Homemade Roofracks.

[workingclass]

Finally some progress, a lot of progress. So after getting the scratch together for the materials and the dies for my buddies bender the rack is complete (for now). Most of the fab work was completed on a Saturday with some time after work to finish up the fab for the light brackets and expanded metal floor. It runs the length of the Cruiser and sits at 1.25" off the roof, so nice and low. The design is nothing new or special and was designed with adding a RTT in the future. The front half is reserved for the camping gear and the fuel/water cans when needed. I used 3 gutter mounted towers per side to help spread the load and 2" wide cross bars attatched to each tower. The rest is 1" DOM tubing with .090 wall thickness. The last step will be powder coat but for now a simple clear coat to help prevent rust until I can afford the powder coat. All in all a fun project and learning experience. Hope to fab up a set of Slidders and front/rear bumpers in the near future.

 

[Butch1979]

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Finally some progress, a lot of progress. So after getting the scratch together for the materials and the dies for my buddies bender the rack is complete (for now). Most of the fab work was completed on a Saturday with some time after work to finish up the fab for the light brackets and expanded metal floor. It runs the length of the Cruiser and sits at 1.25" off the roof, so nice and low. The design is nothing new or special and was designed with adding a RTT in the future. The front half is reserved for the camping gear and the fuel/water cans when needed. I used 3 gutter mounted towers per side to help spread the load and 2" wide cross bars attatched to each tower. The rest is 1" DOM tubing with .090 wall thickness. The last step will be powder coat but for now a simple clear coat to help prevent rust until I can afford the powder coat. All in all a fun project and learning experience. Hope to fab up a set of Slidders and front/rear bumpers in the near future.

Well done! Just in time for another adventure.

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

WOW!! That's nice

 

[Leviathan]

Very nice. You made those gutter mounts from scratch?

 

[4xdog]

Saw an interesting homemade rack on a tonneau in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, the other day.

Don

 

[workingclass]

Very nice. You made those gutter mounts from scratch?

Well I designed them. I have access to a laser through my work as well as a CNC press break so they were cut and formed by machine.

 

[azdurango]

I decided to give it a go with the electrical conduit. This was my first time welding and it turned out a lot better than i thought it would. I used 3/4" for the main hoops and 1/2" for the crossbars. I still need to fab up some light brackets, a spare tire mount and a hi-lift mount.

 

[damienperu]

this is a great thread, and good to see it kept getting bumped. wish I'd come across it before i built mine.

I see a couple of guys have wire gyres from the bumper region up to their racks, is that to solve some sort of issue with their racks? I can't figure why you'd settle for that as a fix.

Cheers,

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

this is a great thread, and good to see it kept getting bumped. wish I'd come across it before i built mine.

I see a couple of guys have wire gyres from the bumper region up to their racks, is that to solve some sort of issue with their racks? I can't figure why you'd settle for that as a fix.

Cheers,

The primary purpose is to hang wet clothes out to dry, secondary purpose is to deflect small branches up and over the windshield.

 

[CCFD170]

here's my rack designed around the RTT. My main goal was to have a quick disconnect system for the RTT. The square hole in the cargo basket area is an access hatch for the cb and light wires. Prior to having a RTT and building this rack my cb antenna was mounted to the roof in that same spot. The two load bars to support the tent are leaning against the work bench in the background.
in this picture you can see how the load bars rest in cradles on the inside of the racks frame. They are held in place with quick release pins. Pull four pins and lift the tent off the top, the load bars stay bolted to the tent. No wrenches required.
all loaded up and being put to use.

 

[Hill Bill E.]

............. They are held in place with quick release pins. Pull four pins and lift the tent off the top, the load bars stay bolted to the tent. No wrenches required.
.

Now that's a great idea!! (which I will borrow and incorporate into my new rack!)

I have a new Mt. Rainer CVT on it's way, and will need to move it from my M416 onto my D2500 occasionally.

I use the RTT mainly with the Jeep, so it's on the trailer. But, when I want to go fishing and take the boat, I need to have the tent on the truck.

I'm building a new rack for the trailer, so I can get the new RTT up over 6' when deployed, so I can use the changing room. (without bonking my head)

The quick release will be perfect, not only for swapping rigs, but for winter storage also!

Some states you can pull 2 bumper pull trailers in tandem, but not here. In MN it has to be a 5th wheel and a light trailer to run tandem. (there is an overall length limit, and weight limit on the 2nd trailer, but not sure what they are)

 

[jonesw3]

 

[RememberTheFallen]

Jonesw3,

Nice work!

Can you post a close up pic of your feet/ towers that you made to attach the rack? I need an idea to attach a homemade ATV ramp rack to my ARE shell. Thanks.

 

[turbolab]

******

 

[KAILUAZ]

While not exactly home made I did cut down my Kargo Master "Safari" rack to fit better. It was too wide and just didn't look right even after I flipped the top cage around. They are made for a Jeep and are 52" W x 60" L, which doesn't fit the 3rd Gen 4Runner at all.

I also remounted it using the mounts that came with it, by reusing the factory rail "nuts". Way better than mounting it to the factory cross bars which didn't look good at all.

I cut the base down 6" on each side and cut 10" out of the center. I bolted the top cage back together and now it fits just right.

Stock size:

Dreary day at the beach by CENTCOM_Survivor, on Flickr


Rear view of rack by CENTCOM_Survivor, on Flickr

Old mounting:

Old rack mounting by CENTCOM_Survivor, on Flickr


Old rack mounting by CENTCOM_Survivor, on Flickr

Cut down:

Cutting the rack by CENTCOM_Survivor, on Flickr


10" out of the centers by CENTCOM_Survivor, on Flickr


Rack cuts by CENTCOM_Survivor, on Flickr


Beach by CENTCOM_Survivor, on Flickr


Beach by CENTCOM_Survivor, on Flickr


Rack close up by CENTCOM_Survivor, on Flickr


Rack close up by CENTCOM_Survivor, on Flickr

New mounts:

Rack mounting by CENTCOM_Survivor, on Flickr


Rack mounting by CENTCOM_Survivor, on Flickr