Patriot, Hannibal or Tembo roof rack

[Garfieldus]

I'm thinking of getting an aluminium rack and wonder what your thoughts are on the above racks.

I like the bare aluminium look and wonder what's the advantage of having it powder coated? I've seen some used black powder coated racks and they look manky with the coating peeling off.

 

[Julian T]

My advice is don't get a powder coated aluminium roof rack, main reason is for it to fit together when you assemble it, assuming you buy a new one, you have to remove the powder coating where surfaces fit together as the powder coating is frequently in the way, it adds thickness and makes bolting them together or adding equipment to them difficult, that was the advice I was given when shopping for a roof rack.
That may be why the coating starts to lift and look manky, surface corrosion/oxidization may creep under the powder coating and start lifting it.

Personal preference is for the Hannibal product because it is smooth and has rounded corners, I like aluminium roof racks because they don't corroded in the same way that steel ones do.
Patriot make a nice rack but I don't like the industrial look they have, to my eyes, and they look heavier so I was always concerned about the extra weight on the roof, Hannibal don't look heavy.
I have not compared weights so I could be wrong.

 

[MarkW]

Hi Gary,

Have you considered frontrunner racks? I've got one on my 95 so far can't fault it (but then I've not used it much). It is powdercoated and I seen some 2nd hand ones looking very rough where its come of though

 

[Firewout]

Hi Gary, I also have a frontrunner roof rack. It came with the truck when I bought it. The PO has driven to south africa and I did some trips with it as well. Still looks very good and no paint peeling. It's been on the truck for some years now and when I wanted to take it off, all the hardware came off without any problem, nothing seized.
I had a look at the tembo racks at a show. They don't look too bad neither, but I don't have hands-on experience with these.

 

[Charlie]

Very happy with my Patriot rack, it seems stronger that the Hannibal rack I first had. I changed from the Hannibal to the Patriot rack as I wanted a slightly longer rack.

 

[Chris]

I have an African Outback rack which has a very good coating I have to say. It's more like a lacquer than anything. Decent rack. I have the Patriot too and I really like it. Good that it's modular so you can change it about, add to it and get replacement parts should you damage it. The coating is tough and there's no need to remove it to put it together. The service from Patriot was also outstanding.

Some of this depends what you want from a rack. I also have a genuine Toyota basket rack which is great for things like Oz tents up there but no good for a roof tent. Flat racks are best for roof tents in my view as they support the whole of the bottom of the tent when you're in it. I think all the big names are good products but price and availability are key factors . At least the Patriot is British made and you know you won't have to wait 6 months for one.

 

[Pumpy]

The Patriot on mine is very good quality, I'd have used copperslip on the stainless steel countersunk set screws to put it together, it would stand a chance of comming apart then, as it is the electrolysis between the stainless and ally makes it impossible to dismantle any of it now. Mine could do with a polish, the front bar on it looks a bit mankey with black spotting oxydation,

 

[Garfieldus]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions.

I'm leaning towards the Tembo (very poor website and have to email with all questions and photo requests). They will make a 2.5mtr rack at no extra cost.

I've just about given up on Patriot. They are _extremely_ difficult to contact (don't answer emails) without making an international phone call during business hours.

 

[Garfieldus]

Just to follow up on the difficulty in contacting Patriot. I spoke to Paul today and he explained that his salesman is off sick and he's covering his (salesman) full time job also.

Anyway, had a great chat with Paul. I mentioned that I didn't like the square back to the Patriot rack and he said that it's not an option to have a rounded rear (!!) as most racks have a chassis ladder (defenders presumably) that attaches to the rack hence the square rear. However as there is no such option for the 80 rack a special rack could be made at no extra cost. Can't beat that!!

 

[SimonD]

Gary could you pm me Paul's details please? I lost them when a pc died a while ago. What's his surname as well? I have a Patriot and it has been great. Paul did swap some broken feet from the PO's trip to Capetown - all part of the lifetime guarantee. I'm contemplating extending mine [he does two sizes for the 80] so may be getting rid of the current one if it can't be extended the way i want it.

By the way, on the oxidisation he showed me a neat trick. Fairy liquid and a scourer made the rack look like new and I had tried a jet wash etc to move the brown oxides. Barely had to rub.

