Home Made/Built Roof Racks

[Correus]

Hello Everyone!

Have any of you ever made your own roof racks?

I like the safari roof rack sold by D.A.P. ( http://www.dap-inc.com/acc/app/lr/lr_step-rack-lite.shtml#rack ), but the the money one of these (+ the ladder) costs would go a long way for other items Grover needs more.

Anyone know the type/dimension of square tube used? What about the clamping device - what are they called so I could research where to get them. Are there any on-line plans out there?


My brother has the tools to make one and is willing to do it, but I have to source all parts and material.

 

[SunMan]

I made some triple racks for my FWC out of 1.5" aluminum tubing...cost me around $80...

Link with info from another site:

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=983&highlight=roof+racks

 

[Momrocks]

I have seen quite a few home brew set ups. As you can imagine, the execution is as good or as sketchy as the builders fabrication skills. One common theme seems to be a tendancy to over build the rack. A lot of the custom ones are way, weigh too heavy.

 

[ntsqd]

Think about how much time, at highway speeds, it will spend loaded vs. unloaded. When I built the rack for my then '79 Suburban the time loaded was expected to be rather low, and it did turn out that way. I built the rack to 1) present the minimum area to the wind; & 2) operate a bit like a Safari Top.
I used 1-1/8" X .085" walled square tube for the frame. Mounts do you no good as it was bolted to the roof's perimeter structure.
There are two panels of 1/2" outdoor plywood that form the deck. They're not really visible in the picture, but each of the 8 panel corners is mitered to allow access to the frame for tie-downs. Planned, but never installed due to lack of time before it's first trip was a pair of 1/4" plywood bottom panels. The idea being to keep the bottom smooth for minimal airflow disruption.

The basic rack will eventually be revised and rebuilt to mount using Conn-Fer mounts on my FJ60. I don't know if there is a source for those mounts or not, Conn-Fer is out of business.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

I have made a couple of roof racks. I used 3/4 thin wall electrical conduit and fabbed full gutter mounts. Weight was my biggest concern, the rack on my FJ60 came in at about 45lbs and with an expanded metal floor. FWIR the expanded metal floor cost more then everything else. My guess would be under $100 total.

HERE is a link to a couple pictures of a rack with a retractable awning my brother made.

 

[Correus]

Awesome ideas and help!

Thanks and keep them coming.

 

[StumpXJ]

Ive built a couple roof racks. They are a good first project if you dont want to get too fancy. I have about a 100 bucks in each of these.

This is from my old Toyota Tacoma.

When I first built it:

Later, when I chopped off the side to accomodate a roof top tent, and added different lights.

This is the current one I have on my jeep. It supports my RTT, will hold 7 Jerry cans (or whatever), and also houses my lights. It is mounted on the rain gutters, with mounts that I made up.

I used 3/4 inch square tubing for both racks, and I can easily mount them on the roof by myself, without any thing else on the rack of course. They are pretty light with just the rack.

~James

 

[Correus]

James - this is exactly what I'm looking for, especially the top picture.

As some of you might now I finally got a trailer for the Rover: http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20944

I barely have a 1" clearance between the top of Grover and the garage door so it won't be on most of the times. That being said, I'm thinking along these lines as well: http://www.travellighttrailers.co.za/4x4.html

So, I want to make the roof rack usable on the Rover and the trailer.

BTW - I found a thread on a different forum (I'm not a member of it) that had an interesting idea on roof rack floor material.

http://forum.ih8mud.com/camping-gear-recovery/95584-roof-rack-flooring.html

 

[hovenator]

Don't mean to hi-jack your thread, but this is great info. I was thinking of building a rack too, but was intimidated by the size of material and mounting it for a DIY project. After seeing these, I think I'll try and make one for my truck. Anybody else have some pics and info to share? This is a great thread!

I like this rack another member built for his truck (just to give you some more ideas).

 

[StumpXJ]

Are you talking about the chicken coop material in the ih8mud link?? That stuff looks like a great idea! I probably will never find it over here though.... I would love to use that in the front storage area of my current roof rack, but not sure how it would hold up to the weight of 7 Jerry cans if needed... (thats a LOT of weight. darn near 300 pounds.)

~James

 

[StumpXJ]

I found some picture of the build up of my first rack. It honestly was dead easy. A few sticks of tubing, a wire welder, a 4 inch angle grinder (cut off wheels, and sanding discs), and a magnetic fabricators triangle/square. I think I did it in my garage in 2 afternoons.

If you have a chopsaw, it would go even quicker.

~James

 

[762X39]

I built the rack for my original expo vehicle from 1"X1" steel angle, 5/8 Poplar plywood and 6 Con-Ferr Bulldog gutter clamps. The whole thing weighed about 45 lbs and often carried 2 coolers, 40 litres of water, 20 to 40 litres of fuel, my kit box, a portable barbecue and 20 lbs of propane (loaded like a true 70's vintage expo vehicle).

 

[Correus]

Yup...the chicken coop stuff. My brother has a source for this stuff and I have several small pieces just laying around. I'll find out what it's called. That might help you locate some.

The biggest problem I'm finding is locating the cutter mounts.

HOWEVER!!!! Take a look at what I just found.

http://www.discountramps.com/gutter-mount-van-rack.htm

I'm having trouble believing that that's the cost!!!

 

[StumpXJ]

That looks like a good price, maybe a little flimsy looking, but Im sure it would work for normal duty stuff.

When I was shopping around for gutter mounts, I quickly realized there was no way I was going to pay what they were asking for them. Most places wanted close to a 100 bucks for ONE pair of steel (weldable) gutter mounts. I needed 3 pairs of them. That would have been 3 times the cost i had in the entire rack!

Shortly after my window shopping for them, I saw a nice defender 110 in a local parking lot (one of the cool things about living in europe!) that had a manufactured heavy duty rack, and used a very simple, but effective gutter system. So I copied it, and made my own.

One last pic of that to give you an idea of how simple it is. If you can build a roof rack, you can build your own gutter mounts.

~James

 

[Correus]

James -

The rack part doesn't scare me it's the clamps.

How did you build the part the the screw is mounted to - the bart that goes over and under the gutter to form the clamp? Does that description make sense?

I was thinking that those on the cheap rack might work in a pinch.