![]() ![]() ![]() The platform is quiet on road, looks stylish and most importantly offers a plethora of options for everything from trade to 4x4 to adventure accessories. It is low-profile, rugged and hard wearing, with a high build quality. The Rhino-Rack Backbone and Pioneer Platform combination comfortably delivers on what it has been designed for. All-in-all the system works as it should. The Nautic system is tool-free with the only downside being it can be difficult to tighten the turn-wheel brackets enough to accommodate a heavy sea kayak and can be hard to undo. With our Pioneer Platform installed atop the backbone, the overall vehicle height is increased by 90mm at the midpoint, a mere 40mm over the original roof rails (without accessories), delivering one of the market’s lowest profile offerings.įixed in mere minutes to the rear of the Pioneer tray, the roller allows our kayak to roll onto the Nautic brackets where it can then be settled to sit flush and fixed securely. In fact, when fitted via the Prado’s existing ditch mounts, the backbone sits at the exact same 50mm midpoint-ditch-mount roof clearance as the Toyota factory rail. This combination provides us with the lowest possible profile and max load capacity for our vehicle. The Pioneer system emerged in 2010 and has been refined over the last decade with the present-day iteration made from non-corrosive reinforced nylon and aluminium, delivering an extremely lightweight but durable product.įor our review we opted for Rhino’s 2128mm x 1236mm Pioneer Platform coupled with a Rhino-Rack Backbone to replace the Prado 120 Grande’s existing factory roof rails. In Rhino’s favour is the fact it has been manufacturing roof racks since Richard Cropley developed the first prototype in 1992. It needs to offer simple attachment and removal of accessories, even a roof box … and of course be relatively easy to fit, quiet, aerodynamic and look sleek but tough.Ī tall ask, but if you’re forking out more than $1.5K for some powder-coated aluminium to bolt to our roof, it’s gotta be better than some rusting tradie-bars and a couple of frayed bungees. They should brace a mountain bike for Friday arvo rides with mates or a kayak for a spot of estuary fishing, but also tote a spare wheel and high-lift jack for those off-road exploratory camping sojourns. The idea behind these nifty rooftop trays is they should be just as at home halfway across the Tanami as they are dodging the sprinkler system of your local undercover carpark. ![]() Then when lowering the backbone, you can place it over these threads.Then proceed to tighten all bolts.At 4X4 Australia we want our roof racks to do everything and then some more, so we’ve been keeping an eye on low-profile roof platforms as they’ve progressed from welded steel to alloy to composite with present-day systems offering an accessory list longer than your mate’s rusting winch cable. To avoid loosing the body thread, loosen bolts gently and when you have removed on of the paired group of bolts, insert a bolt thread (custom make bolts with head cut off) into each of the mounts. Particular care is needed when removing existing bolts from roof. The backbone is then fixed into the existing holes, all bolts and nuts included for install. ![]()
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