NEW HOW-TO TECH: 80 Series Aluminum Roof Rack (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

WildYoats

WildYoats

Joined
Dec 23, 2003
Threads
56
Messages
556
Location
Utah
Howdy folks-

Looking for a stout idea for making your own FULL aluminum roof rack? Try this one out! I am calling it the "J-Moose" rack....Read the tech article I did below:

rackweb02.jpg


Some quick specs:

FULL Aluminum
1250 lb. capacity!
Weight of about 50 lbs
And best of all, less than about $375 to make on your own!

READ THE J-MOOSE HOW TO ARTICLE HERE

As some of you know, I purchased my 80 a few weeks ago, here is the latest shot of her, I have been going nuts on it with mods! Stay tuned for more on it as well. :beer:

I'll post up some pics of my light tabs I made too....They are drying as we speak and I will mount the four Hellas tomorrow!
night-005web2.jpg
 
Thanks.

Acting on a tip, I researched good ol' ebay for these ATV ramps and found these for a buy it now for $89!!!! The ad does not say MOOSE on it anywhere, but in looking at these, it appears they are the same!

RAMPS ON EBAY

Best price so far. BTW, the ramp system alone is only 27 lbs!
 
Last edited:
Cool! As I read through your website, I couldn't help but think about using 2 of the Moose racks, and bolting them together lengthwise along the centerline of the roof, so that the hinges are on the outside along the raingutter. Then you could fold each of them out for an awesome tent platform. 6'x8' Wonder if it'd be strong enough? Make sense? Could fold them back on top and clamp in the middle and strap gear to the "double thick" rack.

Who knows if that'd work. It's way too late at night for me to be thinking rationally...
 
Awesome. My only concern is that the rack is designed for 1250 pounds for a few seconds at a time, spread out over soft ATV tires, and not for constant load. But I'm no engineer either, and I think I'd take the chance on a rack breaking at that price (and considering I'd never have anywhere near that load up there anyway).

Good job.

Dang, start up a company, sell me the Australian rights, and let's get rich!

David
 
Nice work!

Thanks for sharing the info. with us!

Mot
 
it'll be solid...

Rack will hold the weight just fine... they aren't made to hold it just for a few moments...but when it's on a roof, who know what the acryual rating is with the mounts... but they will hold one camping/sleepin' up there indefinetely...
 
Very nice Johnny, I have been pondering something similar.

Is there any way I could just leave my truck w/ you for a couple of weeks. :D

Do you have some kind of deadline on mods... WTF are you going to do next month?
 
Dave -

Yeah, nice find but as you stated steel. Another point as well, the width is only 43" which would really look funny (IMHO).


OZ-

Yes, good point. I guess I should have added that I hope to never really have that much weight on it. I guess it was just to throw a number out there that is impressive. As long I as continue with Weight Watchers, I hope I will never test that load limit!!! :D Even with gear!!!


Arleaux-

I have no patience man. When I sold the rockcrawler 4Runner, I immediately started to suffer withdrawel. Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately), when the 80 came I had the bug bad.


Everyone else-

Thanks, hope you enjoy the write up. I am eager to see if anyone else does it and how it turns out!


Johnny
 
Josh83 said:
That's a great idea! My only question is how is the wind noise with the roof open?
Click to expand...


It is not bad at all. Obviously not matter what you put on your roof you will get noise, but due to it's low profile, it is decent.
 
Great job on the rack and writeup! Thanks!

Do you have picture of the rack mounted on your 80, taken from the top. Also what is the clearance on the rack as it appears that you left you factory roof rack still attached.
 
Wildyoats,
Did you use the regular height COnfer mounts? I was thinking of taking off the factory rack and using a lower profile Conferr mounts...About how much clearance do you have from the roof to the bottom of the rack?
 
Nice write up!! Just what I have in mind too, was about to drop $1k for a outback rack. Definatelly gonna try this one out! Thanks man!! :)
 
Wildyoats,
I hope you are at Surf and Turf this year so I can thank you in person. You've made having a roof rack a lot more realistic and feasible for my empty pockets. Excellent write up.

Sam
 
97 FZJ80 -

When I get home tonight and mount my lights on it, I will snap and post a pic or two.

I left the OEM rack on, but did remove the two crossbows. With those gone, I think there is roughly about an inch clearance between the bottom of the rack and the side rails of the OEM rack.

Davegonz -

Yes, I used the regular Conferr Bulldog clamps. I "think" they are the lowest profile ones. Definately not the taller ones. I believe the only lower profile ones they have are a hard mount.


If anyone else has questions or needs a pic of a specific area of it, just let me know, I will gladly post them!
 
Johnny,

Your rack idea is very sweet. I currently am running a yakima load warrior basket but love the moose idea. All i would want to do it incorporate some type of side bars or something to put a surf board on. Also, FWIW SOR sells similar gutter mount clamps.....whether they are cheaper, i dont know.

Lastly, it may not be as stout but my yakima basket is mounted on yakima 1A gutermounts and 48 inch crossbars.....any reason why someone couldnt pick up the moose rack and just used some small u-bolts to mount it to some crossbars. I think thats what i would do, just to save money. Though i do like the confers better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Wafflroo
New 80 series owner
Replies
6
Views
602
NorCalFJ100
NorCalFJ100
R
New to 80 series - is this noise normal?
Replies
3
Views
401
Ragonz
R
jltemlock
Factory Roof Rack Weight Limits
Replies
2
Views
545
lumbee1
lumbee1
8
New member 80 series in Australia
Replies
2
Views
327
effjay80
effjay80

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom