Chassis mounted, Roof Rack project.

[HomerOz]

G'Day Fella's,

Well I finally compleated all of the uprights.
The transition pieces, wern't all that difficult after all.
I just got the uprights trimmed to the same length, and the same with the horizontal top piece and then got them in place with the "Bubble Stick", then took measurments between the two.
I then glued them together, and Hey Presto.
Here's some images;

If you look at the top of the uprights (in the side stops) in the last image, you can see the "Eye Bolts" and 1/2" Plugs, screwed into the 1/2" BSP pipe sockets.
These will be for tarp ropes etc, to tie onto.

Almost done, I have the front to back uprights side spacer to complete and install, and the top horizontal platform, front extension to cut up and weld on, and thats it (apart from some Nutserts, for bolt on bits).

Doh!
Homer

 

[HomerOz]

But wait, there's more......

 

[HomerOz]

G'Day Fella's,

Over the last few weeks, I've machined up and hand shaped the following parts.
These are for the front to back uprights side spacer mounting points (the shiny stainless steel bits-threaded for M10), and the side spacer ends (radiused angle iron bits) and two Eye Bolts and 1/2" BSP threaded bush.

And over the last couple of days, I marked out and mounted these in place, in the front and rear roof rack uprights.
Once these were in place, I then measured up the required length of the 50x25x2.5mm (1"x2"x?), and cut and tack welded these together.
Once they were confirmed to be OK, I then glued them together and gave them a coat of paint (while they were still to hot..... hence the blistered paint..... D'oh!).

Then here are some shots of the connections at both ends, bolted in place on the vehicle.

D'oh!
Homer

 

[HomerOz]

But wait, there's more........

Here you can see the inside/back of the spacer mounting points.
I hole sawed thru the uprights and TIG welded these stainless bushes in place, on both ends.

I will do some field trials, just to confirm all is as it should be........ I hope.
I'll then weld on the top forward extension, give the whole thing a tidy up, then it should be ready for powder coating.

Avagreatweekendeh!
Homer

 

[cruiserpilot]

Uh, just WOW! Amazing workmanship. Looks fantastic.

 

[JuanJ]

Uh, just WOW! Amazing workmanship. Looks fantastic.

Hello,

x2.






Juan

 

[NM Frontier]

Very cool!

 

[HomerOz]

G'Day Fella's,

Thanks for the kind comments.

Regards
Homer

 

[clintnz]

Nice - some really tidy engineering there!

Too late now, & fairly academic given how stout the rest of the structure is, but you'd add quite a bit of fore/aft rigidity by having two bolts at each end of your horizontal brace under the side windows.

Cheers
Clint

 

[HomerOz]

G'Day Fella's,

Thanks for the kind comments Clintnz.
There is some (I Hope), sound thinking behind my use of only one M10 bolt, on the end of each horizontal brace Clint.
I wanted to design in a bit of flexability into this part of the roof rack, hence the single M10 bolts option.
I also designed into the stainless bushes at the end of these same braces, some close clearances between the parts, to give it rigitity but still allow pivotal movement.

Also, as you will see some time soon, there is a reason I used 50x25x2.5mm (2"x1"1/10th") RHS, for these same horizontal brace spacer's.............

Regards
Homer

 

[HomerOz]

G'Day Fella's,

I made up the forward extension, for the top horizontal deck.
I then got to work with a new toy, a Nutsert tool and put a couple M8's in this same extension. I then welded the two (top deck) parts together.

Also and FYI, here are a couple of gerry can holders and Gerry Cans (GC) in place, mounted (with M8 Nutserts), onto the top of the side braces (on both sides of the Battle Cruiser).
I still need to make up the top support bracket for these GC holder, and Nutsert these in place to the uprights
My primary reason for placing these here, is to keep them as low as possible, have them out of the way but convienient (and the GC's can be put inplace or removed, without a ladder) and hopefully, they will be in a reasonably safe location.
These GC holders, will obviously take both fuel and water GC's, so depending on where I'm going..................

D'oh!
Homer

 

[HomerOz]

G'Day Fella's,

Over the last couple of weeks, I got around to doing a few of the small parts of this project.
As before, a picture is worth a ................

I wanted to have a pair of low profile rubber rollers, at the very rear edge of the top horizontal platform.
So I ruffed them out then milled them to final size and drilled an 8.2mm clearence hole in them, then dressed them up and "glued" them in place.

I then made up and fitted the top, side, horizontal spacers/Gerry Can holders.

