Topic: Home made roof rack

[midnightcwby]

Well, as I mentioned earlier, it looks like I will probably be moving to Oregon to take this job with Intel. This means I have to pack EVERYTHING I own in little boxes and transport all of my crap from Southwest Michigan to Northwest Oregon. I have a YJ and a '05 Chevy Aveo (don't laugh, that bitch gets nice mileage and it's a hatchback). I think the little Aveo has about 200% more storage space than the YJ after the rear seats are folded and such.
In the YJ's defense, I carry a portable 110v air compressor and about 20' of air hose, 75-80lbs of tools in my "trunk" (including my air tools like my 1/2" impact gun and 90* die grinder ect...), a battery booster box with a built in compressor, various tow ropes/cables, jumper cables, 110v 50' extension cord, 3 110v power inverters (one of them is much larger then the other 2), clevis and hooks, spare oil, spare axle lube, spare trans lube, 1gal coolant, 1gal water, 4 D-cell Maglite, GPS stuck to the dash, CB, 6x9's in carpeted boxes on the rear fender wells, Air force Gor-Tex rain jacket, M-16 800rnd. ammo can with road flares and complete tire plug kit inside, and tons of odds and ends that I've accumulated as I've needed them like a crap load of maps, ect.
So the YJ has a lot of crap in it. It's all organized neatly (I hate crap rolling around while I'm wheelin') and secured. So I don't have a lot of real estate in the jeep to work with. So where am I going to put boxes of junk?! I thought for about 10 seconds and decided that it should go on the roof, or a roof rack at least. So I talked about the idea with my uncle and, as usual, he added his genius to the equation and came up with an awesome design that allows me to quickly remove it and break it down for storage when I need to, but that will still be rigid enough to carry several hundred pounds (like I'd really do that!) and take a few licks from trees to boot! He's even incorporating my light bar I already have into the design so I can have a little extra light after dusk! I'm pretty stoked about it, and anything he makes is friggin' sweet!
Were also making a special drop hitch with double receivers so I can carry my utility trailer and my wife's bike rack at the same time! Sweet.
I can't wait.

I'll post pics and stuff (as many as the beer will allow at least!!!).
can't wait to get started!!!

[Jeffy]

Well, if you need some close up's I've got a Conferr on my shed.

[midnightcwby]

That definitely wouldn't hurt!  We've had a few discussions, and looked over a few ideas so far.  He's got the design figured out for the quick release mounts, so he'll make those at work (tool and die maker). We have a basic design worked out for the basket, but we're still adding extra cool features, and nothing is set in steel until the welds cool!

[Jeffy]

Basic mount for the Conferr is a hinge.  The hinge is bolted together rather then a pressed stud.  One side bolts to the top while other other side bolts to the rack.

[jackhammer]

make 2 and sell me one,if it breaks down so well, I will pay for the beer and I have a yj as well

[midnightcwby]

Wow.  I just got back from my uncle's.  We were going over the finer points of the design and getting our materials list together so I know what to buy.  This thing is going to be SWEET!  I've NEVER seen a rack this tough and durable looking!  Almost every rack system I've seen looks akin to something you'd make for an ATV. Tiny, thin walled square tubing.  Not this baby!  He's still keeping it light by his choice of tubing though.  It'll have removable legs and the brackets that bolt to the body of the jeep will be stainless steel (donated from his work of course!)  He's got the design for the spacer plates and will be cutting those this week out of 16 gauge steel to seperate the top and the bottem of the basket.  It'll have a slight overhang over the windshield too, and the legs will extend a little before the windshield, so i'll have some nice protection from branches and tree trunks there as well.
I'm going to get plenty of pictures from all the angles I can and I'll give em to who ever is interested in making one.  The best part still is that the legs will be removable so it will fit in the rafters of the garage, or where ever.  I won't have to store a "table"!  I won't be taking it off for anything but changing tops, however.  Anyway, just though I'd share my joy!

[wrangler387]

sounds good, by his use of materials... do you mean he is going to use chromoly?

[jackhammer]

pics to drunkencityworker@hotmail.com  please

[Jeffy]

Stainless steel tubing is $$$.  A friend of mine build a rollcage out of DOM Stainless and they bought a lot.

I'd still be a bit worried about weight.  Then you're adding more and it will make your Jeep lean.  Honestly, I'd try to keep the items placed up high small and light.

My rack's pretty light but it's sturdy enough that I can stand in it. Came with my top.  PO installed it.

[midnightcwby]

Were using some sort of mild steel tubing for the rack itself.  The brackets that attach it to the body will be stainless for strength and so I don't introduce a new rust spot to my poor YJ's body (she has some rusty front fenders already). And the stainless plate is free courtesy of his work's scrap pile.  They throw out some nice metal (it never makes it to the dump though )!
I opted to have my rack attach to the body to give extra protection to the windshield and the back corners of my roof (there hard to see and tree limbs/trunks would make short work of that fiberglass.  I also wanted to be able to use it when my soft top is on.  We're making a stainless steel sandwich for the 4 mounting points.  The body will be "sandwiched" between 2 custom cut steel plates and bolted with stainless hardware.  I'll make a silicone gasket for them to prevent water intrusion (like I need ANOTHER place for water to come in).  It will be able to support ALOT more weight than I will EVER be willing to put on it and actually drive anywhere, but the extra strength will help ensure it lasts I guess.  We're going to be hacking on this thing and completing it in the next 2 weeks or so, so I'll have some more pics to show soon.  I'll be sure to include pics of our custom PVC measuring devices too!

[wrangler387]

Sounds good. I would like to do chromoly, but due to costs and the fact that i'm going to be mig welding all of it i'm probably going to use carbon steel for mine also. Definately post up some pictures, I love reading/looking through fabrication threads. I wish i had a hard top sometimes haha. Looks good jeffy.

[midnightcwby]

My uncle is using his buddy's MIG to weld up the basket too.  He's actually working on it this week while I'm going to school and work and crap.  We're taking the final fit and trim measurements tomorrow when I get back from my classes.  It's shaping up to be a brute.  Some of you who are conservative might not like its imposing design, but it gives me a special feeling inside when I look over the plans (which are barely more than hard to read numbers, scribbles and sketches)!  I don't like pussy-footing around when I do stuff like this.  I stress function over form.  My uncle has a unique way of blending the two, so he tames my designs into something that will look more aesthetically pleasing, but not sacrifice any of the function I've designed into it.  He's pretty good.  I'll send some pics of the basket by this weekend if it's ready.  Otherwise it should be all ready by the weekend after if everything goes as planned.

[midnightcwby]

Well, the rack is all welded up and we test fitted it yesterday. DAMN is this thing AWESOME!  I've NEVER seen a roof rack this damn cool on a daily driver YJ before, hell I've only seen roof racks this cool on the Discovery channel when I'm watching documentaries.  It looks like a damn safari rack!  This thing is BITCHIN' and it turns out that it really is as easy to disassemble and remove as we had wanted.  It weighs in at about 70lbs and can support WAY more than I'd ever consider putting on top of a tipy jeep.  The basket is about 7.5'x5.5' so my wife and I can put the air mattress and sleeping bags up there and sleep high and dry when were camping in the mountains; just don't sleep walk  :shock: .  I'm putting the photos of it before it's painted on photo bucket later today.

[wrangler387]

damn that is a big basket. congradulations on the project. Can't wait to see pics  :D

[Chad]

Can't wait to see picks of this thing, it sounds like a beast of a rack