And here are some added details that might be missing on the plans.
The tube is 3/4" OD x 1/16" wall. There may be some details missing on the drawing but with the pictures everything will come together.
I used plasti dip on the bottom of the side tab that rest in the rain gutter. I let the plasti dip cure for a 24 hours and that gives a soft material to cover the steel so it doesn't scratch into the truck and cause rust.
SS bolts would be nice also but they are of course more $$$
Once your done, you'll want to paint it with tremclad or some type of rust proof paint.
When you are mounting the rack, the plans say that the two middle mounting slats (or arms) need some bending out to suit the curve in the rain gutters. Also when I first built the rack I had to shorten the two middle mounting slats by about 3/8" to make it fit, BUT when I got my new truck and mounted the rack I had to suck the middle two arms down.
So, you may have some minor adjusting to make to the mounting slats but if you've managed to build the rack this shouldn't be an issue.
And here are the pictures, just save these to your computer as well. With the plan and the pictures you should have no problems. You can always ask questions and there may be some folks who come up with some other ideas which are better than mine.
Just wanted to give back to mud in some way. I've gotten some great help here so this is the start of my "pay it forward"
yes, I agree. the password protection won't let us in. if you wanted to e-mail it to me I could upload it as a file on my website. otherwise you'll have to either give the password or figure out how to make it unprotected.
Well since I said I would, here's the file up on my website. just in case any sort of problem comes up with the file sharing or if people want to just download it directly.
and once again, thanks a ton mainlander. this'll be a great help. after I fix other stuff that really needs it I should be all over making one of these racks.
Wile E........... they are stock on rig's with a stock roof rack I think. You can probably get them from SOR though.
You shouldn't need them with the roof rack. I changed the original plans to allow for more clearence between the underside of the roof rack and the top of the truck, but just 1/2-3/4"
On thing I'd like to do one day is make a removable light rack that bolts onto the front of the roof rack. That way when I go on a trip I can just bolt it up there and when I'm home, I can take it off so nothing happens to the lights.
Wow, that's one heck of a rack! That thing looks heck-a-sturdy. Thanks for the post. I'm going to try and convince (a case of beer) a friend to let me use his welding equipment and maybe it will turn out as nice as yours.
So over that last several months, I've had the plans for the roof rack downloaded about 40 times, so I'm wondering if anyone has made the rack, made some adjustments to it and if we can see some pics of others roof racks