"I'll Be Back!"

 

[HomerOz]

But Wait...... there's more........

Here you can see the slotted forward end of the top, side horizontal spacers/Gerry Can (GC) holders.
You will see shortly, that I machined up some stainless bushes, and these fit into these slots/holes, at both the front and rear mounting positions.
The slight clearence between these bushes, allows the horizontal spacers to move in these slots and flex some amount.

Here is the front RHS top horizontal spacer in place, prior to placing the stainless bush and M8 bolt in place. You can see the M8 Nutsert in the upright.

Here are two of the stainless bushes.

And here is the horizontal spacer in place, minus the GC's.

Ditto.......

 

[HomerOz]

And again..........

Here's all four GC's in place, on the Battle Cruiser.

Avagreatweekendeh!
Homer

 

[divemedic]

This is really coming along nicely! I’m now seeing why you wanted to go with your original design despite the naysayers (me). Are you going to add tie-ins for the leading edge of the rack down the a-pillars? Why or why not?

It seems the rack is removable? Anything to do with safety inspections/registration?

 

[HomerOz]

G'Day Divemedic and Thank You for your kind comments.

I was thinking of putting a Anti-Zombie cage, across the windscreen ........ no just kidding.
Whilst I did contemplate joining the leading edge of the roof rack, down to the windscreen hinges, I probably won't go there.

Yes mate, the idea behind this roof rack, is to be able to remove the whole thing, when it's not required.
The other day, I did a timed run on this.
It took me 10 minutes to remove the top, side horizontal spacers and the 4 x Gerry Can holders.
It then took me 17 minutes (again with hand tools) to remove the top platform, the two lower side braces and the 4 uprights.
So given this, I do believe I have achieved what I set out to do.

I now need to make up and install the lower, rear bracket reinforcment braces.
I think I have worked this out, so I'll post some images of these, as I go.

By the way, a good mate of mine has labled this roof rack, "The Eifel Tower"!
I think this is a bit cruel, as the Eifel Tower isn't able to move around and go bush..... LOL!

D'oh!
Homer

 

[lcwizard]

I've built a few exo cages over the years. Their biggest issue is they want to tap the body when you're running down a washboard road.
( I believe you Aussies refer to them as corrugated roads ). Here's link to the last we did. It's now somewhere in New Zealand I think.
We tied it to the windshield mounts to help control the right to left oscillation .

https://photos.app.goo.gl/8aWQChzV58J3tKsT6

 

[HomerOz]

G'Day Fella's,

Icwizard, thank you for bringing this information, to my attention.
Also Wow! Thats an impressive designed, constructed and looking exo cage!

If there is a problem with the roof rack/exo cage hitting the body of the Battle Cruiser, I have a couple of ideas that I hope will address this.
One possibility, is to anchor the rack to the M10 (?) nut, behind the "FRP Top" badge, in the B pillar.
The other was to glue 20mm-3/4" thick high density, closed cell foam, to the inside of the roof rack uprights, around the junction of the steel body and the FRP Top?

I'm hoping to get away bush this weekend, and there are plenty of corrigations on the way there, so this may give me some indication of any potential issues.

Regards
Homer

 

[HomerOz]

G'Day Fella's,

No issues were experienced, with the any part of the roof rack touching the body of the vehicle.
The corrigation were not a problem, so thats a relief.

Here is a few images of how I get the top horizontal deck, from the ground to it's place, on top of the Battle Cruiser (BC).
I picked up a discarded swiming pool "Noodle", some time back, thinking to myself "I'll find a job for that......"
So I cut two pieces about 200mm/8 Inches long, and slip them over an under sized bit of old steel conduit/pipe.
I place the rest of the Noodle, length wise, on top of the cabin.
I then pick up the top deck portion with my two wheel trolley (it's not that heavy, just awkward to carry) and roll it up to the rear of the BC.
I give it a lift and it then rolls along with the two short bits of Noodle rotating, until in place.
I then remove the rear Noodles first, lower it into place, then the main Noodle and bolt it down and Bingo, she's done.

Nearly time for Powder Coating.

Avagreatweekendeh!
Homer

 

[ALX4X4]

Diggin' this and watching with interest for the e-bay version when you're ready....
I'm going to put either a hard shell or RTT on mine but probably going with a low-budget roof rack (where they mount two legs to the rear window gutter and 2 legs to the over door gutter) or the e-bay version of youirs
I dont need the jerry can holders, not sold on that idea just the rest...........