Build your own roof rack????

Apart from building your own being cheaper. A bought one is a hell of a lot easier. LOL

But in all seriousness I would not think that it would be all that hard.

Kev

Done a couple myself.On our 4 Runner it had Rhino roof bars and I built a solid rack that clamped to the bars,it went all over Australia and never a problem.The second was a ground up job for a Pajero, including the brackets and everything.It went Across the GJR,Kidson trk,GRR,Tanami and Oodnadatta tracks and it also came through with flying colours.When I need one for our Cruiser I will build one,infact anything I can build I will as I know it will be done right.Next project is a rear bar and wheel carrier for our Cruiser,now in my mind they are a rip off.

Toytruck,

"Why the hell not" indeed. I've built a few of my own over the years and only had a minor prob with one that was on 1983 Nissan MQ SWB. The rack was OK but the roll cage that it was mounted on was under a bit too much torsional stress on one corner. It snapped one day in the bush but I just strapped it up till I got home (3 months later!) and repositioned/rewelded it about 5mm away from the original position.

( I had to fit a roll cage to carry the roof rack 'cos the old MQs SWBs had a fibreglass roof).

All of mine have been steel, welded with a stick welder. Easy as,,,,,,,

But the last one - I bought a Jarram Tracklander as I wanted aluminium and I don't have a mig welder. Plus I'm old 'n lazy,,,,,,,,

I've built my own long range tanks, bullbars, swing away wheel carriers, internal storage and drawer systems - lots of stuff - all with a stick welder - without too many probs. It just takes patience and a bit of messing around.

Bilbo

Bilbo

I built one years ago which has with stood the test of time and outback trips, three loadrails, one galvanised fence panel (like they have round public schools in NSW) and 6 plates and lock bolts to suit the load rails. If putting a rack bag or other delicate stuff up there I use a layer of indoor/outdoor carpet from clark rubber underneath.
Light, easily adapted to different vehicles, tie down points all over it, doesn't rust, low profile, flexible to follow roof curve if needed and above all CHEAP.
the panel is placed flat side down with the returns up along the sides.

I've built my own because none of the manufacturers build what I want.

I like a platform rack (no sides = easier loading/unloading) which sits about an inch off the roof and I cover the frame with 100x100x5 steel mesh. You can attach anything at any point with the mesh. The frame is usually 25mm RHS. And I bolt each leg to the frame with two 3/8th HT bolts.

With the platform, can usually still get into many carparks, and mine usually weight 20-22kgs.

My brother in law who pops up on this site under the name of "bold jack" sometimes, just made a set of roof racks for his 2003 jackaroo, as he found the cost of ready made ones just too expensive. He is a fitter and turner so he has the knowlage and equipment at his disposal. I must say he did a wonderfull job as well, as the jacks roof line curves down and out at the front he had to go to the trouble of building different jigs to make left and right side feet for the bars. Got them powder coated at mates rates, and ended up with bloody strong bars for a fraction of the cost. He tested the strength off the car and ONE bar could support his 100kg plus weight without flexing so with 3 bars on the roof he has one strong set up. He is now in the process of desiging a roof basket to suit. He did make noise about making them as a thing on the side not sure if he was serious. He has the jigs now so easy to make more sets.

Cheers Stefan

Yep!
Made one for the GU Patrol from square 20mm steel tube (zinc plated).
Sits in the gutter on a full length of 5x25mm flat iron on edge so the weight is distributed over the whole length of the gutter.
The vertical supports are 5x50mm flat iron.
The floor is of arc mesh supported by a series of transverse 20mm tubing spaced 200mm apart for the whole length of the rack.
The hardest part was making up some really serious gutter clamps, which bolt to the vertical supports with 7mm high tensile bolts.
All-up cost was less than $100.
Had 6 years of use with no probs, incl some pretty rough tracks.

From previous experience of breakages on a commercial unit, I found the fractures occurred where the vertical supports were welded to the main roof rack, and transverse bars fractured from sheer weight when on corrugations such as Kalumburu road.
This new one has suffered none of those problems.
And it's noise-free.
Go for it!
Gerry

Yeh Ive made a few,
No reason you cant.
Cheers

The guru left here hour ago, he will let u know all about it. but his were all alloy.

To get just what you want, build your own. Ours has had a long process of evolution, but in its present (final ?) form houses, in slide-out modules, a solar panel and the boating gear (electric outboard and all the usual boat stuff, plus 2 spare wheels bolted down securely, jerry cans, etc etc, as well as the side mounted awnings, and it telescopes out the back to provide the tent frame. Try getting that off the shelf! (Have a look at the photos on our "Members Rig and Profile" page. )

I used 5x50 mm steel full length in the gutters, legs from 5x38mm supporting cross members from 32mm square tube. 25mm square tube for siderails and I found a tube size to provide a sliding fit for the tent frame. From my earlier experience, the most vulnerable points are the legs - these need good bracing to deal with sideways movement. The rack has survived tens of thousands of rough km.

If you're prepared to mess with steel, you can make something which suits exactly what you want it to do, and for a fraction of the cost of buying one which probably doesn't.
HTH

John

I built mine 10 years ago and it was sized for a 1988 Pajero, sait it on roof racks and everything bolts together, upgraded to GQ and now GU and all I had to do was adjust the racks, very strong and actually quite easy, and when u want to add something else just weld the extra bit on, like a sand flag mount and a side tarp attachment and a shovel holder and the list will go on.

I'm sure if you're any good you can engineer and build one and at a price less than the retail.

However there are a couple of things worth noting:

I've seen a (workshop made) roof rack, and the boat, outboard and a bunch of other stuff come off a ute - struggling to remember which, tearing the gutters clean to bits, and the mounting points in the tray - I was going in the opposite direction, but am sure that it was going to make the trip home on the Anne Beadell (I don't really know why you need a boat on the Anne Beadell) all the way East from Vokes Hill an interesting trip - I loned the chap some straps, but it still felt rather uncomfortable, and I never heard how he went. So, remember, even though you have a super-strong roof-rack, you need effective supports and fastening.

Second, most roofs are only engineered to carry 100 or so kg.

Lastly, torsional flexibility is often as important as rigidity and strength given where some of us take our trucks.