Hannibal on a soft top...

[plainolejeff]

Hey Guys,

Does anyone have any experience putting on a Hannibal roof rack on a soft top? Thanks.

jeff

[JimC]

You'd have to actually build a ladder support and cross-bar system for it. The standard hannibal is gutter mount. That being said, LenB has done this - he adapted a Urban Offroad rear ladder and used regular LR crossbars up front. Unfortunately, that results in a tubular ladder and a square tube rack, so they don't "match" exactly. The NAS defender kind of has the round-tube "look" going already with the cage up front and the tire carrier, light bar, and bumper out back - which is why almost everyone likes the look of the stock Safety Devices rack. Rovers North offered a square tube rack for the soft top that had probably the worst looking rear ladder ever.

An alternative is this solution by Trek Overland, they used a pair of square-tube ladders to good effect with the hannibal rack. You'd have to modify the second ladder for tire-carrier clearance on the NAS soft top, but at least this solution attaches to the crossmember and doesn't require drilling hte body.

[plainolejeff]

Hhhhmmm...maybe purchasing the Hannibal roof rack and ladder wasn't such a good idea hahaha Well I'll just have to wait til it gets here to see if I can think of a way to mount it. Thanks for the tips Jim, appreciate it.

jeff