Adding a rack or rack rails to a fiberglass topper

[dennisuello]

I have a Leer 100R Shell on my Titan. I want to add rails to the roof to mount a rack in the future, as well as use those rails to hook up a hoist to be able to remove the rack in the garage by myself. Can anyone point me to a solution?

It would need to be able to hold up the weight of the basket, as well as hold it's own weight when it's hoisted up for storage while not in use.

 

[Martinjmpr]

I have a 100 with rails on it but I'm not sure I'd trust them to hold the weight of the shell. That's putting an awful lot of stress on the attachment points. I think for the hoist it's better to use 2x4's covered in carpet underneath the rails.

 

[Carlyle]

I have the Yakima track (2 sets) on my current camper and am putting the same on my camper being built, They are stout, check them out.

 

[robert]

I've got Yakima tracks on my ARE shell. I've carried a couple of boats up there at a time, but I wouldn't lift the shell by it. I suppose you could put some fender washers or better yet some sort of solid bar on the inside to distribute the weight, but I'm still not sure I'd do it.

 

[Bella PSD]

I have an ARE cap with a Con Ferr roof rack. It is bolted down with ¼ 20 bolts through the fiberglass at 6 spots. Three on each side. At each of the mounting spots, I have 2 ¼ 20 bolts, for a total of 12 bolts. At the 6 mounting spots I have a 3”x3” piece of aluminum to help distribute the weight and fender washers inside the cap.

With the mounting set up I can carry my 35” tire and rim. I can also stand up there too. That’s has to be well over 250 lbs. I have also carried my canoe and two mountain bikes up there.

I would love to be able to lift my cap AND roof rack of with a hoist but I cannot fit the truck in the garage with the rack! I have lifted the cap off with a forklift several times and left the cap/rack hanging for weeks at a time. The forks went through the roof rack and all of the weight was hanging on the bolts trough the cap. Never a problem!

One note on ARE. They seem to be stronger than other brands. I had a Leer on the same truck and sold it for the ARE. It just creaked like crazy if I put any weight up top. The ARE does not do this.

I have a hoist from Harbor Freight and will be lifting my ARE cap off without the rack but will still use the roof rack mounts as a lift point.

Louie

 

[StumpXJ]

Ive had over 400 hundred pounds on top of my ARE topper and my custom made basket. No problems whatsoever. If I ever buy another tp, it will definitely be ARE, just for sheer beefyness.

~James