Low Budget Roof Rack (1 Viewer)

[McGrinnan]

Ok so having a family of 4 going on 5 with 2 full sized dogs I needed more room for camping/bugging out and didn't have the money to buy a rack so I came to you guys. I found a bunch of you guys made yours out of EMT conduit. Well my brother works as a sign fabricator so he had a bender for a 3/4 emt conduit. Works for me and saves me $70 I would if I would of had to get one. So we got to bending and welding. I wanted to maximize my rack so I used as much possible room as possible....52x90

Then we found out the the light bar I got was a bit wider then we anticipated....Oh well, found some scrap square tube metal and welded some brackets to fit it!

Next was the wall bracing and the the top level of EMT!

Next was the mounts. I sure as hell didn't wanna spend $100-200 for 6 mounts so again went to the scrap metal pile at my brothers shop and found some diamond plate steel and some angled steel. Chopped a house bolts, welded up and bam!

 

[McGrinnan]

Did a little test fit!

so far good! So we started moving to the visors to make the air flow like we wanted it. I saw it on here. (Forgive my lack of memory who it was but once you see it they will know who they are! Thank you)

Then the most amazing thing happened! My dad was talking to his neighbor about me and my brother building us the rack and told us we could have the sheet of expanded steel in his back yard! So we cut it down, yes I repeat we cut it down to fit. Welded some tabs to bolt it to the cross members and welded along the edge!

 

[McGrinnan]

The next step was a giant pain in the ass...paint! Every angle possible had to be painted and using Rust-O-Leum rust paint and primer made a bit difficult. Alas the finished product!

Then for the testing phase!

The garbage bags are covering up my gear as it was raining up in La Plata Canyon but I had up on the rack a memory foam mattress topper, a suitcase with 4 days for 3 people clothes, tent, sleeping bag, pillows, and my fold down dog kennel! As you can see I had much more room for gear! As a bonus I also had very little drag. Driving I had the cruise control set and and it had no issue maintaining speed. It had very little wind noise when fully loaded and none when empty!

Here's a pic of the upper visor when I stopped to get a shot of my older brothers truck and the 80!

My brother grabbed a pretty sweet trail shot! Sometimes these phones gets some pretty good photos!

 

[McGrinnan]

Finally the light bar/headlight comparison pics....first the 2000 lumen led low beams

next the 5000 lumen hi beam HIDs

finally the 30,000 lumen led light bar

The picture really doesn't do it justice! This things is ridiculously bright!

 

[McGrinnan]

All and all I bought and used 10-10 ft EMT conduit tubes that were $3 ea. So the materials were $30. The metal was out of a scrap pile from my brothers shop and the expanded metal from a metal yard owner. It was free and should be a good looking point for people on here of where to get some scraps. They have to pay someone to haul it off so they might be willing to part with some. Then bought the paint at $5 a can and used 8 cans at $40. So grand total my rack cost me $70.

 

[Mixelplix]

Extremely nice work! You've got my gears turning..

 

[dorkmagus]

Nice work! I'm planning on doing something similar in the near future. Just curious, did you use this type bender?

 

[McGrinnan]

Yes I did! It's not perfect but a little tweaking and taking your time make a world of difference!

 

[half k cruiser]

I am assuming you can't walk on this stuff ?

 

[McGrinnan]

Extremely nice work! You've got my gears turning..

It's definitely one of my favorite mods. That's saying something because I've wanted a snorkel on my ride since I was young and saw one on someone's ride!

 

[McGrinnan]

I am assuming you can't walk on this stuff ?

I actually had my friend of 240 lbs walk on it along with my brother of 150 and myself at 190 walk/sit/lay on it! I'm very impressed with the sturdiness and strength of the EMT! Their are people on here putting 600 lbs on their EMT racks without issue!

 

[half k cruiser]

I actually had my friend of 240 lbs walk on it along with my brother of 150 and myself at 190 walk/sit/lay on it! I'm very impressed with the sturdiness and strength of the EMT! Their are people on here putting 600 lbs on their EMT racks without issue!

I may have to look into this

 

[McGrinnan]

I think total it took maybe 20 hours to do start to finish. Way less then a gobi or Baja rack and can hold more weight! Plus you make it how you want it! Was a no brained to me so I had to do it!

 

[McGrinnan]

Finally got around to getting this bad boys cut out, painted and up on the rack! Finally got some time to throw more up on their. Should have some lights, that @Phildoh recommended, up next week.

 

[Phildoh]

@McGrinnan badass!

 

[LFD2037]

Isn't the EMT galvanized? If so, how did you deal with that aspect?

 

[McDowra]

Do you fill comfortable this would hold up a roof top ten?

 

[McGrinnan]

Isn't the EMT galvanized? If so, how did you deal with that aspect?

Pretty simple just wear a respirator, grind down where you weld and a exhaust fan. Hope that's what you are asking about.

 

[McGrinnan]

Do you fill comfortable this would hold up a roof top ten?

I put a few hundred pounds up on it and measured to see if it flexed and nothing not one bit. Like I said I was blown away by the rigidity of it!

 

[LFD2037]

Pretty simple just wear a respirator, grind down where you weld and a exhaust fan. Hope that's what you are asking about.

I thought about the fan but for it to be effective I think it'd blow my welding gas away & ruin the welds.