The picture is kind of decieving, the hoops are actually 17 inches above the roof line and will easily reach my bumper (when it gets built that is...) I am building a tube bumper that will have "eyebrow" type headlight protection and it will come up slightly above the hood. As far as them not being on the outside edge... well I had to go to the highest point, which is where they are. If I went to the outer corner, then my lights would catch the bulk of the limbs, plus it would'nt reach the bumper from being too low. One thing that sucks about an extended cab.
The bolts holding the rack... its plenty strong enough for what I do, no need for overkill. If I can lift it, itll hold it.
The below is copy and pasted from my "build up thread" here
http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5416
"It is suprising to me at just how secure it is in its current state with the 1/2 (13mm actually) inch bolts. The fiberglass on those corners is a full 3/8" thick, which supprised me as well. I was up there walking around on it just a couple days ago without any movement or problems. I weighed 304 pounds (as of this morning :eatchicke ), and I had my spare tire in my hands (65-75 lbs?) so it was close to 400 pounds with out any problem. I think with that being said it is plenty "strong" enough. I agree with you about the rubber washers, thats a great idea. I have large fender washers on the inside, but didnt want to put them on the outside (not sure why? I could have painted them as well....still may do this). The legs are "capped" on the back side so, the load on the outside portion is somewhat spread out, as apposed to just having the "edges" of the tubing resting on the fiberglass.
I had initially planned on building an internal cage for supporting the rack, but got lazy, especially after seeing how well it works without anything.
The rack has been up there for a couple months now with a few wheeling trips and no signs of cracking gelcoat or spidering."
Sorry to get off track guys, just showing what I am doing for limb risers...
~James