Every Miles A Memory
Expedition Leader
My home made gutter mounts:
Those look bomb proof!!
Homemade Roofracks.
- Thread starter Box Rocket
- Start date
Those look bomb proof!!
tacr2man
Adventurer
Just my 2/100 cts the quality of work is really high , and these will probably be perfectly adequate for what the majority will be used for , but would like to suggest that if there is an intention to travel on corrugated bush road with quite a load on the rack that the feet are finished of with a joining bar to spread the load , I have seen many vehicles in Australia that have had the gutters "hammered" down to the point that they interfere with door opening . This suggestion obviously applies to gutter mount racks only . JMHO
Excellent point though, I considered that option instead of buying two or 4 more mounts for my rack (I have a total of 6 mounts currently). I think the it would effectively achieve the same load distribution to the gutters, but not necessarily to the rack (which only has 6 mounting points from the factory.
D
Deleted member 48574
Guest
New poster here; been lurking and stealing ideas.
I have very little fabrication experience (never actually fabricated anything before) but do have a lincoln Easy Mig. My first effort at a rack was just finished yesterday (see attaached photos).
I wanted it to work with a stock bumper with no-drill installation. Much of this was a fabricate-as-i-go sort of project. I knew from Garmin and KargoMaster and some other rack makers about where the attachement points were, but then was on my own.
Thankfully a shop press bent the 1/4 inch plate into the zig-zag pattern to get around the bumper and tub. The bolt on the side under the gas cap presses against the tub to prevent rattling and side-to-side movement. The rack also articulated backwards so if (when) I go with a soft top, I will be able to easily lower it all the way. The plan in the future is to get rid of the rear mounts entirely and weld the rack directly onto my rear bumper which I will also scratch build.
The rack is built to hold a RTT which I hopefully will get next month. When there is no RTT, it's just a cargo basket, but it still allows us full use of the forward freedom panels.
All told the cost was about $400 bucks, including a new chopsaw which will no doubt get use in other projects. Oh, and I don't know if you can put a price on my beard, but a bit of welding metal managed to singe it a bit so I lost that too!
Regards
Craig
I have very little fabrication experience (never actually fabricated anything before) but do have a lincoln Easy Mig. My first effort at a rack was just finished yesterday (see attaached photos).
I wanted it to work with a stock bumper with no-drill installation. Much of this was a fabricate-as-i-go sort of project. I knew from Garmin and KargoMaster and some other rack makers about where the attachement points were, but then was on my own.
Thankfully a shop press bent the 1/4 inch plate into the zig-zag pattern to get around the bumper and tub. The bolt on the side under the gas cap presses against the tub to prevent rattling and side-to-side movement. The rack also articulated backwards so if (when) I go with a soft top, I will be able to easily lower it all the way. The plan in the future is to get rid of the rear mounts entirely and weld the rack directly onto my rear bumper which I will also scratch build.
The rack is built to hold a RTT which I hopefully will get next month. When there is no RTT, it's just a cargo basket, but it still allows us full use of the forward freedom panels.
All told the cost was about $400 bucks, including a new chopsaw which will no doubt get use in other projects. Oh, and I don't know if you can put a price on my beard, but a bit of welding metal managed to singe it a bit so I lost that too!
Regards
Craig
Attachments
Mark Harley
Expedition Leader
Craigwhitton: Nice work, does it flip up?
D
Deleted member 48574
Guest
Thanks Mark!
Yes it does -- it disconnects at the light bar and folds on the bushings right near where the tub meets the hardtop. It's nit a functionality I use/need as the freedom panels come off as is but it's nice to have the flexibility if I ever go to a softop.
Yes it does -- it disconnects at the light bar and folds on the bushings right near where the tub meets the hardtop. It's nit a functionality I use/need as the freedom panels come off as is but it's nice to have the flexibility if I ever go to a softop.
JacksonRally
Adventurer
Here is mine, I made it for my Subaru. I made it from 1'' x .095'' steel tubing and welded it to the roof (yes I know how to do this properly)
Here it is almost done. I finished it off a 3 piece bolt on aluminum floor. Im running 4 Hella 500s and have tabs for rear aux lights, cb, and buggy type whip.
Action shots!
Here it is almost done. I finished it off a 3 piece bolt on aluminum floor. Im running 4 Hella 500s and have tabs for rear aux lights, cb, and buggy type whip.
Action shots!
Here is mine, I made it for my Subaru. I made it from 1'' x .095'' steel tubing and welded it to the roof (yes I know how to do this properly)
Here it is almost done. I finished it off a 3 piece bolt on aluminum floor. Im running 4 Hella 500s and have tabs for rear aux lights, cb, and buggy type whip.
Action shots!
Very nice rack!!!
:beer:Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk 2
Not homemade, but you could call it homemodified. I welded the front uprights on the Kargo Master Congo Cage, then eliminated the upper front bar on the Bushman rack. Removing the upper bar lowered noise levels considerably. The lower bar is out of the windshield airflow, but there was no way to get the upper and lower bars both out of the wind. The limb risers are easily removable with wing nuts on the fender mounts, and hooks on the rack end. I don't have any close ups, because I'm teaching myself to weld and my welds are very ugly!
theksmith
Explorer
just recently posted a thread about my customizations to a Rola basket: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34715
i think starting with the Rola cost about the same as I could have built the actual basket for, and then i just needed to provide more secure roof mounting and some accessory mounts.
this was done in 2009 and i had my first issue start to surface with it now (2012). one of the nutserts in the roof that it screws into started to come loose and so the rack was making a creaking sound when i would hit big potholes (because it could flex just a bit off the roofline).
i just took the rack off today and i'm going to add more nutserts to better distribute the load. i originally only used the 5 factory mounting points on each side, which are unevenly spaced and left a long un-attached gap. i'm going to add 3, maybe 4 more per side to remedy this.
also there is some rust on the bottom of the rack rails and the the roof-line where they sit together, nothing major, just going to rattle can it with a rust primer first and then the body matched coat.
Containerized
Adventurer
theksmith: What hatchet is that?
Looks like a Gerber axe, to me.
I went with something really light and capable of getting me off the ground. I have 2.5" alder wood slats that I bundle and lay flat inside the rack when I want to sleep off the ground. The rack and its brackets weighed in at just under 70#'s. The ladder stores under the rack and can be placed anywhere along the sides or back of rack. The front portion is no longer on the truck. It was a little too small for my needs.
