roof rack floor

[MountainCruiser62]

i did some digging and have found perferated steel to probably be my best bet for rack flooring, i want it to be strong enough to allow me to walk around on it,

anyone have recommendations for what guage steel i should go with to support my weight.

 

[Dave-T]

How far a part are your supports that will be underneath the rack? That will determine how heavy of steel you will want to put down. I would use standard expanded metal with gaps wide enough you can put tie down and bungee hooks through it.

 

[MountainCruiser62]

im still designing my rack and am taking into account how far aparts my supports will need to be, so if anyone has a good solid floor who can tell me how far apart there supports are and what guage steel mesh, that would be ideal.

i dont want to end up making it too strong and adding alot of unnecessary weight but at the same time definitly done want it to be underbuilt and end up being easily damaged

im hoping to go with something like this if i can find it locally http://www.metalwire-mesh.com/wire-m...-wire-mesh.htm

thanks for the input

also im planning on using 1" or 3/4" od steel tubing with 16g. wall, and maybe 1/2" rectangular steel for the floor supports to distribute weight better than the round tubing

 

[Esther]

I have a Wilderness rack made by Garvin. The floor supports are 21 inches on center and the rack itself is 6 feet long. It came with no floor, so I put 1x3 pressure treated wood with about 3/4 inch space between each one. Looks like a nice mini deck floor on my roof. It holds my weight and more, no problem for walking or setting up a tripod for that perfect shot.
It has been a great floor for 4.5 years in Arizona sun, but now it is time to replace it. The wood is beginning to warp. I like the look, so I'll do it again the same way.
John

 

[cruiser88]

i/8 inch chicken wire looking stuff came with mine when i bought my 62. it covers the whole rack. btw its noisy as hell, go with wood or something

 

[takeitforgranite]

I have 3/4 plywood on mine... sanded, sealed, and pretty damn sturdy. Think about it....

 

[ginsudan]

I am going to look in to this stuff Grating Pacific: Western states leading supplier of metal bar grating, safety gratings, fiberglass gratings, perforated metal, wire mesh, Orsogril fencing, expanded metal, and Algrip flooring.

 

[george_tlc]

I have 1/2" marine ply, painted and bolted down to my steel rack. The crossmembers are something like 8" apart. Easily supports several people up there. Memories of 3 aborigines on the rack along with a food box and 5 jerry cans of fuel and 60 litres of water. The aborigines were on top of the boxes and hanging on for dear life - they had run out of fuel and I was giving them a 'lift' to their mates a 100 km or so to the west.

The key is the number of crossmembers to spread the weight - then you can get away with reasonably thin ply.

The benefit of the ply is that it also acts to block direct sunlight on the roof of the vehicle in summer - somewhat cooler temperatures in the vehicle.

cheers,
george.

 

[ntsqd]

I've read of some folks using this for roof rack flooring:
PolyMax Poultry Overlapping/Kennel Flooring - FarmTek

I used 3/4" exterior grade ply for the floor of the '79 Sub's roof rack. No stringers underneath it, bolted down only at the perimeter. I plan to cut down this rack to fit my 60. Maybe then I can finally finish out the plan of using marine paint with traction additive in it. I only got as far as sealing the ply before I had to put it into use, and never got around to finishing it.

 

[jfnall]

Here is what I did. 1/4" holes - not sure of gage thickness. I put 3/4" square tubing lengthwise for added support, then spot welded all the way around the perforated piece to the frame of the rack. then Armacoated the whole thing.

it is strong enough to walk around on. If it did it again, i might get a thicker gage. but it is great!! lots of added weight, but nothing you will see in mileage between floor and no floor. it does make it so that it isn't a 1 man job getting the rack off, even with a hoist in the ceiling.

there was a comment about tie downs --- good point. expanded metal would be great for tying stuff down, but it is also EXTREMELY sharp edged and would slice a rope on a long trip.

i used a die-grinder and cut slots where i needed them after the mesh floor was mounted.

 

[Cruzerman]

I was going to use expanded metal but after some thought I decided to go with wood. To me it seemed like I would either have to add a bunch more cross members / supports or go with some heavy stuff. Wood was strong and light.

 

[kling-on]

I have 3/4 plywood on mine... sanded, sealed, and pretty damn sturdy. Think about it....

I was going to use expanded metal but after some thought I decided to go with wood. To me it seemed like I would either have to add a bunch more cross members / supports or go with some heavy stuff. Wood was strong and light.

I also painted mine white ... I know sounds crazy but it keeped the truck 15-20* cooler in the TX temps mine lasted 10 year now I need to replace it .... but woods still fairly cheap I also did 3/4 used my truck as a scaffold to build a barn once and watched concerts from it with 2 200+ guys and a cooler full of ...Mmmmm soda ?

 

[ntsqd]

.... a cooler full of adult pops.

Fixed it for you.

The cab being cooler from painting it white doesn't sound crazy at all. Just from having it up there should help, and then it being mostly white is even better.
That is and was the goal with mine, to get that "Safari Top" type of cooling going on.

 

[Wile E Coyote]

I'll 2nd the weight of perf/expanded steel floor. Half the weight of my rack is the dern floor. As as related side note, more than half the rack expense was that 4x8 sheet of expanded flooring, too. It's very strong, and surprisingly quiet at highway speeds, but heavy enough that lifting the rack off by myself requires a jerry-rigged garage ceiling hoist.

 

[BC40]

My rack is aluminum so I had a 1/8 alum checkerplate floor added. It is not quite full width allowing tie down directly to the floor crossmembers. If I were to do it again I'd probably go with perforated alum to reduce weight.

 

[MANUCHAO]

The fiber glass grating idea sounds great but have you checked out the prices.. for this stuff ?
McMaster carries it but it is also expensive... any knows of a place where it can be had for cheap?

 

[ntsqd]

2' x 4' for $20 in the link.
So maybe 3 of them max?
What is the price of a 4'x8' of perforated or expanded sheet metal?

 

[doug720]

Here's the rack I made with flattened expanded metal floor.

Doug

 

[jfnall]

<<What is the price of a 4'x8' of perforated or expanded sheet metal?>>

perforated metal - i paid $140 over 2 years ago. 16 ga 1/4" holes on 5/16" ctr

had it cut in 2 long sections so i could handle it easier. 2 pcs - 28"x 84"

jeff

 

[MRB21]

i did some digging and have found perferated steel to probably be my best bet for rack flooring, i want it to be strong enough to allow me to walk around on it,

anyone have recommendations for what guage steel i should go with to support my weight.

Hi, so at the end what happened? were you able to build your own rack or did you end up buying a new one? I decided to go with an aftermarket one on mine and not try the DIY... too much work for me.... lol