Roof Rack Build

[fj40tom]

I have started fabbing up a roof rack. Here are a few pics of the start of the project:

I am building it out of 3/4" square tubing, .083 wall to be exact. I first wanted to come up with a design that did not require a tubing bender and did not look too boxy.

I opted to fab up the corner brackets out of 16ga. sheet metal. They have a lip on them that supports the 3/4" tubing and they are dimpled to stiffen them up and save a little weight.

Today was the first test fit after I tacked the frame together:

Custom bent and dimpled corner pieces:

Custom bent and dimpled side brackets:

I still have to add several more features to it, weld it up, and get it off to the powder coat shop.

Stay tuned.

Cheers,

tp

 

[KLF]

Pretty cool.

You've got some damned fine photos on your website, BTW. Nice work.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Are you planning on bolting through the fiberglass top? I'm thinking about mounting a Wilderness roof rack by bolting through the top. They make one that will fit which is designed for fiberglass pick-up truck bed tops.

I would be curious to see how much trouble you thought it was to drop the headliner in the fibergalss top to install (assuming you plan on bolting through).

Looks good BTW.

 

[fj40tom]

Are you planning on bolting through the fiberglass top?

I am going to make gutter mount brackets for the front and middle brackets, but I have not decided exactly what route I am going to take on the rear mounts.

It doesn't look like it would be that big of a project to pull back the head liner and mount directly to the roof though.

EDIT: I just nothiced the Roof Rack Build thread in the Expedition section...I should have posted this stuff there!

Cheers,

tp

 

[fj40tom]

I was able to get a few more pieces welded in today.

With any luck I will get the entire frame welded up on Sunday.

Cheers,

tp

 

[WarDamnEagle]

I had concluded that gutter mount was going to be too difficult. Here is a link to the type of rack that I plan on installing. Again, though, it will have to be bolted through the roof. This might give you some ideas about mounting.


Garvin Industries

 

[fj40tom]

Here is a link to the type of rack that I plan on installing...QUOTE]

That looks like a great solution. I have used a similar product on my slide-in truck camper with great results.

It would be a great alternative to the weak fiberglass rain gutter on the 4Runner shell: Yakima

Cheers,

tp

 

[krisfj40]

very cool -- looks great.

 

[fj40tom]

I fabbed up some support brackets. These will help the rack support the weight and abuse of a solid Baja trip with no problem. I built the supports with a good bit of adjustment in them so the rack can easily be moved and mounted on several types of trucks (fj40, 60, 80, 4Runner, ect):

After hours of welding and grinding, I was finally ready to cut the floor and weld it in:

Welding the floor:

The expanded metal floors are strong, but they require TONS of welding to keep them from rattling all the time. This floor is welded in over 200 spots. It will not rattle...

The front and rear support brackets were designed with two adjustment slots in them too:

Still more to come...

Cheers,

tp

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Dang! just dang! Keep up the good work!

 

[BlueXJ]

How much does the completed rack weigh. Looks pretty heavy. Do you need heavier suspension. Does it take 4 strong tall guys to put it up there on top of the vehicle and is it made to be removable?

 

[fortysixandtwo]

Very nice. What do you estimate your final build cost was material wise?

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Tom, did you ever get this thing bolted onto your 4Runner? I would love to know how it went, see some pics, etc.

 

[WristPin]

nice job. looks way better than my twin matress bed frame roof rack....

 

[fj40tom]

I ended up building a second version. I had some additional features that I wanted to ad, so I started over.

I recently returned from a 3,000+ mi. field test of the rack on a surf trip through Mexico. Hell for stout! I carried 5 surf boards and other gear w/o a problem.

Mexico

The Build

The Build

Field Testing in Mexico

Cheers,

tp

 

[lowtideride]

4Runner looks good. Jealous of the trip to say the least. I just got back for a surf trip to PR and I am sure I would have liked driving my own rig around Mexico better.

 

[fj40tom]

4Runner looks good. Jealous of the trip to say the least. I just got back for a surf trip to PR and I am sure I would have liked driving my own rig around Mexico better.

It was one for the record books...we scored solid head high to overhead surf 7 of the 8 days we surfed. A couple of the days there were some heavy set waves that approached double overhead. We were the only two guys in the water 7.5 of the 8 days on the trip...felt like we had the whole country to ourselves. It was off the charts!

One of the photos that I shot on the trip is currently on Surfline.com It is the sunset storm photo...the first one in the slide show:

Vote on the top 20 user-submitted photos of the month, SURFLINE PHOTO CHALLENGE | Surfline

I will try to dig up some photos that show the new rack a little better...

Cheers,

tp

 

[NorCalBorn]

WOW, and here i just was looking at that this past weekend, nice shot Tom.
Makes it even sweeter when you realize it's someone you know of from this forum.

Crescent City looking towards Sister Rocks...

View Sister Rocks on Flickr - Photo Sharing!