Custom Over the shell roof rack

G

grooveninja

New member
Have the 05 Tacoma DB cab LB with a Sungtop shell and Yakima cross bars bolted to the shell and I'm looking for something a little beefier to haul 4-6 white water kayaks that often weight 80+ lbs each. I've broken 3 Yakima towers which can be a major issue in remote places such as Mexico and can't believe the snug top has not broke.

I've looked at the Kargo Master racks, which are a little overbuilt for my needs, but saw somewhere that they are not recommended with the composite beds. But I'm looking for something to bolt to the bed that would go over the shell. Guess I'm looking for something a little closer fitting and possibly Aluminum. Idealy something like the build of the Thule Xporter, but that went over the shell.

Any ideas?

Anyone get something like this custom made? Is the bed still ok with the load?
 
Overland Hadley

Overland Hadley

on a journey
Hijack on--

Sorry, I can not answer your question. There are a couple of people here who will be able to help you.

But you might want to try Thule load bars. Better quality in my opinion.

--Hijack off
 
T

TRDFAN

Adventurer
I have been considering this idea for a while and have thought about it alot. I think the best way to have a good looking functional rack above the shell is to find a boat tower builder. I know a couple of talented tower builders here on the east coast who would be able to do it. Rather than having tabs that come from under the shell and stick too far out of the sides, you will have to mount/through-bolt the feet of the rack to side of the shell and bend the piping to fit the curve of the shell to the top. The feet or mounting parts for the metal are already used on sport fishing boats, it would be easy to bolt them to the side of a shell, and bend the pipe in whatever shapes you needed after that. If you look where the tower is connected to the boat, the mounting feet are through bolted and fastened with 3M 3200. I hope this makes sense. Here are some pics to get an understanding of the metal work and mounting options I am talking about. Hope this helps. I will be doing this in the future.

http://www.americancustomyachts.com/bat.asp
 
G

grooveninja

New member
Overland Hadley said:
Hijack on--

But you might want to try Thule load bars. Better quality in my opinion.

--Hijack off
Click to expand...

Are you refering to these?
http://www.thuleracks.com/product_pro.asp?dept_id=92&sku=375

TRDFan, I live in the desert SW, so its going to be hard to find a boat tower builder, but that is some nice fabrication. I guess if there is a off the shelf solution that would be my first choice. But my big concern is spreading of the truck bed walls out with load.
 
rynosurf

rynosurf

Adventurer
If your shell is like mine then the sides wrap over the bed rails, this would be a pain if you wanted to make something similar to a lumber rack, you would have to trim the shell. A lumber style rack would also raise the shell the thickness of the material you use to attach rack to bedrails making the shell sit higher than the cab. I was thinking about building a frame for mine inside the shell then bolting some towers through the shell and into the frame. Something simple like 1” square tubing with some feet welded on would be plenty strong.
 
H

hankgs

Adventurer
custom aluminum

I have seen someone in Santa Barbara who had what looks like a custom aluminum rack mounted ON the snug top. It had verticle bracing on all four corners that attached (bolted through) to the shell. I guess a metal shop could fab something up that could bare the weight, but the weak link would be the fiberglass snugtop shell. It looked pretty beefy as there were 4 or 5 aluminum crossbars...
 
Nullifier

Nullifier

Expedition Leader
What yakima tower have you been running? If you have the artificial rain gutters mounted to the topper and you are running the Yakima 1A rain gutter tower this does not surprise me. I have broke several myself and will no longer use them. The problem with them is the nylon/composite chassis gets killed by the sun after a few years and they become brittle and snap.

The thule rain gutter system is all metal will have no problems. Your other option would be a Thule tracker with tk13 adapters into the topper to replace the rain gutter brackets. This is even stronger imo and should handle what you want to carry no problem.
 
UK4X4

UK4X4

Expedition Leader
My first Nissan patrol had a fiberglass rear roof.

I had a simple four point roll cage made up on the inside with pads on the internal cross bars, then bolted the rack on the outside, sandwiching the
fiberglass top.

with 6" oval's of aluminium outside and inside worked fine
 
WASURF63

WASURF63

Adventurer
grooveninja said:
Have the 05 Tacoma DB cab LB with a Sungtop shell and Yakima cross bars bolted to the shell and I'm looking for something a little beefier to haul 4-6 white water kayaks that often weight 80+ lbs each. I've broken 3 Yakima towers which can be a major issue in remote places such as Mexico and can't believe the snug top has not broke.

