Roof rack question, advise and input needed...

flyfisheraa573

New member
I find myself in a predicament that I'm sure many of you, or at least some of you have.

I am plagued by the fact that I can not find exactly what I want out of a roof rack, and he ones that come close to providing what I want, are too far out of my price range. So, in digging through the interweb and this forum, I came across one that gets pretty dang close. The best part is the materials in which he made his, are readily available to me.

This is for a JK unlimited.

Take a look at the following link for reference, and final mounting:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/24093-Project-XXX/page8

And here for preliminary build:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/24093-Project-XXX/page3

According to XXXpedition's profile, he is not on here much anymore, so I sent him an email for his input; however, I wanted to get y'all's as well.

So, with the questions...

- with this design, do you think it would cause unnecessary stress on the hard top and/or tub?

- would it be as structurally sound if I slid the front leg back to within say 8-10 inches of the rear leg, to create a ladder, or perhaps did away with that mounting point altogether?

I do not intend to mount a tire, or fuel storage up top, so weight on the rack would not be a major issue; however, I might would use it temporarily to transport something light weight.

I do intend to mount an awning, some recovery tools, sand ramps, and lights to front and back. And probably a fly rod locker of some sort.

The rack he has built seems to be built out of carbon tubing, but according to my calculations, it should not weigh more than some of the other racks on the market.

Alright, that's all for now. Sound off please, I welcome your input.

Thank you for any and all advice and help.
 

rainstatebear

Adventurer
From the looks it seems like a good idea, and goes under the hard top and then mounts instead of through the hard top like some and then mounts. Go for it if you feel confident in your abilities.
 

Catfish37

Observer
I built mine myself. I made brackets and mounting plates that tied it to the roll bar on the inside. Maybe this will give you an idea or two.




 

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