Homemade Roofracks.

4xdog

Explorer
Saw this one on the backstreets of Paris a few years ago, and thought it was a hoot. Probably quite practical, too...
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billiebob

Well-known member
I built this years ago.
Yakima Landing Pads, Towers and CrossBars, plus a welded bar off the front bumper.

507737

The front bar is 1/2" higher than the other 2 bars which puts a spring into the ladders and only needs 1 strap to secure it all.

507738

The upright tubes slide into tubes welded into the bumper. The latch pins are not really needed unless you are driving around without the ladders.

507739

I love this Yakima system, the bars come off, go back on in under a minute.
 
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hg1027

Member
I put this together last week for a camping trip. I got a big cheap canvas tent on Craigslist, and wanted to be able to roll it up wet/dirty as needed and not have it in the cabin.

This is on my wife's 2012 escape. We'll be working on making it more family car camping friendly, certainly not going to be a go anywhere overlander, but it's got a lot more potential than my Accord.

The rails on this were so flexy I wasn't sure it would be worth anything, but the bars have stiffened it up nicely.

Tbolts slide in to the factory rails, hacked up bed frame angle to mount 3/4" conduit, all nylon lock nuts.

I left the conduit long, and I'll probably cut it down to about 3" overhang. Might seem a bit high for some, but the main goal was to have more secure tie down for light stuff, tent, sleeping bags and pads, kids bike, and get it out of the trunk where we can put coolers, stove, heavy stuff.

Next steps will be to round over all the corners a bit better (grinder gave up when I was cutting them 3 months ago, now replaced), and make it easier to get on and off.

I'm also on the hunt for used roof boxes.

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duffdog

New member
I thought I would add the rack we made for my girls 4runner. The factory rack wasn't strong enough and broke off with the roof top tent, so we made this out of 12awg superstrut. It holds a RTT, 100w solar panel, an extra rear rack for chairs and misc camping stuff.
 

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lchrum

Active member
I really liked the Prinsu look. I really did NOT like the Prinsu price. I went down to the local metal yard and found a bunch of 2x2 extruded aluminum. It is EXTREMELY sturdy, and probably overkill. I used Alubar for the sides. I had plenty of extra parts and fastners where my fittings up top are limitless. I finally hit the rack with rhino liner and it looks really good in that I also lined my shell.
 

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Arctic Taco

Adventurer
Rigid conduit? I can’t imagine it would be EMT.
I guess it really depends on how big you want the rack to be.

My light protection bar is made from 1/2" I.D. standard conduit. I was surprised at how strong it actually is. I welded bolts in the tube end for mounting. It was tricky because of the wall thickness but the result was worth the effort.
If I decide to run the Kragen style HID's I'll make a new light bar to accommodate the outer 7" lights.

If anyone decides to take the conduit route for building a rack, wear a good respirator when welding. The zinc coating is very toxic. Even if you sand the conduit for weld prep wear that respirator.
 

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