I've looked at the Kargo Master racks, which are a little overbuilt for my needs, but saw somewhere that they are not recommended with the composite beds. But I'm looking for something to bolt to the bed that would go over the shell. Guess I'm looking for something a little closer fitting and possibly Aluminum. Idealy something like the build of the Thule Xporter, but that went over the shell.

Any ideas?

Anyone get something like this custom made? Is the bed still ok with the load?
Click to expand...

ninja,

Have you checked out HAULERRACKS.COM ?
Thier aluminum "over the camper shell" rack has a (1000 lb ?) load rating.

Also, you may want to check out CROSSTREAD.COM "Renegade" and "Renegade XT". They are both "over the camper shell" style racks with a 750 lb load capacity (steel consruction). Either would handle your 480 lb+ requirement (six - 80lb kayaks). These racks are adjustable to your truck bed length and width.
Upon request Crosstread also made shorter mounting plates and upright legs to keep the rack closer to the camper shell.

I have used the "Renegade" on my previous '00 Tundra and my current rig, an '08 Tacoma OffRoad model. I've been extremely happy with this racks toughness and ability to keep the overhead load off of my canopy.
(see attached pics). The bed rails on the Tacoma are plenty tough enough to handle the weight, despite what many retailers or manufacturers might recommend. If you've ever pulled up the Tacomas' plastic bedrail caps you will find a metal box surrounding the composite bed. I drilled thru both to bolt on the mounting plates for this rack,and the corners of the bed are definetely tough enough. Just my .02 cents.

WS
 
Last edited:
Streakerfreak

Streakerfreak

Jan-Kee
WASURF63 said:
ninja,

Have you checked out HAULERRACKS.COM ?
Thier aluminum "over the camper shell" rack has a (1000 lb ?) load rating.

Also, you may want to check out CROSSTREAD.COM "Renegade" and "Renegade XT". They are both "over the camper shell" style racks with a 750 lb load capacity (steel consruction). Either would handle your 480 lb+ requirement (six - 80lb kayaks). These racks are adjustable to your truck bed length and width.
Upon request Crosstread also made shorter mounting plates and upright legs to keep the rack closer to the camper shell.

I have used the "Renegade" on my previous '00 Tundra and my current rig, an '08 Tacoma OffRoad model. I've been extremely happy with this racks toughness and ability to keep the overhead load off of my canopy.
(see attached pics). The bed rails on the Tacoma are plenty tough enough to handle the weight, despite what many retailers or manufacturers might recommend. If you've ever pulled up the Tacomas' plastic bedrail caps you will find a metal box surrounding the composite bed. I drilled thru both to bolt on the mounting plates for this rack,and the corners of the bed are definetely tough enough. Just my .02 cents.

WS
Click to expand...


Sweet, those look great. Thanks for posting those up. Can't afford it now but that most definitely helps me at least.
 
thecriscokid

thecriscokid

Explorer
I have been thinking of something like this as well. The rack on the Hurricane Hunter is pretty trick. I actually have a better pic in a Surfers Journal that I will try to scan.
It actually is different from these pics, they must have changed it after these pics. As I recall it a bit lower profile on the sides as well.

The feet of the rack I am talking about look like they are about a foot long and sit under the topper/ along the outside of the bed and have fold down steps bolted to the side. I think it was made by Safari Gard. Last I looked the site was down though.

http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=760&highlight=hurricane+hunter&page=3
 
Last edited:
bruzer1123

bruzer1123

Observer
driving through BC's coast, I saw plenty of pickups with shells and a rack that was over the shells. It looked like most probably were built out of aluminum (likely by a boat builder) but the basic design (as near as I could tell) was to have a piece of angle iron attached to the bed rail. The other half of the angle iron was on the outside of the bed. Then tubes were cut to the appropriate angle and then welded to the angle iron. These tubes were then run up the sides of the shell and then connected on top to create a rack. Looked plenty stout to me and is something I would consider. Plus it keeps the load off your canopy.
Hope this makes sense....:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
188,342
Messages
2,905,815
Members
229,959
Latest member
bdpkauai

Members online

Total: 3,279 (members: 24, guests: 3,255)
Top