 

[Chris]

I've posted this before so I won't do the full story again, but Patriot (or one of their employees) screwed up my order right royally. Paul and and his partner came up from Beds on a Sunday and assembled my rack for me, put it on and left me with all sorts of spare bits and some other goodies. Lovely people and an incredible work ethic. I am surprised you've had difficulties contacting them, hopefully you've found out why now. They were in constant touch with me to sort out my rack. It's brilliant and I am sure if I had an issue, they'd be straight onto it.

 

[Garfieldus]

@SimonD - PM sent

In the end, having had severe difficulties contacting Patriot Products, I bought a Tembo.

Patriot's problems were because their sales man was on sick leave. Ok, I can completely understand that but I cannot understand why, in this day of email and online ordering etc., that the salesman's emails was not monitored by someone else in the company.

In contrast Tembo were extremely attentive and answered all queries promptly, some with minutes!!

 

[SafariTecPeter]

Good to see You sorted.

I see FrontRunner is being commented on.
Please, when some of You do; State which model. Is it the fully welded Windcheetah (normally alloy coloured) or is it the current SlimLine II which is bolted togehter & comes in Black?
The corners tend to go on the SlimLine II. A definate warranty issue. Same applies for the washers being used. Washers corrode & leave an ugly stain :-(

From my experience I would buy a Hanniball rack. The Tembo rack is a blunt copy (I will leave out details...) of the Hanniball. I personally like the longditudanal slats much better the the cross-section ones used by FrontRunner. Thats among others why FrontRunner MUST have the wind deflector......
Then again, the amount of bolt on bits that FrontRunner have is a huge selling point

 

[SimonD]

Peter I wondered what you meant thinking Tembo may be cloning Hannibal but actually they have replaced Hannibal Europe due to problems with SA supply and quality. Tembo does seem attentive via email.

 

[clivehorridge]

It's a nice looking rack the Tembo and the website looks good too.

This may have been covered so 'pologies if it has, but will a hard shell RTT fit between the side risers?

I've got a steel ARB basket rack and it's too narrow for a hard shell.

Otherwise the sides look removable, is that the case?

 

[SafariTecPeter]

There is alot of "politics" involved reg the Sourth African HANNIBAL & the current Tembo4x4.
As a tradesman I do not wish to lean too far off the cliff on the matter on an open forum.
SimonD; U may want to consider where Your link is heading & that there are at least 2 sides to the story.
Hannibal SA today trades through Outback Imports & they stock in France.
Anything else to be pr PM!

Clive; AFAIK & what I can tell based on what I have seen IRL & this pic (scroll around)
http://www.tembo4x4.com/Tembo-4x4-Toyota-100-105-series-roofracks
The raised "sides" can unbolted.
So based in the width of Your RTT & RR You may have to compromise one way or the other.

In my Avatar You see my Maggi Columbus being 1.3m wide JUST dropping into the Front Runner rack.
On the lenght it would not fit nice, so I had to raise the rear end in order for the latch to clear.... Threw an old Thule rail underneight. It was put togheter 5 hrs prior to heading to Germany & this years Bad Kissingen.

 

[clivehorridge]

Thanks for the response Peter

 

[Garfieldus]

It's a nice looking rack the Tembo and the website looks good too.

This may have been covered so 'pologies if it has, but will a hard shell RTT fit between the side risers?

I've got a steel ARB basket rack and it's too narrow for a hard shell.

Otherwise the sides look removable, is that the case?

Clive, the rail comes in three pieces. The main part around the rear of the rack and then two end pieces that slope down to the main rack rail.

The pieces are joined together using a stainless steel bracket. The long rear section can be shorted each side to suit individual requirements.

 

[clivehorridge]

Thank you kindly Garfieldus, photos too, it looks very versatile and well built.

It must weigh a quarter of my steel rack!

 

[Pumpy]

few comments on my Patriot, which can't be much more than a year old since David bought it. The nature of the gutter clamps on the 80 means they have to be slid down the gutter from the end, then the crossmembers bolted on, the stainless bolts go into a retained (or rather loose) plate inside the crossmembers, these are *extreamly* difficult to locate as it's so close to the roof.
I had to remove the rear most gutter clamps to fit the new gullwings as I was repainting the black bit around the window, this is when I found the loose/retained plate was made of alluminium, with a stainless bolt, just removing the bolt stripped the thread in one plate due to electrolisys, much faffing with a shaving mirror on the roof trying to see the holes I thought I was missing, only to discover the ally threads were still on the bolt!