Substitute for lower/outer half of con-ferr gutter clamps?

[Timpanogos Slim]

I got a good deal on a 4x6 con-ferr rack in fair shape w/ free hi-lift jack mounted and some 80's-ish lights up front.

Unfortunately, though it has 6 gutter mounts, the clamp part that goes outside and under the gutter mount is missing from all 6.

Does anybody sell a replacement, or is there a quick & dirty but effective way to fab up a replacement?

. :Sent by pneumatic tubes

 

[saucebox]

Don't know your fab skills, but here's a couple images of that half of the bracket. Let me know if you want measurements for it.

Edit: Just realized we live in the same town. If you want to drop by some day with the inside mounts, I bet we could quickly fab up the outers. It looks like all it would take is just a little bit of 1/8 sheet and a few 9/16ths bolts.

 

[tag3]

Use nylock nuts when you install, trust me. Lost one in death valley and made the mistake of buying new, sold only as complete feet, in pairs.

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

Use nylock nuts when you install, trust me. Lost one in death valley and made the mistake of buying new, sold only as complete feet, in pairs.

Oh i called up ORU and they would be more than happy to sell me 6 of the clamps for just 99% of the cost of 6 complete feet

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

Don't know your fab skills, but here's a couple images of that half of the bracket. Let me know if you want measurements for it.

Edit: Just realized we live in the same town. If you want to drop by some day with the inside mounts, I bet we could quickly fab up the outers. It looks like all it would take is just a little bit of 1/8 sheet and a few 9/16ths bolts.

Yeah it's just a bit of sheet metal and a stud. i just have no metal working implements past say a hack saw, angle grinder, bench vise, and a 3lb sledge.

And i have no welding experience.

But that would be awesome. I can almost certainly source the metal on short notice. Cutting the heads off of half-thread bolts sounds like a reasonable idea to me too.

 

[saucebox]

If you want to give it a shot, I'm in. I should be around all weekend, even Monday. I'll see if I can't jig up that curved bend sometime before the weekend as an experiment. I have the actual Con-Ferr stuff here, so we should be able to just match it.

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

Yup, me too.

My gutter mounts have the con-ferr stamp on them, but they are maybe 3", not the truly beefy 4".

It seems like with a good sheet metal brake that curved bend could be done in maybe 4 steps. I just, uh, don't have a sheet metal brake.

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

OK, I'm just back from saucebox's place, where we figured out how to do it an then he fabbed a bunch of these and i helped, in the same regard as the shake-n-bake kid.

they turn out to be not too hard to make.

It turns out that the con-ferr clamps - the outer bit - are 3.5" wide. so buying 4" stock added a step.

used 1/8", but the originals are probably a bit thinner.

what worked for us was to cut about a 6 to 7 inch length, line it up in the hydraulic finger brake and put about a 60 degree bend in it that is off-center. This makes the gentle inner bend.

Then flip it over and align it the other way, and put a full 90 degree bend about 3/4" down from the first one. The first bend has to be sharper than the end result you are looking for because the brake will un-do some of that bend.

then trim to length on both sides, clamp it in a vise, and hit it with a big hammer to complete the curve of the clamp before welding on the stud, which is about a 4" long 3/8" bolt with the head cut off.

Rather than have the little W shape at the top of the con-ferr clamps to clearance the bolts, we just cut the bracket as short as the bottom of the W.

 

[FloridaFJ80]

I bought the same off of 4wheelparts and they sell them now as smittybilt gutter mounts.

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

Nah, the company that bought what was left of con-ferr calls them defender racks now. But there are many imitators.

 

[JCruse]

Diamondrax makes an updated version of the con-fer style mount for $39.

 

[brownbear]

Ive been using these on my roof rack for years. But you'd have to buy two sets. http://www.nrs.com/product/3200/quick-n-easy-car-top-racks-set

 

[freepowder]

Ive been using these on my roof rack for years. But you'd have to buy two sets. http://www.nrs.com/product/3200/quick-n-easy-car-top-racks-set

I used these on my FJ55 for about 10 years, then narrowed 'em a bit and used 'em for another five on my Isuzu Trooper.
On both I used 3/4" plywood with 1" angle iron running fore and aft on the bottom and 1 1/2" angle iron running athwartships (crosswise) on top. I bolted the gutter clamps though the crosswise angle and bolted the fore and aft angle to the crosswise as well. I mounted hooks to the fore and aft angle for bungee cords to hold down the load, while the crosswise angle on top kept things from shifting fore and aft.

On the FJ55 I had six clamps the back pairs about 18" apart as I had my spare mounted up there and when I did that with just one it busted one of the clamps. Also with two pieces of angle the spare rode flat and was quite well suppored. The spare was held down with a large eyebolt with a piece of pipe through the eye.

I'd post pics but this rack was sold with the Tropper in '90.