Roof rack build up: (scroll to the end of the post for pics of the completed rack)
Edit: I did this write-up a long while ago and forgot about it / didn't have time to post it until now. Prices may have changed.
I built this extra long roof rack for several reasons.
I needed a rack this big since I imported my rig into Haiti, so to help out the Air Conditioner as much as I can, I made this different and into a heat shield roof rack. I got the idea from a Land Rover where they had a layer of metal below the roof rack and above the vehicles roof to block the sun, like a heat shield for the roof. I modified that idea to add a visor to the front by extending it even further. My spare also went up there.
I got the main idea from the J-Moose Roof rack. Seen here:
NEW HOW-TO TECH: 80 Series Aluminum Roof Rack
I started with two sets of 1500lb capacity ATV ramps from Harbor Freight, on sale for $80, and only $64 after a 20% off coupon.
I bought the following metal from Speedymetals.com (no affiliation with them, I paid full price for material and shipping):
20ft - 1in square aluminum tube. $8 for 10ft x 2 = $16.
36ft - 3in wide x .125in thick strap. $17 for 12ft x 3 = $51.
$16 + $51 + $18 shipping = $85 (arrived in two days)
The mounts are from a roof rack kit I bought on ebay for $60. His listing was $78.xx + $7 shipping, I offered $53 + $7 shipping and he accepted, so maybe others can get the same deal or even better.
FORD DODGE HEAVY DUTY VAN RACK GUTTER MOUNT 3 BARS KIT | eBay
They were cheap, but most importantly very wide - about 6 inches wide in the gutter. This could be one of the worst photoshops on ebay.
Total so far:
$64 + $64 + $85 + $60 = $269 (shipping and tax included)
The carraige bolts were bought locally by the pound (less than $10) and the large piece of flat "heat shield board" is an old farm show promo sign made of corrugated plastic sandwiched between thin sheets of aluminum and it was free.
If you don't want a heat shield floor to your rack, use 2 inch wide aluminum straps to go acroos the bottom where the square tubes go across the top. If you only use the square tubes the rack will sag in the middle under load and may touch the roof. The straps or board keeps the ladders from spreading apart under load and I can stand on this with very little deflection.
Here's the build steps and pics:
1. Cut the chains off the top of the ramps and drill out the rivets on the hinges on both ramp sets and the rivets in the taligate fingers on one set to remove them. These ramps fold to a small size, but now the hinges are gone they look like short ladders so that's what I'll call them. The fingers that rest on the tailgate while loading an ATV are still on the front set so they can hold the front of the visor area at a slight downward angle mostly for looks.
2. Installed the mounts and cut the square tube to the 54in width I want for the rack.
3. Set the parts up top to figure out the correct front visor overhang and total length. Then I cut the bottom rung off the front ladder and three rungs off the rear ladder so they will meet at the middle mount. Then I sanded the cut area flush with the remaining rung with an angle grinder.
3. Next I noticed the rivets might not hold as tight as I'd like so I drilled out the rivets in the end rungs, ran carriage bolts through the holes and cut off the extra thread.
4. For the rungs that will meet in the center, I marked what ladder they belonged to, and removed them in pairs to be drilled, since my drill won't fit to drill them while installed on the ladders, but a right angle drill might work.
5. Re-installed the end rungs, and centered the rear center ladder and one square tube on the old sign board and drilled through the square tube, the sides of the ladders (close to the edge of the side of the ladder for more support) and through the sign. Carraige bolts were installed up through the bottom with a washer on both sides to grip the tube and sign better. The ends will be cut off later, I may need them to install hooks for tie-downs. Then I bolted the front ladder to the rear ladder and bolted the front square tube and front of the front ladder to the sign.
6. Align the outer ladders with the ends of the square tube and bolt them on. There's a slight gap on each side since the board is 48 inches wide and the rack is 54 inches wide, but the sides of the ladders are about 1.5 inches wide so only a 1.5 inch gap remains and I'm ok with it since it will block the vast majority of the sunlight.
