ultra low roof rack (2 Viewers)

[cody c]

I forgot about this thread

here is an updated pic, I used it for a hunting trip a couple weeks ago, the cargo carrier is handy for putting sleeping bags and clothing and pillows and anything bulky and lightweight overhead and accessible to the roof tent.

I also made slots for the tent stucture on one side to slide into, little tabs off the bottom of the rails on the RTT which slide into pockets on one side of the rack, the other side has tabs which hang down on the face of the aluminum side rails of the rack. I use 4 security screws to hold it on.

The rear tray uses reciever hitches (2 of them) one in either side of the bumper, I burnt it together the other week for the trip.

I also made little brackets that cover the latches of the rack so they can't be opened, also using security fasteners. Added a front light bar, I should get a better picture of this thing I guess.

 

[JTU]

I really dig this rack, the only thing I'd change would be making it all out of aluminum. It shares a lot of design similarities with the Campteq pop up conversions. Good job on the clean lines.

 

[Jgrauman]

Where did you get the mount latches?

 

[mudgudgeon]

The rear tray uses reciever hitches (2 of them) one in either side of the bumper, I burnt it together the other week for the trip.

Got any pics of how you set this up?

 

[cody c]

The latches were off of eBay, I believe they were used for pop top camping trailers.

Some iPhone pictures of the front light and stuff

 

[lt1fire]

I do love that 80

 

[GW Nugget]

Thanks for the latch idea.... How tall are they? I'm finding some at 9" some at 7"
I don't want to tall of latches.

 

[Jgrauman]

Thanks for the latch idea.... How tall are they? I'm finding some at 9" some at 7"
I don't want to tall of latches.

These are what I used. Listed as 4", that's the body of the latch, the actual latch over laps depending on how much you tighten it. Once I had mine in place I turned up the latch ends to accommodate opening the doors.
4 NON-LOCKING RV Pop up Tent Camper Black LID LATCH NEW | eBay
My thread on mine. Can get you pics of after I painted if needed
Custom Yakima rack

 

[cody c]

Those are the same ones I used in the eBay link, only the colour is different.

I believe they were used as a pop up camper trailer latch originally. Still liking my setup, well cosmetically I don't know if I'd do the light bar again, but it works and I think the full length gutter rails have an advantage in strength over some that have 3 or 4 feet per side.

I may build a better folding antenna bracket for it in the future, but I'm more focused on the one tons in the garage, want to get those under it as soon as possible.

 

[Outsane]

Awesome rack, and the mounts you used are great.

 

[GW Nugget]

Thanks for the reply
My L brackets are going to be 4.25" so I'm still not sure if this will work? I'll post more questions on @Jgrauman thread.

 

[cody c]

I think that length will work fine.

I don't have the measurement off the top of my head but that seems like it should be ok. I can measure tonight if you need.

The latches on a couple of mine extend down just a pinch too far and were rubbing on the door rubber trim when opening and closing, I trimmed a little bit off the latches so they are no flush to the catch that grabs under the sill. I located the latches so they wouldn't protrude higher than the rest of the rack, is I have plywood or something on top the weight will sit on the rack and not on the latches that way.

They work good though, and are an easy cheap method to get a hold down clamp on a rack. On another one I built, bolts with nuts to pull the hook under the sill were used, and while it worked, it was kind of a pain, I needed a ratchet wrench with allen key, the bolts were always getting rusty and it was a bit of a pain. I've only pulled the rack on and off a couple times, but I wouldn't go back to the old style.

 

[cody c]

Measurements

 

[cody c]

The RTT mount, it attaches via a bracket from the side, with security screws, the far side has a pocket, there's a tab bolted under the rail of the RTT that slides in

 

[cody c]

The antenna hold down for the garage door, and the clearance, it's basically no taller than the rubber strips, I took a couple side angle pics to try and capture that

 

[GW Nugget]

Awesome
Thank you for the measurements.
Looks like you cut down some to clear the doors. From pics looks like minimum 4.5"... hoping.

 

[cody c]

Awesome
Thank you for the measurements.
Looks like you cut down some to clear the doors. From pics looks like minimum 4.5"... hoping.

Hey, I cut down a bit on the latches of a couple of them, if you look at the pic with the latch up you can see i had room to extend or retract the latch a bit by spinning the nut, and you could also run a die further down the neck of the rod to make it shorter. You can see I bent the threaded rod a bit to align it to the door, just bent it by hand, but the shinier components are stainless on it.

I think I used 6" aluminum flatbar, and with the radius of the cut its closer to 4" in the middle section.


Edit: (I hate bumping my thread too much, so I'll just edit this post)

Your welcome GW nugget, I think I may have inspired a bit of bowfin's design, years ago I created a thread to create a CAD file for side rails and create an assembly so anyone could try and order components from any waterjet or machine shop, but the project never finished, I think the plans for using the clamps were mentioned back then.

Either way, I think the bowfin rack is the best choice for aftermarket, wether or not there was any design elements used from any party, I'm not sure who runs that.

There was another thread regarding using the 80 series roof rack to support huge weight, someone posted a picture of the gutter rail twisting and deforming (was carrying 900lbs of pipe I believe), with the full length gutter rail I think there is more structure and surface bearing weight, and is better in that aspect.

 

[GW Nugget]

This whole set up appears to be very close to what the bowfin rack looks like, latches in all except more cut outs on the side rails.
Thank you very much, you have been very helpful.