Dear all,

I have just bought a 2006 Terra CDRi 2.9 GL, and I am planning to buy a Thule roof box. However I've realized (too late...) that the stated maximum weight that can be put on the roof rack is only 34Kg (75 lb), evenly distributed. This seems odd for a 2,500Kg 4x4 vehicle, and leaves almost no room for cargo considering that the empty roof box weights already ca. 20Kg, leaving just 15Kg for the cargo itself.

Can anyone tell me how realistic the 34Kg limit is? Has anybody used a roof box on top of a Terracan? Maybe the referred figure is for 'worst case' stability conditions (high speed, bumpy roads, inclination, curve inertia, etc), or it may be that the weak points are the cross-bars that come with the vehicle, not the roof structure itself, so I could put more cargo replacing the original bars by other bars (e.g. the specially made Thule kit 4700/4711).

If anyone can help me, I'll be grateful.

Best regards,

Gonzalo Vásquez
Santiago, Chile

Hello there,

This is Freek from the Netherlands.

The 34 kg is the weight for each carrier so you can put about 70 kg on your roof.

Greetings


Freek123

There are different roof constructions on the way, the least capable is indeed carrying only 34kg on roof. Check the following: stand by the car, get your hand on the rails and shake the car a bit. You will see the roof moving. If it is only the small footprint of the holder, you have a non-reinforced carrier. If you see a larger bit of the roof moving, approx. 4x4 inches, than they mounted the heavier plates underneath. If you look careful from the side, you will also see that the roof is dented a bit around the holder, if the additional plates are mounted (they dont fit correctly so they permanently dent the roof a bit).

All I can say is that I put my own custom roof rack on - carried about 120Kgs up there over a 6000km trip to nth western Australia and back with no problems.

The weak link is the cross bars, and by the sounds of pelle's report the way the runners are anchored.

I doubt very much that the roof structure is significantly weaker than any other 4wd on the market. How could it get past the ADR regs if it was? No chance.

I had an interesting talk with one of the head technical guys at Hyundai in my home state (Western Australia) the other day. He said that the 34kg maximum weight is purely to cover hyundai legally if people decide to overload it (which they invariably will with such a low rating).

The maximum load that these bars can take apparently is closer to 80kg's total, maybe even a 100kg's, but I didn't hear it from him :wink2:

He then proceeded to tell a story about one his former bosses (A state manager for Hyundai).

He shored up the roof on his Terry (easy to do, extra bracing under the roof, hidden by the trim), replaced the roof racks with aftermarket rhinos (A good strong alloy roof rack system).

He then brought a roof tent, which is a relatively new item to Australia. He weighed over 100kg's himself, but the roof held him, his wife and the tent and sleeping gear without any probs.

With a little careful modding, it would be easy to upgrade your roof rack to handle pretty much anything you need up there.

I wouldn't recommend you put too much upstairs though. That makes the vehicle too top heavy (a common mistake that a lot of people make when loading up their 4WD for a big trip).

You should only put light stuff up there, maybe with the exception of your recovery gear. It's hard to find space inside the cab for this stuff, especially a long handled shovel !!

You should definately not put tyres, water containers, or jerry cans of fuel on top of your vehicle (this is universal, not just for Terry's). These items are just too heavy to go on top. You could easily tip over on steep slopes.

Hi I used two mountain bikes plus two racks with the bikes upright for 1200miles averaging 70mph with no probs on standard cross bars weight around 50kg all in.

hope it helps

Hammy

i think the weight limits there to insure the vehicles stability. 4x4 are already top heavy enough as it is.

Hi all...

New to the forum, swapping my Santa Fe for a Terracan next weekend, need the extra seating. I notice that the roof has curved bars on it yet the dealers flog aditional ally roof bars too, strikes me as a bit odd...

Have the fitted bars any usefull funtion, ie can I strap a top box to it or am I going to have to shell out for a set of bars?

Thanks

Ian