7. Bend a piece of the strap to create curved corners, I first centered the strap on the middle ladder and bolted it on, then I marked where I wanted the curve to start and end. Then I used some antique 1940's vintage road flare containers my dad had and bent the strap around them. My wife stood on the strap on a cinder block and I used my weight to bend them around the flare container.
The containers might actually look pretty cool, all restored and on a truck of the right period.
8. Hold the curved rear strap above where it bolts and mark where to cut the corners out. Cut off the rear corners and bolt the strap to the middle ladder and then to the outside ladders on the back, then on the sides.
9. Bolted strap on each side for a lip, and taper the front pieces to match the angle of the visor. 3 inch strap allows a little overhang below the sides of the ladders and a little above the top of the square tubes, 2 inch strap is not enough to cover both.
Sorry I don't have pics for steps 9 and 10
10. Bolt strap on the fingers for the visor.
11. Paint sides.
Here's a few pics before I painted the sides.
if you wanted you could drill holes for the lights (rear running, stop and turn signal lights).
Next I built a mount for my spare.
Notes about weight:
ladders - after cutting rungs off, removing chains and removing one set of tailgate fingers = 11lbs each long ladder x 3
flat aluminum about 2.5lbs each x 5.2 (technically 6, but I cut off enough for the leftovers to equal close to 1 strap)
square tube aluminum about 1lb each x 4
mounts and bolts?
Total: 33 + 13 + 4 = 50lbs + bolts & mounts
all this is spread out over 6 mounts that are 6 inches wide = 36 inches
50lb / 36 inches = 1.4 lbs per inch of gutter contact unloaded
If my spare and spare mount weigh a combined 50lb, then I only have 2.8lbs per inch of gutter contact while regularly loaded, or about 17lbs per mount. It's worked out fine for the last 3 years in Haiti.
I hope this can help someone with ideas for improving their rig. I'll try to get some recent pics up soon.
Edit: I did this write-up a long while ago and forgot about it / didn't have time to post it until now. Prices may have changed.
I built this extra long roof rack for several reasons.
I needed a rack this big since I imported my rig into Haiti, so to help out the Air Conditioner as much as I can, I made this different and into a heat shield roof rack. I got the idea from a Land Rover where they had a layer of metal below the roof rack and above the vehicles roof to block the sun, like a heat shield for the roof. I modified that idea to add a visor to the front by extending it even further. My spare also went up there.
I got the main idea from the J-Moose Roof rack. Seen here:
NEW HOW-TO TECH: 80 Series Aluminum Roof Rack
I started with two sets of 1500lb capacity ATV ramps from Harbor Freight, on sale for $80, and only $64 after a 20% off coupon.
I bought the following metal from Speedymetals.com (no affiliation with them, I paid full price for material and shipping):
20ft - 1in square aluminum tube. $8 for 10ft x 2 = $16.
36ft - 3in wide x .125in thick strap. $17 for 12ft x 3 = $51.
$16 + $51 + $18 shipping = $85 (arrived in two days)
The mounts are from a roof rack kit I bought on ebay for $60. His listing was $78.xx + $7 shipping, I offered $53 + $7 shipping and he accepted, so maybe others can get the same deal or even better.
FORD DODGE HEAVY DUTY VAN RACK GUTTER MOUNT 3 BARS KIT | eBay
They were cheap, but most importantly very wide - about 6 inches wide in the gutter. This could be one of the worst photoshops on ebay.
Total so far:
$64 + $64 + $85 + $60 = $269 (shipping and tax included)
The carraige bolts were bought locally by the pound (less than $10) and the large piece of flat "heat shield board" is an old farm show promo sign made of corrugated plastic sandwiched between thin sheets of aluminum and it was free.
