1st gen 4runner DIY roof racks.

[IslandJ]

Looking for some examples of the home brew roof racks. Photochopped this together but was curious what others were doing.
Third pict shows how a guy on IG attaches his RTT using Superstrut and Nutserts which I thought was pretty slick and economical.

 

[ntsqd]

This is the rack that I built for going to a very remote pit for the Baja 1000 in 2001:

The image isn't great and it is the only pic that I have of the rack. Built from 1.25 SQ X .095 wall tube. Rear tube had threaded inserts welded into the bottom to attach an air deflector for an attempt to keep the rear window free of silt (that didn't get made - time crunch). Pair of Bike-Tight type bike mounts welded to the front and rear tubes. Two sections of 1/2" ply top with a 1/4 ply bottom divided by a mid-length cross-ways tube. Spacer tabs made both plys flush to either the top or the bottom. The idea was to create the least disruption to airflow as was possible while also creating a "Safari Top" to aid in keeping the interior cooler. With the aero of a brick before the rack I'm not sure that keeping it free of stuff sticking up or out made much difference, but could sure tell the difference in interior temperature when the rack went on. Corners of the ply were mitered large enough that it didn't need tie-downs, could simply wrap around one or more of the tubes to tie-down anything. We transported plywood table tops down to the pit site so I made separate cross-bars that allowed clamping them in place with a C-Clamp on each side.
Each of the 6 landing feet used a door hinge with one side welded to the landing foot and the other screwed to the structure under the roof skin. The hinge pins were replaced with hex head cap screws and nylox nuts. The purpose of them was to allow some relative movement between the rack frame and the body of the truck. I screwed down the base side of the hinges with The Right Stuff under them and in the screw threads. She was a good rig, it's too bad the Rust Monster took her not long after this pic was taken.

For a 1st gen I'd have a look at how pappy has his RTT mounted on his 4rnnr.
HTH.....

 

[Txfireman]

I have an old school Con-Ferr roof rack mounted on mine. It is plenty sturdy and probably could hold the weight of a tent. What I don't like , is the way it's mounted (but that's the way it was when I bought it) It uses 4 hinges on each side of the rack, each hinge has 2 bolts that go through the top and are secured inside with acorn nuts. (total of 16 penetrations through my hard top). I also do not like that my rack cannot easily be removed from the truck.
I like the idea of using unistrut or similar type material to mount the rack on. Using unistrut would help distribute the weight of your load and minimize the amount of holes through the hard top. I'll be following to see what you come up with.

 

[ntsqd]

Well before I would consider using Unistrut I'd use 80/20 p/n: 1575 extrusion 1575 - https://8020.net/1575.html

 

[IslandJ]

Well before I would consider using Unistrut I'd use 80/20 p/n: 1575 extrusion 1575 - https://8020.net/1575.html

Very cool. Thanks. Going to see if I can find a local spot that sells that

 

[ntsqd]

80/20.com or Mcmaster.com both sell it. Lee Valley Hardware (.com?) sells something very similar. 80/20 does have local vendors. In the LA area that is Numatic Engineering in SFV somewhere (Chatsworth?). My work buys from them fairly frequently. Numatic can supply it cut to your exact needed length. If you know exactly where your holes and any possible counterbores need to be, they can do that too.

What I linked is 80/20's 1.5" series. They also make metric sizes as well as 1.0" and 2.0" I based which to link on the 1.5" using mostly 5/16"-8mm hardware while the 1" stuff is limited to 1/4" or 6mm fasteners.
This stuff is Erector Sets for Engineers! Have a look at the 80/20 page if you're not familiar with it. Some of the stuff people build with it is amazing!