Landcruiser roof rack

Hi Athol

He's a territory lad, can't imagine him heading south of the boarder.
I can see what you mean about the lights. I haven't stood directly behind the vehicle myself, so not sure how that looks.
Weights, i's the NT, Big Brother is on his way from down south but thankfully has yet to arrive.....

Cheers

Lyndon

And the LHR red reflector too. Rear lights and number plate are subject to geometric visibility requirements as well, not just the ability to be seen from directly behind the vehicle. The repeater lamp (when fitted) to the LHR to replicate the OEM lamp blocked by the spare wheel must be symmetrical as well if he is interested in complying with the ADR's. This means what you have on one side of the vehicle must be the same in height, width, geometrical visibility, etc as the other side. i.e. What you have on the RHR must be replicated on the LHR.
The Company that fitted that spare wheel carrier needs a good kick up the date letting it go out like that.

Hasn't that 'Cruiser got narrow LED tailights/indicators mounted in the bumper? - thus meeting the rear lighting requirements?

I can't imagine any company that fits rear mount wheel carriers, sending out a vehicle with lights and indicators covered up.

Cheers, Ron.

They did a pretty good job of covering up the number plate!

I don't recall number plate relocation being part of too many rear mount wheel carrier setups, they seem to leave that one to the owner.

When all's said and done, a caravan covers the number plate even better than a spare wheel!

I haven't seen any legal requirement whereby you need to move your vehicles rear number plate to the rear of your van or trailer, when it's attached!

Cheers, Ron.

That is true Ron, but the caravan also has a registration plate, so can be traced by police etc in the event of an incident. That does not excuse the installer from not relocating the number plate. With regard to the LHR lights, my guess is the photo was taken at an angle that does not show the bottom of the replacement rear bar, and that there is also a LHR light assembly in the bar.

Macca.

He fact is the installer left the vehicle unroadworthy, this is an extract from the NT website:

The number plates must be affixed to your vehicle so that the characters are in an upright position, parallel to the vehicle's axles.

The characters on the number plate must be visible from a distance of 20 metres at any point within an arc of:

15 degrees (from the surface of the number plate) above and 45 degrees to either side of a vehicle that is less than 4.5 tonne gross vehicle mass
or 45 degrees (from the surface of the number plate) above and to either side of a vehicle that is more than 4.5 tonne gross vehicle mass.
You can have your plates replaced or remade if your plates are damaged, lost or stolen.

It is an offence to obscure any character/s of a number plate including any of the following:

frames placed around number plates
protective covers on number plates
tow bars/balls
bicycle racks
bull bars
loads incorrectly carried on the vehicle.

The ADR's require that

1/ All lights be fitted symmetrically, with the exception being reversing lights and rego plate lights,

2/ Blinkers must be clearly visible from 80deg outboard to 45deg inboard and 10deg above and below , at all angles throughout that arc,

3/ Registration plate must be clearly visible at all angles between 45deg to each side and 45deg above.

Failure to comply with the ADR's can result in not only action from the Constabulary, but also the denial of an insurance claim if this failure can be shown to have contributed to the incident.

As far as the weights are concerned the Constabulary are really of a minor concern, as the worst that they can do is issue a fine and may be a direction to remove the offending loadings. The real issue is that the Insurance companies can easily and legally deny any claim where the vehicle can be shown to be over loaded, or loaded in a manner that was contrary to the vehicle manufacturers recommendations, or loaded in a manner that they consider contributed to the incident or was unsafe.

Most insurance companies would not even consider denying a small claim, say up to about $25000.00 IN TOTAL, that is all damage to all vehicles, property and persons, as they budget that to be about the cost of defending their action in a court of law, but much over that and they will be looking very closely and considering their options.

It's your choice.

Regards
Athol

Of course, if a number plate is relocated, it has to be LIT UP, as well!

That adds extra cost and hassles, running wiring to the number plate - which must be able to be twisted when the wheel carrier is swung, and which must be protected from damage as much as possible.

Not easy when you have to pull the wheel off the carrier, on an occasional basis - thus meaning the number plate re-positioning has to not only accommodate the wheel removal, but meet the registration requirements as well.

I have the same problem with a bike carrier, but haven't figured out the best arrangement yet for number plate re-positioning, particularly when the bike carrier is not a permanent fixture.

The problem is, once again, a total lack of conformity between States.
In W.A., it has only been officially illegal since 2014 to cover up your number plate via a bike rack or spare wheel carrier.

But the other States require a small "bike rack" numberplate to be purchased and fitted to your bike rack (with no requirement to have it lit! - figure that one out?)

W.A. has no requirement to buy or fit the small bike rack numberplates - but you can't hide your numberplate - or make up a facsimile plate, as that's illegal, too.
This doesn't seem to stop any number of people making up homemade numberplates to stick on their bike rack here in W.A.

