toyotatakemethere
Member
Hey folks,
Last year or so I picked up a new-to-me camper shell and now am looking to add some cross bars to the top so I can mount a roof box for extra storage for camping or lumber when I'm going to Home Depot, etc. The truck is my daily and I use it for picking up 2x8s, random furniture pretty often. On looking at what's out there, I wasn't able to find something plug and play since the typical track systems (Thule, Yakima, etc) need to be installed on relatively "flat" (meaning pointing directly up) surfaces and the profile of the shell doesn't really have these. Eventually, it would be nice to paint it, etc. but I'm not really that concerned with that right now. I'm looking for some suggestions on how other people would manage this.
Pictures:
Here are what I've though about so far:
1. Getting bolt on towers/crossbars without tracks. I don't love this idea since they wouldn't support as much weight and I do want to be able to put upwards of 200lbs on the rack (Likely not actually and I have no plans to put a tent or anything up there but I don't want to be concerned it's going to break). Googling around also didn't yield many results so would be open to suggestions.
2. Making some DIY tracks with 8020 (had my eye on this), using 1" round stock for the crossbars and then finding an appropriate bracket. This would be great but I wasn't able to find specific hardware that would make this achievable.
3. Making some DIY tracks with 8020 positioned at the front and back of the camper shell (which would distribute the weight better than #1) running left/right instead of front/back and then mounting the bars on these. Finding hardware to mount 1" tube stock is easier here but then you lose the ability to adjust them and the design would be a little less aerodynamic. The truck kind of amazingly can get up to 24mpg on the highway with the camper shell on and obviously you lose a little there when you start putting stuff on the roof but if I can minimize the effects that would be great.
Thanks for any input!
Last year or so I picked up a new-to-me camper shell and now am looking to add some cross bars to the top so I can mount a roof box for extra storage for camping or lumber when I'm going to Home Depot, etc. The truck is my daily and I use it for picking up 2x8s, random furniture pretty often. On looking at what's out there, I wasn't able to find something plug and play since the typical track systems (Thule, Yakima, etc) need to be installed on relatively "flat" (meaning pointing directly up) surfaces and the profile of the shell doesn't really have these. Eventually, it would be nice to paint it, etc. but I'm not really that concerned with that right now. I'm looking for some suggestions on how other people would manage this.
Pictures:
Here are what I've though about so far:
1. Getting bolt on towers/crossbars without tracks. I don't love this idea since they wouldn't support as much weight and I do want to be able to put upwards of 200lbs on the rack (Likely not actually and I have no plans to put a tent or anything up there but I don't want to be concerned it's going to break). Googling around also didn't yield many results so would be open to suggestions.
2. Making some DIY tracks with 8020 (had my eye on this), using 1" round stock for the crossbars and then finding an appropriate bracket. This would be great but I wasn't able to find specific hardware that would make this achievable.
3. Making some DIY tracks with 8020 positioned at the front and back of the camper shell (which would distribute the weight better than #1) running left/right instead of front/back and then mounting the bars on these. Finding hardware to mount 1" tube stock is easier here but then you lose the ability to adjust them and the design would be a little less aerodynamic. The truck kind of amazingly can get up to 24mpg on the highway with the camper shell on and obviously you lose a little there when you start putting stuff on the roof but if I can minimize the effects that would be great.
Thanks for any input!
