Postby Science Abuse » Tue Jul 28, 2015 6:25 am
Resurrecting this thread: Has anyone seen or heard of someone replacing the rack assembly as a whole?
In the old outback I just replaced, I started with a Rolla and liked it. however, the weight basket ate up almost 20% of my load carrying ability AND killed 5mpg off my highway.
I sold the Rolla and started welding up a low-profile rack for the sake of saving fuel. Coincidentally, the steel available to me was fairly thick wall, drilled 1" on center, and galvanized. *I have never been happier with a rack.*
3 crossbars, each would hold 200lb without deflecting. The holes allowed it to be an "erector set" to mount whatever I wanted up there. 3-Kayak Rack, sailboat cradle, a billion bikes, observation platform, it was great.
The OEM Outback rack equipment was all metal, bars down to the roof, so it took all of these loads. It was very disappointing to find the Pathfinder mounted to plastic castings *that flex when I pull on them*.
But, it's easy enough to remove them, strip the roof bare, and start from scratch. I'm going to begin the design and build of a new all-steel rack this fall.... Has anyone else done this?