But then, I've never heard of anyone being pulled up for an obstructed numberplate in W.A. - but I guess it has happened.

The authorities have 1000's of traffic cameras (virtually one on every major intersection), plate-recognition cameras in every cop car, and they rely on peoples security cameras as much as anything, to identify fleeing felons and to ID their vehicles - so number plate visibility and identification is not the problem it might have been, many years ago.

I can remember visiting the MRD of W.A. offices many years ago, not long after they'd installed the first red-light cameras.

On the wall of the office was a huge, blown-up red-light camera photo - of a traytop Ford F-350, pulling a big tandem trailer, all loaded up with builders equipment.

The light at the intersection against the F-350 was red - and the F-350 and trailer were pictured, screeching through the intersection, with all brakes locked up, and smoke billowing everywhere - and the trailer was blocking the number plate of the F-350, and the trailer numberplate was hidden under some overhanging builders gear! LOL

Cheers, Ron.

Ron, the number plate light on the Kaymar Rear Wheel carrier is wired to the lighting circuit, and has a plug just behind the spare wheel. This can easily be unplugged when removing the spare wheel. It is a well designed system. The number plate bracket & light are held in place by the nuts securing the wheel to the carrier.

Macca.

Ron N: Sorry to disagree with you mate but a couple of points you've made need correction.
It has always been an offence in WA to obscure any part of the number plates, not just since 2014. The law doesn't consider costs and hassles. It is only concerned about safety. For $26.85 in WA you can purchase an 'auxiliary plate' which replicates the characters on the vehicles plates and is available specifically for this purpose. Auxilliary WA Plates Rest assured, plenty of vehicles in WA get pulled up and fined for having a number plate obscured or damaged/faded to the extent that they are no longer clearly legible. This has been given an increased emphasis since the patrol cars with ANPR cameras have been introduced.
"Hasn't that 'Cruiser got narrow LED tailights/indicators mounted in the bumper? - thus meeting the rear lighting requirements?" Yes the Cruiser has el cheapo small thin LED repeater lamps mounted on the bumper. Assuming the lamps are fitted to both sides, (I cannot see the LHR repeater lamp), it still does not comply on two counts. Firstly those LED lamps do not incorporate a red reflector. Secondly the LHR repeater does not meet the ADR13 requirement that the lamp complies with the stated angles of geometric visibility; namely that the lamp must be visible from 5 degrees above. The wheel mounted above the lamp obscures the visibility from view at that angle.

Yep, those wheel straps are great...I use one to help load my roof rack from the side.

Thanks Peter

My mate has noted that Rhino have some bad reviews. Appreciate your input

Lyndon

Lyndon
Rhino also make a rack that has a bone type mount that goes from the A piller all the way to the back and well secured. Asked the owner how much $1700, dont know if thats fitted but at that price l'd hope so. Was a very solid looking rack.

Murray

It's a good thing he lives in a remote town then :-)
But I do agree, it is pretty covered up.

Hi McLaren3030: Don't mean to be a smart -rse mate, but technically your red reflectors on the bumper do not comply with ADR13/00 as they are supposed to be located in width, no more than 400mm from the outside edge of the vehicle.

Yes Blown4by, this was the photo taken by the installer at time of installation, and yes they did not comply. Since the photo was taken, both reflectors have “fallen” off. I have since placed red/white stripe reflective tape along each end of the bar above the LED lights in order to meet the requirement.

Macca.

Yeah mate those stick on reflectors aren't very durable for long in any situation due to them falling off or getting knocked off. I won't 'nit pick' any further by commenting on the illegality or having white reflectorised tape or white reflectors at the rear of a vehicle. Nor will I mention any reflectorised tape or, for example, heavy goods vehicle rear marker plates (the red & yellow ones) are supposed to point upwards and inwards like an arrow head which is called 'chevron pattern'. So the left one is correct but the right hand side one is not. With that tape being 'single handed' you cannot correct the situation by flipping it 180 degrees because it will still be angled the same way.

Thanks for your advice Blown4by.

Macca.

The roof capacity is 200 kg. Below is for 2018 200 series. On my GX with the Kaymar wheel carriers the rear reflectors are visible under the tyres.

Ahh Darwin, where service comes with a big price tag but little else.

NT =
Not today
Not tomorrow
Not Tuesday
Not Thursday
and definitely not before 10!

..the compliance police will be heading north along the Stuart as we speak to teach the NT government a lesson in how to raise revenue...
It will not be too long before the NT will be having Fishing, boat rego and boating licences...plus rego for boat trailers etc.
So your mate would be advised to get some changes done for the vision of the rego place..