Ideas for Roof Rack Flooring

[Brian McVickers]

I'm trying to find something to use as flooring for my roof rack. It must be as light weight as possible. It has a floor as most roof racks do but I want something to fill the gaps and also create noise insulation between the load and the metal of the rack. I am thinking of some sort of plastic waffle board similar to the stuff they make plastic grocery carts and milk crates out of. Maybe something similar yet thinner, and still rigid.

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[Life_in_4Lo]

I think this is the exact thing you're looking for
http://www.4wdtrips.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3409

 

[paulj]

There's some flexible plastic gratting that comes in interlocking 1' squares. Boaters have been using it for years, and recently I've seen it at the hardware store (Home D.).

Plastic cardboard used for political signs also comes to mind, though it doesn't have holes.

paulj

 

[locrwln]

A buddy of mine use to use plastic lattice. It's cheap and easily trimmed, he just had to paint it black and then he used some heavy duty black zip ties. Held up to a lot of abuse.

 

[Brian McVickers]

Great Ideas!

That chicken coop flooring seems to be the best route and actually opens you up to several choices available in the livestock and agricultural fields.
Problem is that most companies dont have local distribution so there is no way of seeing it in person before purchase.

 

[Life_in_4Lo]

mcvick,
if you look on page 2 of that thread, Juaquin has a link to a free catalog- it has many metal and plastic solutions with dimensions and pretty good pics of the products

 

[datrupr]

Brian, Chuck has the chicken coop flooring that he is now using on his rack. He brought some out on the first evening of the Rally, but you were not there yet. Ask him how his is holding up. I think it is really cheap as well, so the cost of replacement would not be a great factor incase of damage. It is also fairly sturdy and has supported Chucks weight, not that I am calling Chuck fat or anything. Get with him to get more details and info, but I thin that would be the best route to go, and it is very light weight.

 

[60seriesguy]

INTI racks, which are IMHO the best dedicated expedition racks out there, use extruded aluminum runners as flooring, it's basically uncut lengths of the same stuff used for the rungs of pool ladders (see picture)

 

[asteffes]

How about aluminum diamond plate?

 

[flyingwil]

Brian, Chuck has the chicken coop flooring that he is now using on his rack. He brought some out on the first evening of the Rally, but you were not there yet. Ask him how his is holding up. I think it is really cheap as well, so the cost of replacement would not be a great factor incase of damage. It is also fairly sturdy and has supported Chucks weight, not that I am calling Chuck fat or anything. Get with him to get more details and info, but I thin that would be the best route to go, and it is very light weight.

I thought it was dog kennel flooring. He has a thread around here on it...

I finished up my flooring and hi-lift mounts on my rack today. Here are a few pictures.

I used 1.5” angle iron (3/16th) for flooring supports. The flooring is comprised of three 2’x4’ interlocking sections of kennel flooring. I used an existing set of locking brackets from Hi-Lift to mount the jack. I welded on some 2” wide flat steel (1/8th) to the rack as a support and welded in the brackets to that. I put in foam insulation tape inside the bracket to keep the rattling to a minimum. No noticeable whistling at 80mph. Everything is very sturdy and I'm pretty pleased.

 

[datrupr]

I thought it was dog kennel flooring.

Wil, I think you might be right, but I often get dogs confused with chickens these days, as my idiot dog is afraid of pretty much everything.:smilies27

 

[Brian McVickers]

I think the same company, listed in the second post, makes flooring for both chickens and dogs. It's the same product just marketed to two different applications.

I have come up with one solution that may be permanent but could just be temporary depending on how it works. I was taking a short-cut the other day and wound up driving around the back side of a big supermarket. The bread guys have stacks of these flat plastic trays that they transport their bread and baked good on. It's durable and lightweight and the trays are about 2'x2'. Some are completely flat and some have 1" rims or higher.

Not being much of a thief I copied wrote down the company name stamped on the tray and found http://www.norsemanplastics.com/web_pages/prod_bakery.html
The next step will be to wake up around 4am and try to intercept some of the bread guys doing their route. The supermarket is across the street from my office so I should be able to see them coming. I'll try to get or buy a couple off of them and see how they work.

What I like about these is that I only need them for specific items. I want to have something under my metal jerry cans to prevent wear and rattling noises and I have a sun shower that I want to protect from chafe as well.

 

[Seeker]

Don't some of the more "hardcore" rock crawlers use a cutting-board like material for their skid plates b/c it's lightweight and fairly strong? Would something like that work in this application?

And, where would you get material like that?

 

[gjackson]

There is a company in Longmont Colorado that builds skate parks. For flooring they use a specialty plastic based panel called skatelite. It is very strong, weatherproof and pretty light. I talked to them a while back about using skatelite for roof rack flooring and it seemed like it would be perfect. At the time it didn't work out, but I'm thinking of approaching them again.

http://www.mountainramp.com/skatelite/index.html

cheers

 

[Ursidae69]

Like the guys said, I like the dog/chicken kennel flooring. It has served me well so far, light weight, sturdy, and inexpensive.