ultra low roof rack (1 Viewer)

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I havent been on mud much for the last few years, was laid off work a month or so ago and have had time to fix and work on the 80, started building a roof rack. aluminum side rails that sit in the gutters, steel across bolted to the aluminum, some sort of gate or door latch with stainless clasps bought off ebat to hold it down, the first couple pics are early construction, I've more steel welded to it now and will probably have it finished and painted by the weekend.

The steel for the top runs between the rubber strips on the roof, allowing me a net gain in height of around 1/4 to 3/8" which is what I need to fit the thing in the garage on 38" tires. I have a roof tent and am planning to run a cargo carrier (about 54" long, 39" wide and 14-20" tall) in front of the tent, this will allow me to leave clothes pillows and sleeping bags all up top, easy to reach and pull in or out of the tent when going to bed or getting up in the morning. Also I will use the cargo carrier for carrying any ice climbing gear of others winter wheeling (leave the third row in).

Also I'm thinking I will run an LED light bar mounted from the front at some point (like when I'm employed again and rationalize the purchase) but it should fit close to the body work and to the cargo carrier.

I'll post more pics later this week, thought I'd share for those pondering something similar.
 
Nice work. Don't have 38" tires, but have the same basic clearance problem. We ended up with a trailer, but I like the way you've made this an option for those of us who have such clearance restrictions.
 
Nice work. Don't have 38" tires, but have the same basic clearance problem. We ended up with a trailer, but I like the way you've made this an option for those of us who have such clearance restrictions.

Ok, Ill post some info regarding measurements and such later for anyone wanting to build there own.
I decided the other day I want to put flat bar around the top edge of the aluminum rail, because it's canted in steel angle would bend downwards, so I'll weld two pieces of flat together to make the right angle to have a lip around the perimeter to drill into to mount structures to the roof. Gonna run to the metal supply to get the flatbar today or tomorrow.

I've drilled 7/8" holes along the top of the aluminum to allow me to put the hooks of tie down straps in as well for trips to the lumber yard.
 
Looking good! I'm curious to see the finished product..... I built 2 for my 80, now I'm debating building yet, another one! One concern I see, and I'm looking at a IPhone, so it may be nothing! Anyways.... with the steel bars that are running length wise (in between stock rubber "runners") it doesn't look like there is but a half inch of clearance, I would be worried that having that long of a un-supported bar would allow it to "flex" down into your roof. Escpecially with a RTT. Like I said.... I'm looking at a 4.5" screen, may be nothing!
Anyways.... keep it going! Like I said, I can't wait to see it finished!
 
What are you doing with the 4 outer Factory Rail hold down points ?? Welding up the holes or running the screws back in ? What is the plan to seal them up ?
 
Hey Fellas, I'm not worried about saggy bars hitting the roof, especially with a RTT, the RTT is wide enough that the channel on the underside of the RTT will be resting on the side rails as well, and it doesn't flex enough, if it did, the tent would hit the rubber strips on the roof. I am more concerned about mud and debris or ice getting between them and creating some abrasion but not a big concern, the steel is only 4' wide, and actually not a lot of flex.

I don't have pictures yet, but there is gussets on the bottom side of the cross pieces to the steel bolted against the aluminum, plus I've put most of my weight on the steel and I'm not getting much flex.

Just to clarify, the bottom of the tents have extruded channel running across them for rigidity.

As for the factory rack holes, I have metric stainless screws in the holes, they have a cup washer under the head of the flush head screws which essentially seals the holes. Did that a few years back, probably info on mud here somewhere.

I think later a piece of plywood would slide between the tent runners for a makeshift top, could be as big as 21"x50" 7/8" plywood. I might build that after I figure out final placement of tent and cargo carrier.
 
Hopefully you have enough space underneath the rack for the hardware that attaches the RTT. And the only way I can see putting the tent on (or off) will be to remove the rack and attach it to the rack first, then put the rack on the truck. My Prinsu rack is pretty low profile and only a little further off the roof than yours and it's tricky getting the nuts onto the bolts for my RTT as well as getting a wrench in to tighten them.
 
Hopefully you have enough space underneath the rack for the hardware that attaches the RTT. And the only way I can see putting the tent on (or off) will be to remove the rack and attach it to the rack first, then put the rack on the truck. My Prinsu rack is pretty low profile and only a little further off the roof than yours and it's tricky getting the nuts onto the bolts for my RTT as well as getting a wrench in to tighten them.

I'm seeing the same problem !
 
The Smittybilt Gutter Mounts (4 for ~$75 on Ebay) Lay nearly flat with roof.
Sucks you can not buy individually, as it is nice to have 3 sets per side.
Or find a buddy that wants to split a pair.
You could go 2x1x14ga tube on top of those and only be up ~1" over the roof.
If you want to get real nuts go to 11ga material and your gutters will be the weakest link.
 
Hopefully you have enough space underneath the rack for the hardware that attaches the RTT. And the only way I can see putting the tent on (or off) will be to remove the rack and attach it to the rack first, then put the rack on the truck. My Prinsu rack is pretty low profile and only a little further off the roof than yours and it's tricky getting the nuts onto the bolts for my RTT as well as getting a wrench in to tighten them.


I know where your going, I've already figured that out, and will be able to show you when I get some more pictures, basically the bolts slide in the channel under the RTT with a plate to clamp them against a rack, I'm just sliding the bolts right near the aluminum rails, part of why I'm adding a flat edge around the perimeter. You can remove little plastic caps at the ends of the channels to remove or replace the bolts, you could put Tee nuts in there instead or shorter bolts. In my case I will have to remove the roof rack, install the tent and put the rack back on.

