-related to the weight, but I'd probably run a strap length wise as well (front bumper to the rear hitch) kind of like they tie down kayaks.
 
fable said:
Here's the plan:

- Throw (3) 2x4s on top of the roof rack for stability (39LBS)
- Put one layer of 4x8 plywood (40LBS)
- Stack (4) sheets of 8x12 drywall (308LBS)
- Put one final layer of 4x8 plywood (40LBS)
- Ratchet those bad boys down and cross my fingers!

It's a 15 minute ride home and I can go 25 mph the whole time.

Waddya think? Am I crazy?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Not crazy i brought home my RTT(200lbs) along with all my recovery gear plus spare tire (250 pounds) all on my OEM roof rack on a hour ride home. you got this.
 
Just make sure you also have your window rolled down with your hand reached out holding the sheets down as hard as you can with a real worried look on your face the whole time and you should be fine!

With the cross bars removed it'll probably work, otherwise I think they will collapse and force the side rails outwards. I'd rather put all the weight straight down on the side rails.
 
Most auto manufacturers put pretty conservative load limits on roof racks because of the likelihood of a roll-over when you put a ton of weight up there. Depending on year/make/model etc. most vehicles are designed to support 3-5x the weight of the vehicle on the roof frame without significantly encroaching on the passenger compartment... not that you'd see me trying it.

Structurally you'll be fine. The rack might be worse for the wear but it's replaceable. The roof will be fine. It would be a poor time to take up drifting though.
 
the key is to evenly distribute 427 lbs across 4 mounting points at the chassis. This only equates to 106 lbs which isn’t much
 
Is renting a trailer from home depot (or uhaul) not an option in your area? I wouldn't put that much weight on the factory rails.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
 
vtecturtle said:
Not crazy i brought home my RTT(200lbs) along with all my recovery gear plus spare tire (250 pounds) all on my OEM roof rack on a hour ride home. you got this.
Click to expand...

Hey man, no lie, I was sitting there drinking a can of beer when I read your post...I grabbed the nearest pen, jabbed it into my beer, and shotgunned that bad boy screaming, @#$% yeah I can do this!!

Thanks for your support!

With that said, I just wanted to close out this thread by saying thanks to all of you guys for your support! I ended up cutting (2) 2x4s in half and laying them down in such a way that the cross bars were bypassed. Then I threw up a sheet of plywood and ratcheted those down (I didn't want to mess with bolting these to the rack).

I realized I only needed my sheetrock to be about 8.5 feet long, so I bought (4) 4x10 sheets and cut them to size in the parking lot. Threw the excess pieces inside the truck and put the sheets of drywall one by one on top (definitely doable, but it was a workout).

Then I threw on another sheet of plywood and used three tie downs to secure everything. Finally, used a 4th tie down from the front bumper. I didn't ratchet this down too hard, mainly just to keep the top sheet from flapping around.

I drove home at 25mph the whole way! I was watching through my sunroof and pulled over twice to double check everything was good. Honestly, I think it was secure enough to go on the freeway, but glad I didn't have to do that.

All the fixit forums were saying I was crazy, and a darwin candidate, etc...but you guys gave me a bunch of support on how to do things safely. Thanks to everyone!

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I have 2 pieces of unistrut that I U-bolt to the side rails. Here is a video of whai I have (no mine, this is where I got the idea)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn0i_MCt6i0

I have the full size unistrut, this guy used the thinner size. I have the unistrut L brackets to help with aligning/holding the load from sliding left or right. I am re-doing the eye bolts from vertical on the ends to horizontal out the front and rear so that ratchet straps will break over the edges to hold better. I'll try to get a pic. I just put it on when I need it, it makes a lot of wind noise. I have also not put tons of weight up there, just some lumber and a few sheet of ply
 
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