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Finished up the roof rack project today.
Smittybilt Defender 35605. It’s 3.5 ft by 6 feet by 4” tall.. The stock rails are about 43 1/2”apart, so this rack fits between the stock rails with about 3/4” on each side. I am using TLC rails, not the shorter Lx rails.
The ‘5’ series is bolt together, it came in three sections. The ‘4’ series is welded , it comes in one big rack. 35604 is the identical welded part. The rack is heavily powder coated steel and weighs around 55 lb. Two sections could be assembled for a 3.5 x 4 ft smaller rack too.
I got the bolt together as it was much easier to mock up fit and mark the brackets, also I can put it on and take it off in sections, so it was one person friendly. I also consider the bolt together points as possible mounting points for future stuff. The rack sections are pin aligned and use 2 8mm bolts at each joint.
The welded part should be pretty much identical in foot placement so can also be easily installed now that the bracket recipe is known. There are four light tabs in the front and two light tabs on the back of the rack
My plan was to use the stock rails and adapt 4x6 3/16” L brackets for the pads. The brackets (8) were $20 from Amazon, and are painted or lightly coated.
As pictured above, the brackets have a hole drilled near the L to screw onto the rail bolt (which is a 3/8” stainless carriage bolt). Another existing hole was enlarged and an 8mm rivit nut placed to attach the rack foot to.
Three feet on each side mount directly to the rail and rack pad. The rear foot required a 3/8” by 1.5” aluminum bar about 6.5” long to reach back to the rack pad.
The gps xm antenna goes inside the rack back crossbar, and is below the level of the rack inside bottom plane.
To get the rack to match the slope of the roof, I used additional spacing washer from back to front (3/8” bar, 1 9/16” stainless washer, 0 washer, 2 washer). The 9/16” washers are larger than the head of the rivnut and provide a large clamping surface. All the feet got one washer for this purpose.
The middle two brackets are at 13 1/4” and 30 3/8” from the back end of the rail.
All the details aside mounting the rack is straightforward. Put the brackets in place loosely. Put on the center section. Tighten the rack bolts, tighten the rail bolts.
Clamp on the rear section. Put on the join bolts. Put on the rack bolts. Tighten the tail bolts. Same for front section.
To remove only the 8 8mm rack bolts have to come out, the the whole rack can be lifted off. Or the sections could be taken apart and the the rack removed.
No opinion on noise yet, haven’t driven with it on the freeway. Around town it’s silent.
I have no complaints on the quality. I paid $320 shipped from 4wd parts, and it eventually arrived on a liftgate truck on a pallet.
With brackets and bolts it’s about $375.
I used a hacksaw, drilll press, rivnut tool and some paint. It took a while to build the brackets to match.
Smittybilt Defender 35605. It’s 3.5 ft by 6 feet by 4” tall.. The stock rails are about 43 1/2”apart, so this rack fits between the stock rails with about 3/4” on each side. I am using TLC rails, not the shorter Lx rails.
The ‘5’ series is bolt together, it came in three sections. The ‘4’ series is welded , it comes in one big rack. 35604 is the identical welded part. The rack is heavily powder coated steel and weighs around 55 lb. Two sections could be assembled for a 3.5 x 4 ft smaller rack too.
I got the bolt together as it was much easier to mock up fit and mark the brackets, also I can put it on and take it off in sections, so it was one person friendly. I also consider the bolt together points as possible mounting points for future stuff. The rack sections are pin aligned and use 2 8mm bolts at each joint.
The welded part should be pretty much identical in foot placement so can also be easily installed now that the bracket recipe is known. There are four light tabs in the front and two light tabs on the back of the rack
My plan was to use the stock rails and adapt 4x6 3/16” L brackets for the pads. The brackets (8) were $20 from Amazon, and are painted or lightly coated.
As pictured above, the brackets have a hole drilled near the L to screw onto the rail bolt (which is a 3/8” stainless carriage bolt). Another existing hole was enlarged and an 8mm rivit nut placed to attach the rack foot to.
Three feet on each side mount directly to the rail and rack pad. The rear foot required a 3/8” by 1.5” aluminum bar about 6.5” long to reach back to the rack pad.
The gps xm antenna goes inside the rack back crossbar, and is below the level of the rack inside bottom plane.
To get the rack to match the slope of the roof, I used additional spacing washer from back to front (3/8” bar, 1 9/16” stainless washer, 0 washer, 2 washer). The 9/16” washers are larger than the head of the rivnut and provide a large clamping surface. All the feet got one washer for this purpose.
The middle two brackets are at 13 1/4” and 30 3/8” from the back end of the rail.
All the details aside mounting the rack is straightforward. Put the brackets in place loosely. Put on the center section. Tighten the rack bolts, tighten the rail bolts.
Clamp on the rear section. Put on the join bolts. Put on the rack bolts. Tighten the tail bolts. Same for front section.
To remove only the 8 8mm rack bolts have to come out, the the whole rack can be lifted off. Or the sections could be taken apart and the the rack removed.
No opinion on noise yet, haven’t driven with it on the freeway. Around town it’s silent.
I have no complaints on the quality. I paid $320 shipped from 4wd parts, and it eventually arrived on a liftgate truck on a pallet.
With brackets and bolts it’s about $375.
I used a hacksaw, drilll press, rivnut tool and some paint. It took a while to build the brackets to match.
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