More work obviously, but harder for the tent to walk away in the middle of the night parked on the street, and the rack isn't that heavy, maybe 50lbs, possibly more or less.
 
That sounds like it will work out really good.... sliding the bolts in thru the channel. I like that because, like you said, it will be a "b" for someone to walk away with! Sounds like flex won't be an issue either..... didn't realize them cross pieces were that stout! Good luck.... keep the pics coming!!
 




As it sits now, I've got the lip around the back section done, I am going to add some small horizontal gussets, and maybe stand on it on the concrete floor and measure deflection. The steel around the aluminum edge is bolted to the aluminum rail every 15 or 20 inches.

It's hard to make out the gutter clamps they are powder coated white and don't show well in the pictures, I think I'm going to paint the steel with tremclad in white to match the cruiser, or black, kind of undecided, I like light colors as it's always easier to find stuff in the dark.

Headed out to the garage for another hour of work before throwing some elk steaks on for dinner,

edit: Ok, got the angle welded along the aluminum:



First, deflection:
I sat it on the concrete, took a tape measure from the floor up to the steel (4" to lower bevel at middle of steel cross beam) and then kneeled on (I'm about 260lbs) and measured on it with all my weight (3+7/8") so I got 1/8" with 260lbs roughly dead center on a single cross beam. Insignificant for what I plan to use it for.

I flipped it so you could see the underside, I can bolt the RTT down with as many bolts, though I'll swap the longer bolts for shorter ones so they don't hit the roof. I've welded two pieces of flat bar for both the front and rear channel, I'll be rotating the tent so the ladder will be behind the lift gate. I still have to drill a couple holes in the angle, I've been welding nuts to the steel as I go, so i won't have to use a wrench to undo anything just a drill with allen head bit. Tomorrow I'll finish drilling through the angle along the one side, weld the nuts in place, then dissasemble and take the steel in the house (unfinished basement) to paint it where it's warmer. Maybe reassemble the following day depending if it's tacky still or not. Hopefully find a cargo carrier on kijiji and then throw it back on and get some final pictures for you fella's.
 
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I have the same issue with 35's mounted and 4" Slee Kit. Make a good low profile and sell them all over and screw that old job! I don't have the tools and time to custom make such things but do want to buy such things. SO would other Cruiser and other brand rig owners I would think.
 
Great rack! I have a PrInSu rack on my 80, and one thing that bugs me about the design is acorns, twigs, pine needles, etc., get stuck between the roof and rack in the rain gutters. I hit mine with the pressure washer regularly, to clean them out. With your design, I could see that problem being worse, assuming you park your rig under trees, that is. Just something to consider.

Keep up the good work!! :beer:
 
Thanks for the positive feedback thus far.

DLPDLP, I don't really have much interest in building these for others, I can't match the quality of workmanship other vendors here could, and material costs in canada and shipping would make it a lead ballon, but appreciate your promotion.

Malteserunner, regarding material in the gutters, your probably right, the RTT will cover 90% of the rear section and the cargo box will cover much more so there should be less space for things to fall in, but still.

I'm pondering cut outs on the bottom edge near the cross beams to clean out material, but I will probably have the rack off of the truck more often then on it, so there probably won't be much of an issue, the 8 gutter clamps make it pretty easy to take on and off, and I'm making a few pieces to cover 4 of the gutter clamps and use security fasteners for them if I want to leave the tent up top for a while.

edit: no pictures today, got the welding done enough to paint, threw tremclad white on it, I think I'll be able to reassemble tomorrow. Broke a few 10-32 stainless screws off, i frigging hate stainless hardware, I'm not sure why I keep using it.
 
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I like the cut out idea.... definetly easier to blow out the pollen and trash. I also like the security covers on the latches, that would definetly give you piece of mind if you have RTT mounted, and need to leave cruiser sitting! Looking forward to new pics..... keep up the good work!
 
I have 33's and a front runner flat rack, but I still have to let the air out of the tires to get in the garage. :frown:

It's either that or raise the house.




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I got some work done, ran a tap through the holes, cleaned up the stainless hardware (I had cut them down so I ran the tip oveer the grinder and ran them through 1/4-20 die) and bolted stuff up, I'll add mounted pictures as soon as photobucket stops being a POS.












I should add, I'm planning on putting a strip of rubber grommet along the underside of the aluminum rails, this will probably add about 1/8" to it, I'll post more pictures when I get a cargo carrier for it, and when I get someone to give me a hand to set the RTT on it I'll post a couple more up if you guys are interested.

Edit (Jan 17 2017) another pic with cargo carrier on top, I won't bump the thread till the roof tent is on:


Found a Sportrack Explorer cargo carrier on the local buy and sell for $20, it was what I was looking for, I will update the thread when I get some pics of both it and the roof tent mounted, thinking I'll put a 40-42" LED light bar up front later too.
 
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I need to update this thread, not sure if I can still post pictures through photobucket though.

I updated things just a pinch, built a bracket for a curved 40 or 42" light bar mounted at the front, some brackets which cover the hold down clamps, which use security screws, and welded pockets on one side of the rack so that my roof tent slides in one one side, and then bolts down from the exterior of the otherside. Again with more security screws.

I can drop my roof tent on top, slide it into place and bolt it down from the exterior. I still need to drill out some holes for the fasteners.

Still need to find some grommet material to run under the aluminum side rails but otherwise works pretty good I guess.

If anyone has a suggestion as to how to upload pics without photobucket feel free to fill me in.
 
Just use the upload file button on bottom left assuming you're on a computer.
 

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