Rack: How Wide Is Too Wide

[OregonLC]

Fixing to build my own rack. If you look at the longitudinal profile of the vehicle, she tapers in quite a bit at the top. I'm debating on going wider than a 'standard' 52" rack to make room for additional top storage. With 3 kids and a dog, space is at a premium.

My question is how wide is too wide? Anything less than about 6"on each side (12" total, or a 64" rack width) doesn't provide much usable gain.

As a data point, the 100 is 76.4" wide.

Another consideration is CG; I'd most likely offset the RTT to the passenger side to offset driver and fuel weight, but at some point those 165lbs up high could make a difference on cross slopes if offset too far.

 

[r2m]

I agree with your observation of watching your CG. Regarding how wide you can go, theoretically you could go as wide as a tractor trailer (18 wheeler) but that wouldn't be very practical. Another issue to take into consideration is just how much weight one can load on top without buckling something? 150 lbs, 200 lbs, 300 lbs???
Remember that downward force is multiplied whenever you hit a dip or bump on or off highway. What may look solid in the driveway may buckle on your first big bump.
Here are two suggestions, but by all means not the only two:
1) You could always make your rack longer, even to the point of hanging forward of the windshield. In theory, you could even have it stretch out to the front bumper and run support bars down to your front bumper. That would also offer a little sun shade during the heat of the day. I often see this with the Mexican nationals that come up the boarder with there old crew cab trucks picking up junk to take down south to Mexico. They have these racks that do just that. They extend all the way to the front bumper and they weld supports from the bumper to the rack. Take a look at this link: http://imnotjustagirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/MovingTruck.jpg (Scares the heck out of me when I see these things on the freeway!! As you can see they're usually way over loaded.)
I'm not saying you'd want something that ugly, but with a little thought and ingenuity you might be able to come up with something practical and good looking!
2) You could get one of those flat racks that fit into a receiver hitch. They are about 2' x 4' or make your own. You can load an awful lot of stuff onto one of those! https://www.google.com/search?q=2"+...WUGlUM:;7ZEL7ipHQluPYM:&imgrc=l8rdm7dBWUGlUM: This would also help keep your CG lower too. The only issues is if you're doing any trails with steep approach/departure angles, that may limit your attack angle. But it could be offset higher. Again there may be another issue of interfering with a rear mounted spare tire if you have one. If not, your golden!

Anyways, hope this helps!

 

[benc]

I'm not sure what kind of trails you do but one thing to keep in mind is when your on anything off camber is when the width will hurt you. Once the vehicle starts leaning to one side or the other your rack will be the first thing sticking out there to grab a hold of the trees or rocks! I have noticed this just with having the awning up there.
For me it would be a bummer to have to turn around because of the rack.
Again, this will all depend on the type of trails you plan to take.

 

[badlander]

My Eezi-Awn rack is 55" wide and I would not want anything wider. The roof top tent really has to be mounted off center if you plan on actively using the annex as with it centered it is a real (huge) pain to slide the annex in and out of the channel in the base of the tent because it's way in from the edge and you have to do some real manipulation of the bead to get it to feed in the slot, something I never planned for......
Same for the cover if you take it off and on regularly. Trust me, a real pain. Plus you will loose about 4" of annex room because of its placement on the rack. Mine works out very well with the RTT mounted about 1" inside the edge of the rack. On the driver side I have a Foxwing which weighs about 45# so it evens out the RTT being off center. All and all, I like the system now. The length, 2.2 M is perfect with room for the 58" long tent and about 2" left over for gas/water cans, chain saw, firewood, etc.
With the 55" wide rack if you drew a vertical line down from the edge of the rack it would be tangent to the top edges of the windows, so still plenty of clearance on the sides of the truck for tree branches, etc. Nothing sticks out far enough to hit anything.
Oh, and my first impression after I got it mounted on the truck was....it "looks" very wide for the truck. But I'm used to it now and really like it.
Hope that helps.

 

[OregonLC]

Thanks for the ideas R2M. I most likely will run it a bit longer. Probably in the 92" range. That will give me a minimum of 20" ahead of the RTT.

I spent some time looking for a wide rack on google images and can't find any examples which leads me to believe either a) I'm a genius or b) natural selection has already weeded out those who have tried. Most likely b).

Debating now between thin wall stainless tube (.065) and carbon. Price delta isn't as much as you'd think. Either would be powder coated, but the stainless is a bit stronger per pound and, of course, wouldn't rust if scratched.

 

[benc]

Stainless would be cool if you have the ability to weld it! It will get scratched so not having to worry about rust would be nice.

 

[SanDiegoCruiser]

I built mine out of aluminum, works great and is very light..

 

[OregonLC]

What diameter and gauge did you use?

 

[SanDiegoCruiser]

Most likely won't work for what you want since it is a little narrow, but I welded two of these together & powder coated them. Finishing touch was a flange that I wrapped around the outside..
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0090QLOM8/?tag=ihco-20

 

[OregonLC]

Nice setup. I like the awning out the rear. I thought briefly about putting the tent sideways and having it open either out the rear or over the hood a la Jeep.