Going back and forth between just sticking with the less expensive cross-bars or springing for the expedition rack for our Defender build. I have until early November to make any changes... Further complicated by the thought that if I add the expedition rack I may as well add the ladder. I’ve seen one Defender with the ladder installed and it actually looked fairly substantial and well built. Anyone have one on their Defender that can share their impressions? Only caveat with the ladder is that once it’s mounted it’s not coming back off.

 

my ladder is on order and should be arriving soon. I'll give impressions and send some pics when it gets in, but it does look well built from the photos.

 

I went with the cross bars as the rack is on back order and it looks like there might be some aftermarket option.

 

Crossbars are all you need for carrier boxes, ski racks, and bike racks. You can always slap a third party basket on the bars if you need flat storage. Bars are easier to take off and quieter. Only reason to go oem rack is if you prefer the look and expect to put stuff up there a lot. It’ll be noisy and hit your mileage a bit though so you have to decide if that’s worth it. You could also get the frontrunner rack for half the price of the LR explorer rack. It’s apparently lighter and stronger.

 

We opted for the expedition rack and ladder. We really like the look and functionality.

 

I love the fitted look

 

Looks nice. What lightbar is that? Also, for the hi-lift mount & other brackets, did you have to drill into the roofrack's crossbars?

 

How did you run your wiring for the light bar?

 

We have both the expedition rack and ladder. It seems to be very functional and we like the looks.

We like both the Expedition Rack and Ladder

 

No Drilling - Light bar was fairly inexpensive Amazon disposable one, and I mounted directly to the wind deflector that hangs down.
The wiring was interesting to say the least and I likely need better pictures. As far as the hi-lift mount and other brackets - they come with T-bolts that slide in.