I've built lots of roof racks with electrical conduit. I find brazing with a high strength brazing rod works better than trying to weld thin wall tubing. I've never had one fail yet.
Adventurer
I've built lots of roof racks with electrical conduit. I find brazing with a high strength brazing rod works better than trying to weld thin wall tubing. I've never had one fail yet.
RoyB
Dartmouth, MA
2006 Ram 2500 4X4 Diesel
Palomino B1200 Truck Camper
2007 BMW K1200 Sport
2007 Suzuki V Strom
Observer
Well I got it finished up today! Came out pretty good. The conduit is a little tough to weld so some of them are a little ugly, but they'll hold. I was very aware of the danger in welding galvanized metal. So, I used a grinder to clean the conduit prior to welding it, and wore a nice 3M respirator anytime I was grinding or welding on it. Only weighs 34lbs and yet is strong enough that I was comfortable standing on top of it. Will more than do the job that I'm looking for it to do. Measures exactly 4'x6'x6 1/2" tall w/ flooring every 6". Has about 3/4" clearance underneath it. Opted to only use 4 of the gutter mounts that I have, and think it will be plenty strong enough(to distribute the load of the mounts, I welded angle iron to the mounts, then the angle to the tubing so it sort of "cradles" the tubing).
Rendezvous Conspiracy
Well done!
1997 Ram 2500 Build & 2004 FWC Grandby Build
2000 Cherokee Classic 4x4, Lots of stuff! SOLD
Follow our adventures at:
OverlandAdventures.Org
Explorer
^^^ What he said!!Originally Posted by xj_mike
Banned
Beautiful workmanship on that rack. How did you do the bends? Just a shame about the galvanized tubing. I'm not a fan of using that stuff in a weldment at all.
Observer
The bends were done with your typical conduit bender.
Today I finally got around to getting a full sized spare and built a mount for it to the roof rack. Stole the design of the Yakima spare tire mount. Cost about $20 to reproduce it and it works great! Hard to tell from my photos, but I too used a "J bolt" which is super convenient cause the nuts don't have to be removed all the way, just loosened, to remove the tire. Which will make it easy to throw in the back of the rig to save gas when I'm not planning on any trips. It's double "nutted" with a nylock nut to keep it on there, if it loosens eventually I bought a small hari/cotter pin that I can drill through the bolt and insert. It's definitely on there securely. Although I'm gonna run a small cable with lock through the wheel as a safety precaution and theft preventative.
Yakima one:
Mine:
Expedition Leader
Nice work on the spare tire mount! That thing looks very professional!
Pat Bonish
Every Miles A Memory
Lowkey Hideaway - Come Visit
Exploring North America by Backroads and Trails When We're Not in Cedar Key
Expedition Leader
A pal of mine owns 'Co-Motion Cycles' they build custom tandem bikes. He told me that a good braze joint is actually stronger then a weld. I totally plan to braze my next rack. I hadn't thought about conduit tho. Are you using 3/4 or 1" and is it thick wall?Looks like 3/4
Observer
Correct, I went for 3/4" main frame, with 1/2" cross bars and supports. I went 3/4" rather than 1" so that tie down hooks, and bungee cord hooks will still fit over the tubing. And that they do, perfectly in fact. I also don't plan on hauling anything too heavy up there, so the 1" seemed like overkill. As it is, the rack supports me walking on it with no problem.
Just picked up a new Hi-Lift jack yesterday and all the hardware I'm going to need to mount it. I'll throw pictures up here when I get that on there.
Also picked up two of these at Summit when I was buying the jack. Got one looped through the spare, and will be using one on the hi-lift. They're great. I know they're not "theft-proof" but they'll keep the average joe from walking off with something! And I love that I don't have extra keys to worry about losing.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ONG-5061/
Last edited by RenoRacing; 03-27-2010 at 07:38 PM.
Banned
There's a big "It depends" on that one. It depends on materials and workmanship, and then you need more contact area for the braze joint. It would be harder to make a simple T-joint with a braze and have it be strong.A pal of mine owns 'Co-Motion Cycles' they build custom tandem bikes. He told me that a good braze joint is actually stronger then a weld. I totally plan to braze my next rack. I hadn't thought about conduit tho. Are you using 3/4 or 1" and is it thick wall?
If it was easy to make a strong braze joint, that's what everybody would be doing.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
