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Exiled · 09-29-07, 08:57 AM

The biggest think about a home-made rack project is to keep it light and fight the urge to overbuild it. The majority of home-made racks tend to be way too strong and you run the risk of ripping out the gutter rail instead of have the rack bend/give if you ever smack the rack. Fixing a gutter rail is a very expensive proposition, much more so than fixing a rack or even making a new one.

You want it to mount as close to the roof as possible, but making sure that when fully-loaded it doesn't make contact.

3 mounts per side is usually enough but you can probably do 4 if you're going with a very long rack. Anything more than that is superfluous and again, could keep the rack from flexing when you need it to.

Aluminum is the preferred material but it's costly (materials and welding).

Dimension-wise, I would recommend keeping the width to between the rain gutters.

09-29-07, 08:57 AM	#2
Exiled Not even a web wheeler Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Round Rock, TX TLCA# 4080 Posts: 1,422	The biggest think about a home-made rack project is to keep it light and fight the urge to overbuild it. The majority of home-made racks tend to be way too strong and you run the risk of ripping out the gutter rail instead of have the rack bend/give if you ever smack the rack. Fixing a gutter rail is a very expensive proposition, much more so than fixing a rack or even making a new one. You want it to mount as close to the roof as possible, but making sure that when fully-loaded it doesn't make contact. 3 mounts per side is usually enough but you can probably do 4 if you're going with a very long rack. Anything more than that is superfluous and again, could keep the rack from flexing when you need it to. Aluminum is the preferred material but it's costly (materials and welding). Dimension-wise, I would recommend keeping the width to between the rain gutters. __________________ 1999 UZJ100 "the Watermelon"