[Ian]

Hi,

I'm looking at buying a pre-owned Jimny. Friends have a hilly cattle property out near Crows Nest that's a good few (steep) km's off of the tar road and there is a decent section of track in the middle that I just can't get through in my current Barina
Doubt the Barina would be much use climbing back up the grassy hills after a bit of rain either.

Jimny is top of the list due to it's abilities but lower fuel consumption than other 4x4's is the main attraction.
Everyone's build threads look great and I'm already tempted by lots of options but the intention is to leave it as stock as possible and gradually work out what I NEED rather than WANT.

The other thing I'd like to be able to do is chuck a couple of kayaks up on the roof. They have been on the Barina (individually) but that's not a sensible or long term option.

My original thoughts were to get some kind of aftermarket bar running across between the roof rails and adding something like these J-style racks for the kayaks
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/KAYAK-Rack-J ... 500wt_1288

Several of the Jimny's I've seen for sale lately haven't had the factory roof rails fitted though.

I'm hoping for some advice on whether it's better to look for Jimny's with the rails already fitted or whether there are better solutions out there.
Any ideas on costs of getting stuff fitted, or who would do it?
I'm not at all mechanically minded, but would obviously like to improve. However I don't think pop rivetting anything to the roof myself is the way to start learning.

I've seen a bit of talk before about the legality of overhang but don't think I've seen any pictures of kayaks up on top of Jimny's.
Can I mount everything far enough forward to avoid being pulled over?
I think the kayaks are 3.1 metres long.

Thanks for any advice.

[Ausuki]

i put 2, 3mtr yaks on a swb Vitara
never been pulled over, you could use a red flag if you worried about it.
i dont need any carriers either i tie the first yak down flat on it hull then out the second on its side leaning up against the first one,
tiel down point help as i need the full 1.2 meters of the cross bar.

im sure you can get Jimny cross bars from super cheap for around $200 - $300, but dont take my word for it check on their website

[dougies_tx5turbo]

I'm pretty sure I've seen a picture of joe's SWB GV with two big kayaks on it. GV's are pretty similar to jimny's.
maybe try and do a search to find it

[Ian]

Thanks guys,

Had a look on Super Cheap and can get the cross bars if the Suzuki rails are already fitted.
Still not too sure what the options are if I pick up one without the rails. Would you go back to Suzuki to have them fitted?

Had a bit more of a search now that I'm 'signed up'.
Bazzook and Drewhoo have gone with sticking kayaks on top of trays

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=29667&hilit=kayak

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=28325&hilit=kayak

and found Ninjamoses had used the "J" carriers on his GV
search.php?keywords=kayak&t=27787&sf=msgonly

[tim80z]

Have a read of this thread for kayaks on the roof of Jimny's.
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=29667

For example:


- Tim.

[Miki]

tim 80z can you tell me what your using for the left roof rail here?

[tim80z]

Miki wrote:

tim 80z can you tell me what your using for the left roof rail here?

That's not my car, just a pic from the thread I linked that I thought would help the OP.

The red Jimny belongs to BAZZOOK on here. Maybe send BAZZOOK a PM.

- Tim.

[Scales]

Yeah Tims car is heaps shittier than that....

That roof rack rack is a Rhinorack sportz track mount. Same as what I have, Its for Jimnys with no front-to-back factory rails. It looks like he's got a length of pine attached for some reason.

If you want to see what they look like a bit closer, go here
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=35389&hilit=roof+rack