Safari Rack Help

[High-Gear]

Hello All,

I have a 2009 Tacoma DC TRD off road. It has an ARE camper shell, which I plan to mount a Con-Ferr safari rack to. I picked up a used rack which was 5 feet wide by 6.5' long. I cut out 1 ' from the center and welded it to make it 4' wide, and 6.5' long. My hope was to mount this to the camper shell, and have about 18 inches cantilevered over the truck cab. All of the fabrication work is done, now I need to know how high I should mount it away from the cab due to flex between the cab and the bed. I don't want for the rack to damage the top of the cab in an off road situation.


What is your guy's experience with this?

 

[Overland Hadley]

I am not sure, but from what I have read I would think you would want at least 3". The bed can flex (side to side compared to the cab) a surprising amount. You might even need more than 3".

 

[Tim A]

Does the rack have "feet" which mount on the camper shell or are you using a rack like Yakima or Thule?

 

[High-Gear]

The rack has feet which mount to the camper shell. When we mocked it up today there was about 2" of clearance.

I was thinking of cutting some 2" square tubing and bolting it between the "feet" and where they mount to the basket. When it is all leveled I think I should have 3-4" of clearance. My only other option is to cut the basket back to 5' long and end it where the camper fits flush with the cab. The rack came with 4 KC daylighters and I'd really like to use those, but that far back I think I'd just be lighting up the trees, due to not being able to angle them down to do me some good.

The only photos I have been able to find of racks which go over the cab are "ladder" type racks and they tend to hug the cab pretty tightly.

I see TacoDoc's rig and his rack seems to hug it pretty close.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12150

What say you TacoDoc? Any input on this topic?

 

[Dave Bennett]

3-4 inches of clearance should be good.

That being said, the experts will tell you that racks and weight up high is no bueno... look at a certain famous G-Wagen featured in OJ and you'll notice he carries all his weight internal and down low for COG. One of many reasons why I went a different direction from my original rack. The composite bed on the Taco does not like too much weight on the bedsides either...

.02