Racks...

[Mudrunner]

Okay so since I own a Sport I know it is a bit narrower than the Big boys, and I had this idea of a inexpensive rack set up, but I thought I would run it by you wonderful people and see what thoughts you all had.

My thought is to use a wood/ladder rack from a pickup, you know the kind that bolt to the bed rails and go over the cab. Then I would have to extend the legs and probably re-route the legs as well to avoid door problems.

So this would have a sort of exoskeleton look to it, more practical than protection. I would of course need to mount it to the frame.

Like I said this is just a inexpensive rack set up so any ideas would be welcome.

 

[SoCalMonty]

I don't see why not. Though, no need to connect it to the frame. Connecting it to the body sheet metal would be more than adequate to handle a few hundred pounds, and you won't want more than that up there anyway!

This seems less like a rack, though, and more like extravagant cross bars. You could get universal cross bars, or a universal rack for less money and effort. I noticed Wal-Mart sells Reese (I think?) universal cargo racks. They aren't huge, but they're under $100 and would mount to just about any rail or crossbar system you could think of.

Personally, I'd go with some universal rain gutter mounts, cross bars, and season to taste. Keep an eye on Craigslist and you can often find good deals on used cargo/safari racks.

My setup is some universal crossbars (54" maybe?), Surco gutter mounts, and a cargo box. I'll be adding some extras to the crossbars but I'm still planning things out...probably something to hold jerry cans or a 5' length of ABS for potable water.

There's also the temporary kind which I've used before with success on a few cars...they have 4 rubberized feet and strap down inside the door jamb, pulling it down to the roof and holding it tight. This is a good way to go if you don't want anything permanently mounted.

 

[Mudrunner]

I don't have rain gutters... all I have is the factory runners. I was thinking something like this because baskets are kinda small and this would be almost the whole length of the passenger area. Plus I think it would look sweet! lol