Needed more rack clearance

[sethzilla]

Hi everyone, i'm in the process of building up my 80 as a solid exploration rig and wheeler. I just got it so the list of mods has begun! Someone gave me a homebuilt roof rack off of their Cherokee and i found a set of gutter mount rack crossbars at my brothers shop. The only problem was they were just too tall. Some of my favorite wheeling trails up in Big Sur have tree limbs that are pretty close to the top of my rig.

So i decided to modify their overall height my cutting them down to make the crossbar just a 1/2" above of the roof line.
Here you can see how long they originally were;

I cut them down a few inches and welded a plate in to re-enforce the crossbar tie in point

After welding you can see they almost sit flush across the top of the cruiser

Next i cut the crossbars down to just 52" across to eliminate them sticking out and snagging trees/rocks/pedestrians I plan on making a rack slider like Hanna and Slee have done, to help keep the rig from getting bashed.

Here is the side view of the rackmount and crossbar, second picture is to show how much clearance there is above the roof now. About a 1/2".

All assembled and ready for the next phase of rack mods; removing those crappy jack mounts/installing a expanded lathe floor/ LED lightbar mounts and LED aux lights

From the front you can see how minimalistic it now appears and i've dropped the 80 3 inches in overall height.

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics but you can get an idea of what i've done.

On to the next phase!

 

[NorCalBorn]

Nice, what did you use to seal/paint the towers after the cut/weld? SLO's torture on steel. Be sure to clean and wax the roofline and gutters before final assembly, then every few months to clean out and dirt/grime/salt.

FWIW I just finished my first attempt to do the same, lower the overall height of my THULE system. I pulled the factory double-bar setup and lock-clamps for some HD-pipe-clamps then strung the load bars through the rack. I got it to lower 3" overall.

Next step just finished was "tuning" my fairing with some Avid CPS (bicycle v/disc-brake pivot shims) and longer bolts to kick the bottom out just right to stop the wind howl and vibration at anything over 40mph. It'll roll at 70mpg on I-5 without a peep.

 

[sethzilla]

I used some rust killer primer then hit them with flat black. Still have to get shorter bolts for the gutter clamp but then i'll paint them too. Not worried about the body work, i plan on flat blacking this rig and then giving it my own style of camo like on my FJ44Magnum "Hellion"

Most likely in a urban black/grey/white theme

I like how you dropped your Thule system. I was looking at that one and the Yakima but didn't like the height issue. Not sure if i need the fairing yet, no noise and the tires are so bad it negates any other vibrations i might already have. Planning on putting 315's on it very soon.

 

[NorCalBorn]

I thought you sold Hellion back in November? You canceled the ad on Pirate?

 

[sethzilla]

No still haven't sold her, am parting it out now. Sold the 1 tons last week. She's in my front driveway sitting on her leaf springs!