If you don't want a heat shield floor to your rack, use 2 inch wide aluminum straps to go acroos the bottom where the square tubes go across the top. If you only use the square tubes the rack will sag in the middle under load and may touch the roof. The straps or board keeps the ladders from spreading apart under load and I can stand on this with very little deflection.
Here's the build steps and pics:
1. Cut the chains off the top of the ramps and drill out the rivets on the hinges on both ramp sets and the rivets in the taligate fingers on one set to remove them. These ramps fold to a small size, but now the hinges are gone they look like short ladders so that's what I'll call them. The fingers that rest on the tailgate while loading an ATV are still on the front set so they can hold the front of the visor area at a slight downward angle mostly for looks.
2. Installed the mounts and cut the square tube to the 54in width I want for the rack.
3. Set the parts up top to figure out the correct front visor overhang and total length. Then I cut the bottom rung off the front ladder and three rungs off the rear ladder so they will meet at the middle mount. Then I sanded the cut area flush with the remaining rung with an angle grinder.
3. Next I noticed the rivets might not hold as tight as I'd like so I drilled out the rivets in the end rungs, ran carriage bolts through the holes and cut off the extra thread.
4. For the rungs that will meet in the center, I marked what ladder they belonged to, and removed them in pairs to be drilled, since my drill won't fit to drill them while installed on the ladders, but a right angle drill might work.
5. Re-installed the end rungs, and centered the rear center ladder and one square tube on the old sign board and drilled through the square tube, the sides of the ladders (close to the edge of the side of the ladder for more support) and through the sign. Carraige bolts were installed up through the bottom with a washer on both sides to grip the tube and sign better. The ends will be cut off later, I may need them to install hooks for tie-downs. Then I bolted the front ladder to the rear ladder and bolted the front square tube and front of the front ladder to the sign.
6. Align the outer ladders with the ends of the square tube and bolt them on. There's a slight gap on each side since the board is 48 inches wide and the rack is 54 inches wide, but the sides of the ladders are about 1.5 inches wide so only a 1.5 inch gap remains and I'm ok with it since it will block the vast majority of the sunlight.
7. Bend a piece of the strap to create curved corners, I first centered the strap on the middle ladder and bolted it on, then I marked where I wanted the curve to start and end. Then I used some antique 1940's vintage road flare containers my dad had and bent the strap around them. My wife stood on the strap on a cinder block and I used my weight to bend them around the flare container.
The containers might actually look pretty cool, all restored and on a truck of the right period.
8. Hold the curved rear strap above where it bolts and mark where to cut the corners out. Cut off the rear corners and bolt the strap to the middle ladder and then to the outside ladders on the back, then on the sides.
9. Bolted strap on each side for a lip, and taper the front pieces to match the angle of the visor. 3 inch strap allows a little overhang below the sides of the ladders and a little above the top of the square tubes, 2 inch strap is not enough to cover both.
Sorry I don't have pics for steps 9 and 10
10. Bolt strap on the fingers for the visor.
11. Paint sides.
Here's a few pics before I painted the sides.
if you wanted you could drill holes for the lights (rear running, stop and turn signal lights).
Next I built a mount for my spare.
Notes about weight:
ladders - after cutting rungs off, removing chains and removing one set of tailgate fingers = 11lbs each long ladder x 3
flat aluminum about 2.5lbs each x 5.2 (technically 6, but I cut off enough for the leftovers to equal close to 1 strap)
square tube aluminum about 1lb each x 4
mounts and bolts?
Total: 33 + 13 + 4 = 50lbs + bolts & mounts
all this is spread out over 6 mounts that are 6 inches wide = 36 inches
50lb / 36 inches = 1.4 lbs per inch of gutter contact unloaded
If my spare and spare mount weigh a combined 50lb, then I only have 2.8lbs per inch of gutter contact while regularly loaded, or about 17lbs per mount. It's worked out fine for the last 3 years in Haiti.
I hope this can help someone with ideas for improving their rig. I'll try to get some recent pics up soon.
