Roof Rack: Cheap, Light, Strong (1 Viewer)

[lehiguy]

I undertook the task of making a roof rack. Again. Learning from past efforts, this is what I came up with. 1" square tubing with conduit, rounded corners. It is rigid, light, makes no wind noise and it cost very little to make. The powder coating was about he same cost as the materials. I'm in it about $85. I cut the cross rails down to essentially be just plates into which I could thread the attachment screws for the rack.

 

[brm98]

Damn, that's awesome! You got any plans or details? Did you weld it or is it screw together?

 

[abuck99]

Looks like a solid home-brew solution. Nice work.

 

[implayaz9]

very nice

 

[CanadianRockyCruiser]

looks great!

 

[firefightermtn]

Real nice!

 

[86R100RS]

Wow, very low profile and clean. I am also interested in details

 

[kookoopuffs]

I love it. You should put a group buy, i would definitely be interested. Since the production cost is so low and with your labor, even though shipping is expensive it would be a lot cheaper than other roof racks.

 

[erse]

Looks fantastic, any thoughts on load limits?

 

[lehiguy]

Damn, that's awesome! You got any plans or details? Did you weld it or is it screw together?

Welded.

 

[lehiguy]

Looks fantastic, any thoughts on load limits?

It will definitely support my 200 pounds with ease. I think it would be limited buy the original side rails more than anything.

 

[blinder52]

Nice!!

 

[lehiguy]

I love it. You should put a group buy, i would definitely be interested. Since the production cost is so low and with your labor, even though shipping is expensive it would be a lot cheaper than other roof racks.

I gave up fabricating as a profession years ago.

 

[macadood]

I gave up fabricating as a profession years ago.

Beautiful rack! I'm surprised there aren't any more similar simple low profile solutions like this. How did you secure it to the side rails?

 

[Mike NXP]

Kind of on the same topic, what does it take to slide new cross bars into the existing frame rails?

I picked up two used OEM cross bars with the concept of adding them for more options on the roof. Then I realized I can't just pop the cover and slip them in.

If I remove the bolts on the mounts / feet of the frame rails does that compromise any waterproofing ?

 

[lehiguy]

Beautiful rack! I'm surprised there aren't any more similar simple low profile solutions like this. How did you secure it to the side rails?

I removed the cross rails and cut them off so all that was left was the part that mounts to the longitudinal rails. This left me two moveable plates on each side with threaded 6mm holes. I bolted the new rack to those.