New home made roof rack project (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Nov 9, 2004
Threads
121
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590
Location
Kent England
This is my nearly done home made roof rack, made out of 3/4 inch alumininium box, it is the full length of the car, I have more aluminium to add to strengthen it up a bit, but feels really sturdy at the moment.

When finished I am having it powder coated dark grey, I will keep you posted on the project
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Cheers Box... It's a bit boxey, (no pun intended) but once it's powder coated it will look a lot better :)
 
aluminum, and powdercoat? sounds expensive

but looks good

Any plans for lights?
 
Do you have plans to triangulate the braces to the top rail? I'd say, especially if you're thinking about a RTT in the future, that's a must. Even if you will use those top rails as tie-points for cargo, they'll need to be pretty strong.

I'd also be interested to know the estimated weight savings by using aluminum - substantial no doubt. Wish I could weld aluminum.

Nice work.
 
mmmmmmm you have me thinking now Toyman..... perhaps I will need to strengthen the top up a bit, even if they are removable tie bars that went from one side to the other when needed.

The price so far for all the aluminium used is £70 (I live in the UK) not to sure how much the powerder coating will cost, I have a friend that has a galvanising and powerder coating company, so unsure what it will be to have it done.

The weight of the rack so far is very light indeed, I can actually lift it with two fingers easily, but at the same time it does feel really suprisingly sturdy
 
im not sure if you have any 1x4 box kicking around, but here In Canada I make roof rack brackets from 6061& 6063 t6
I know the gutters cant handle the weight, but we have stacked 1200lbs on the ONE bracket I think they would be a nice attachment with your basket, Im not saying to buy them from me, im saying you clearly have the skills to weld butter . take a look, they are a nice simple design. and CRAZY strong
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and this one i like to call , mine vs theres
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thanks, the black ones are the all to comon "swedish" brand and the others are what we make, but we have changed the design a bit now so they look nicer.,
sorry , not trying to thread hijack,
Noel
 
I like the idea of the wide aluminium roof bars, I will have to have a go at making some, at the moment I will have to stick with the swedish ones that I have.

The workshop is where I work, so have full use of it for things like roof racks :)
 
Snowwolf,

Looks good. We just drove through part of Kent last night on the way back from skiing in France. We live up in Cheshire.

Just curious, what are you putting this on? Your profile doesn't say what you're driving in the Toyota family.
 
Hi Eagle

oh...sorry about the lack of info on my profile, I will have to get that sorted out, thought I had all my info on there :-( glad you mentioned it.

I live in a place called Wouldham it's a small village on the river Medway, I just tried adding a google earth link to where I live, but you can't add anything other than a photo on the site :-( so added a picture :)

I have a 1996 VX 4.5 petrol which I had converted to LPG three years ago
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Roof rack all finished

Finally finished the roof rack, had it powder coated which cost £60 and also had my wheels powder coated and they came out great! they cost £50 a wheel, I wish I had had the wheels done in black now, but it's to late to worry about that :)

Sorry about the green tinge to the car, it was soooo green in the forest when camping, it cast a green hue on everything :)
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what is the length? I'm pretty sure I made mine 86", and it went from front to back perfectly. It looks nice, and aluminum is good! Good job!
 

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