body mounted roof rack?

[esh]

I am looking for a body mounted roof rack similar to what you see often on Defender 90s or Wranglers. My friend has a pristine '85 4runner and I'd rather drill into the body than the top. Would also be nice to have the rack remain with the top off.

Going to guess this will end up being a custom job. Luckily Metal Tech is nearby.

Any leads?

 

[Grim Reaper]

I'd drill the top. If you keep your eye out for a "part out" you can get a top for Cheap. I picked up one for $25. Fact is the top is very strong and can handle a lot of weight along the edges. It distributes that weight of the full length of the bed rail.

If you still have to go with a body mount then you looking cu$tom. It will have to be well sorted out to get a firm mount.

 

[esh]

Yeah but the idea is to keep the rack with the top off, as well with it on. Drilling the top kinda defeats that purpose.

 

[taco chaser]

Yeah but the idea is to keep the rack with the top off, as well with it on. Drilling the top kinda defeats that purpose.

sounds like you need a partial exo cage, kind of like a lumber rack only attached to your sliders and rear bumper apposed to bed rails of a truck if you can picture what I'm talking about.

 

[KMR]

I am pretty sure I have seen pictures of what you are talking about.
I thought there was a manufacturer that sold something like that for 4runners?

 

[Lynn]

When I had my '85, I was thinking of making one that sat on top of the bed sides, like a lumber rack. However, it may be hard to get the removable top to seal...

I saw a custom one on a pickup (w/ camper shell) in Durango, CO, years ago that I thought was pretty cool, from a functional perspective.

The guy used tread plate on the top of the bed sides that extended out about 3" past the sides of the pickup, all along the sides. His camper shell sat on the 'inside' portion of the tread plate, and the rack uprights were welded to the 'outside' portion.

With the tread plate sticking out like that, it not only provided a place to weld the uprights for the rack, but it made a ledge he could walk around on while loading or unloading the rack. Plus it would serve as kind of a rub rail down the side of the vehicle.

Let me see if I can illustrate:

End view:

H C
----
...B

H is the uprights for the roof rack
C is the camper shell
--- is the treadplate
B is the pickup bed sides
.... are place holders to get things aligned properly. Pretend they aren't there

I don't know if the idea could be adapted to a 1st gen 4-runner, but I wanted to try...

Shoulda never sold that Toy.

 

[heeltoe989]

sounds like you need a partial exo cage, kind of like a lumber rack only attached to your sliders and rear bumper apposed to bed rails of a truck if you can picture what I'm talking about.

I would go with this type of rack. I'm planning to do something similar when the time comes. I've attached a picture of what we mean. This certainly is to the extreme but they hold up well and you can really load them up with gear. You can also make this type of rack removable with a few cool fabrication parts from camburg. http://www.camburg.com/images/fabricationParts/clamps.jpg. when I do mine I'm going to use chromoloy tubing to keep it light but strong and use a few of the camburg joints to make it removable when I'm not needing the roof rack or cage.

 

[taco chaser]

I would go with this type of rack. I'm planning to do something similar when the time comes. I've attached a picture of what we mean. This certainly is to the extreme but they hold up well and you can really load them up with gear. You can also make this type of rack removable with a few cool fabrication parts from camburg. http://www.camburg.com/images/fabricationParts/clamps.jpg. when I do mine I'm going to use chromoloy tubing to keep it light but strong and use a few of the camburg joints to make it removable when I'm not needing the roof rack or cage.

That is a nice FJ62 .

 

[heeltoe989]

yeah I love that picture. It gave me lots of ideas for the exo-cage and roof rack.

 

[esh]

holy tubing! (rt click, save)

I like something in that direction.. lol though maybe not that intense. Running it past the social director to see what she thinks. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[Grim Reaper]

I was at one point planning a "Exo cage" http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=95564&highlight=exo

The down side is the huge amount of wind drag they create killing fuel economy and dragging the top speed down.

One thing that I found with my last truck, A roadster K5 (full removable top 75) that I mostly ran my top in Safari mode (top on windows out). With a roof rack on it there is not much point to have the soft top fully off.

After looking at my buddies D90 soft top I got to thinking if I ever wanted to go really trick I would build a roll cage in the back that fit tight to the hard top. It would have a flange that a roof rack would match and sandwich the top. So you could unbolt the rack take the top off and bolt the rack back on with or without the soft top. With the soft top I would make some spars that would support the soft top off the roll cage negating the need for the normal soft top frame.

Another Idea was to do this to a hard top. http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=236119 Then I could again have the top in safari mode and retain the rear power window function but have the ope air sides.

 

[heeltoe989]

Very true. Nice Rig too

Thats the nice thing about using the camburg joints for my 06 DC LB, you can make the cage fully removable when not in use, the only thing that remains is your sliders, side rails and the attachment to the front & rear bumpers, other than that the whole cage comes apart to get stored until the next expedition.

 

[esh]

Pretty sure she will stick with the stock glass top. Maybe a frankenidea from what Grim posted would be an internal cage (she wants, and it looks cleaner) with flanges for bolting a rack to with the top off. And maybe provisions for a couple hoops that tie into the rear bumper/sliders when the top is on for the rack.

Set it so the hoops sit with flanges located in the same place as the flanges on the cage.

Thanks again for the ideas!