Homemade Roofracks.

[dyogim]

That Unistrut and rack look they would fit perfect over the bed which would cut down on any drag and leave the contents placed inside the rack easy to get to

I had thought about that but, I now have a camper shell. I didn't notice a whole lot drag from the rack. Only when I had my spare tire mounted on top. Don't plan on having the spare on top again. I'd like to integrate a tire swingout for the rear bumper. Hopefully I get some time soon to actually work on the truck during the day time and I'll have updated roof rack pics....

[workingclass]

So, after reading through this entire thread I've decided to pull the trigger on building my own roof rack. All of the ideas and enginuity were really inspiring. So far I've come up with a set of gutter mount towers that are a combination of many of the designs seen on this thread. Preliminary test fits prove promising and should be more than enough for what my intentions are. I would eventually like to get a RTT and use the front portion for lighter cargo, i.e. sleeping bags, camp chairs, tents and such. This will be the first of many homemade goodies for my 94 Land Cruiser with front and rear bumpers to follow as well as Sliders and any needed skid plates underneath. I will eventually start a build thread and can only hope to inspire others as much as I've been inspired myself. Here's what I have so far..progress to follow.Roof rack 1.jpgRoof rack 2.jpg

[Every Miles A Memory]

That's pretty professional for a home built set-up!!

[workingclass]

Yea, I have access to some pretty cool tools through my work. Its a little like cheating. Believe me, the original prototype was pretty rough.

[fatrat]

Roof rack 2.jpg

Very impressive fab skills workingclass! :drooling:

[RTF]

Great builds gentlemen! Trying to decide between the atv ramp rack and EMT conduit rack right now.

I have seen a lot of folks using homemade gutter mounts but I am not seeing many set ups for factory racks. I just bought a used A.R.E. shell for my Tacoma that has rails/tracks for Yakima towers. I just priced landing pads, towers, and bars from Yakima and I am still in shock. They must be plated in gold or something. Has anyone made a rack or there own towers that mount in the tracks that are on A.R.E. shell? I just can't justify $200 on Yakima parts to mount my rack to. Thanks for any help!

[Mark Harley]

On my old F150 shell I found that Thule sold towers that were made for factory roof rack channels.
I bought them and mounted them with a gasket flat on the roof with "two each" 1/4" stainless steel bolts.
through the shell roof. They worked fine for many years. and were inexpensive. " they may have been discontinued"
Check ebay!

[Steve UK]

Hi,

As I had a roll cage I decided to do something different, the cage manufacturers also made cage clamps so I made some adapters to fit my roof tent to. I also got it really close to the roof to keep my overall height as low as possible.

Been on for a couple of years now and works great.

[pbsled]

Roof racks for Wranglers are very limited unless you go with an external cage or lightweight fiberglass roof mount. Neither would work for me so I ended up making something from a TracRac take off from a pickup. Lots of work, but its capacity and simplicity in the end make it a great option for a JKU. http://www.expeditionportal.com/foru...-Build-for-JKU

[clcoyle]

Nice design! Similar to mine

I like your philosophy.
i need to update the rack build, it's changed a bit.
I sold my Hella 500's and ditched the 550's in favor of HID's
Rewired the rack to switch between 2 and 4 lights via wireless remote control. Custom wiring harness between the bed cap and rack tray using 6 pin Amphanol threaded military electrical connectors.
So far the rack has been super durable, holds the Hi-lift without issues or noise, good place to strap down my dry bag for camp garbage, so it doesn't smell up the bed /cap, 101 uses, I love it.

I really like this design