Homemade Roofracks.

[4307]

Heres one, people tend to overbuild, I wanted to go as simple as possible

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Nice design! Similar to mine :victory:

I like your philosophy.
i need to update the rack build, it's changed a bit.
I sold my Hella 500's and ditched the 550's in favor of HID's
Rewired the rack to switch between 2 and 4 lights via wireless remote control. Custom wiring harness between the bed cap and rack tray using 6 pin Amphanol threaded military electrical connectors.:coffeedrink:
So far the rack has been super durable, holds the Hi-lift without issues or noise, good place to strap down my dry bag for camp garbage, so it doesn't smell up the bed /cap, 101 uses, I love it.

 

[Ala5ka]

your design was what inspired me, I'm sorry I ripped off your idea but imitation is the highest form of flattery

 

[4307]

by all means, I'm cool with that.
I like to see other builds of this design.
Hows it working for you anyway? What did you finish it with?

 

[Greggk]

looking good everyone, keep them coming.... :coffeedrink:

 

[Ala5ka]

Hows it working for you anyway? What did you finish it with?

I love it, everything works great, I didn't add the holes so I don't really have anything to put the tie downs on yet. I rolled on Herculiner from Checker which worked really well but it needed like five coats to completely cover adequately. My only concerns with it is strapping loads and where it rubs a little on the topper but thats all my fab flaws so whatever. I just have the shovel, axe, Hi-Lift and Jerry can up there so no big deal, but it can hold my body weight which it did while I was installing the lights and mounts. Great simple design.

 

[Paladin]

Here's mine, still a work in progress. I put the lights up just to see how it looked.

Mostly 2" square tube. It looks like it's sitting on the roof but it's not. It's through to the factory rack support structure under the skin. The square feet will be trimmed and used to seal up the holes in the roof, just like the factory system.

 

[Patman]

Here's mine, still a work in progress. I put the lights up just to see how it looked.

Mostly 2" square tube. It looks like it's sitting on the roof but it's not. It's through to the factory rack support structure under the skin. The square feet will be trimmed and used to seal up the holes in the roof, just like the factory system.

Very Very nice. Did you have the tube bent, or are they cut and welded? Looks so much better than the standard 1" tube, at least on a Disco

 

[ChrisInVT]

Here's mine, still a work in progress. I put the lights up just to see how it looked.

Mostly 2" square tube. It looks like it's sitting on the roof but it's not. It's through to the factory rack support structure under the skin. The square feet will be trimmed and used to seal up the holes in the roof, just like the factory system.

That looks really good man.

 

[Paladin]

Thanks. The idea was a more lightweight, streamlined rack than the monkeybars commonly used. I wanted it to look almost exactly like the rack on an Xterra, with the fairing and all. But the front mounts are not inline with the rear two mounts, I couldn't figure out a way to do it. So I went with this.

Also, as you can see, the truck still fits in the garage.

I plan to build the "flooring" so the sunroof can open. Then have removable panels for if I wanted to put anything up there and not use the sunroofs. Also, will make bridging ladders that will fit and can serve as flooring as well.

I'll never have gas cans or anything heavy up there.

The corners are elbows from www.quickfab.ca

 

[Howski]

Here's mine, still a work in progress. I put the lights up just to see how it looked.

Mostly 2" square tube. It looks like it's sitting on the roof but it's not. It's through to the factory rack support structure under the skin. The square feet will be trimmed and used to seal up the holes in the roof, just like the factory system.

It looks great! Very clean look without the gutter mounts. Any idea how much weight it can support? What are the dimensions on this rack and also how exactly did you mount it to the roof in the back. I see where you removed the factory rails in the front but don't know where you mounted it in the rear.

 

[Paladin]

I don't know how much it can hold exactly. I'll have to look at the factory specs and just see how it feels. I will never never never put fuel cans or water cans, RTT or Pelican cases full of firewood or anything like that up there. That type of weight is completely against my belief in vehicle dynamics. I would like to be able to walk on it, but we'll see. I do want to put my 50lb canoe on it, or skiis, a set of bridging ladders, or maybe lightweight luggage. Sleeping bags, clothes, etc.

It's mounted to the roof using the same method as for the genuine accessories extended roof rails. Basically, there is an extra set of mounts built into the roof sub-structure at the back, that are exactly the same as those in the front. They just didn't cut the holes from the factory. It's explained in the Rave CD. You drop the headliner, and find the mounting points. You drill up through the roof panel with a 1/4" bit to locate the holes on the topside. Then you go up top and drill down with a 1 1/4" hole saw to leave a hole in the roof panel and expose the sub-structure. The 6 feet of the rack are 1" aluminum round, drilled and tapped for M8 bolts. The square feet you see on top are just to cover the holes, I'll pretty them up when I'm done, they don't bear load onto the roof panel, and I'll apply silicone to seal.

The dimensions... 46" wide by... IIRC 6-7 feet long.

 

[Howski]

thanks for the information. i'm looking at incorporating this mounting method with the j-moose style rack (wildyoats.com/the_j-rack.htm). only looking to mount a water jerry can, possibly a fuel jerry can (if necessary), and a pelican case. i'm sure that'd hold up to the weight fine. just don't know if i want to do it now with gas at $4

 

[08Silverado]

Here's what I did.
Now I'm starting to get the itch for a topper again! I'm never satisfied!

 

[08Silverado]

Another view

 

[roostercruiser]

origanllly i had the lights upside down didnt work very well. i ended up moving bracket to th e bottom

heres with new KC's and high lift bracket mounted on the side