Vulkan Automotive have them in stock….

https://vulkanautomotive.com/product...k&_ss=e&_v=1.0

 

Thanks all. Think I’ll try old school and start calling a bunch of dealers.

 

Quick (I hope) question: How do you attach the cargo box to the Expedition rack?

We have a 2022 Defender without the Expedition rack, and I attached the Thule cargo box to the Defender cross bars. We now have a 2023 with the Expedition rack, but it's not obvious to me how to attach the box. The box has indentations where the "crankable hook" connectors are that wrap around cross bars.

 

THe Thule bolts do work, in some circumstances. I am very aggrieved that they are so stupidly expensive, insultingly expensive. Being a bit of the creative chimp, I just made some for pennies. You can get any old M8 blot, and sand or file off a millimeter or two and it will wok even better in the Thule rack slots. There are T bolts available in 12 packs for absurdly cheap, cut to the length you want on Amazon. The M8 rings also come by the dozen for 1/20 th of the price from Front Runner and are stainless steel, instead of painted mild steel. Yes, I am cheap, mopped too many floors at UCLA to eat, so it really burns me to overpay for trivial items. Kind of conundrum why I own airplanes? Anyhow, lots of ways to mount your stuff to either the Front Runner or Thule racks, with the Thule requiring you either pay through the nose or take a moment to make or source some substitutes.

If you look at the pic, the bolt on the right was reduced in head thickness on my belt sander clamped in my vice and run down a bit, until it fits. As you can see, not exactly dramatic. The T bolts need to be hacked down to the length you need, get them long, cut to size.

 

Here's a link to what I did. For about $5

https://landroverforums.com/forum/20...x-fits-111420/

Works great



For mounting the other stuff the Thule M6 bolts are about $3-$4 on eTrailer. I didn't feel too insulted so went ahead and got a bunch when I was getting my hitch-mounted cargo rack. Another must-have given the small cargo space in the Defender.

 

Finally about to head out on my long-anticipated two week overland trip to NM and CO! I've loaded up my expedition roof rack with a rooftop tent, awning, jerry can, and waterport day tank, along with a cargo box. All totaling 225 lbs. The expedition roof rack has a capacity of 291 lbs according to Land Rover. So I'm not close to exceeding that weight. But with that extra weight up so high, can I expect to have to watch my side angles while off-roading? I don't plan on anything extreme, but heading to many of the famous passes, gulches and loops around southern Colorado. I would never feel comfortable getting anywhere near Land Rover's published 45 degree maximum side angle, but I'm sure that with 225 pounds up high, that maximum angle is much less?





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Post trip update: The weight up top was no problem! I traversed many moderate side-angles and off-camber trails without any problem. Probably never pushed beyond 25 degrees, but the load carried quite well on and off highway.

 

I actually had a Series III military model when I was in Uganda. It had charts to show angle vs load on the roof. it does really change your side angle with roof load. How much, who knows on this one. On the older Series and Defenders, pretty much all the weight was in the frame, and the engine & tranny sat pretty much imbedded in the frame. So the CG was very low. Since this model has a lot more stuff higher up than those, it would stand to reason, it would suffer a bit more from top load weight. I personally am not going to test it out, I leave that to others. While the rack load is stated at 291.725 lbs, one thing to consider: I have gone over a swale a bit too fast and had the load accelerate a bit down and somewhat sprung some load bars on one of the Range Rovers. Subsequently I have tried to be much calmer going over bump, humps and swales.

I was going through my big box of accumulated nuts I tie downs. I officially have way too many now. Just for comparison, there are some Thule nuts, the black ones, the one short silver one is an actual Land Rover one, but from a Military Wolf model Defender's track system. I have found those to be kind of short, the Thule to be too small. If you use things that are adapted for Front Runner Racks, kind of common, the bolt holes are all for M8 bolts. So the M6 size kind of rattles around and the load will eventually move a tad, to one side of the bolt hole or the other. Your milage may vary on how they work for you and your installation. While its load bearing on all of these will not fail before the load bar fails, I just like things to be a bit spot on in sizing.

 

Anyone who can get their Defender close to 45 degrees has a much stronger constitution than I.

This little event had me at 29 degrees (per the Defender's on board measure) and it was bloody terrifying. Code brown territory with a roaring mountain creek to the right. I hope never again to come close to this level of angled brainlessness.

 

Totally agree, @GavinC . When I'm offroading, I'm amazed at how "tepid" the angles look and it's still high pucker for me. The down side is once on an angle, a drop can quickly add enough to = roll over! Or so my reptillian brain keeps telling me...

 

I test drove that one at that dealership crcjr1963. Solid Defender!