This update has setting to do with the 4runner. Every time I go to kh metals I always find everything I need at a great price. I'm finishing 5 projects for 200 bucks in metal. Man I love welding lol.



Just finished this to assist with the cuts on my top rack. Simple but it's effective and square. Lining up 12 ft sticks of square tube will be a bigger problem than making straight cuts at least.

I got one of these for the same purpose. Also got a Harbor freight angle grinder on sale for $10 after coupon to dedicate to it, that way I can use my Makita for grinding/ flap disk duties. Sadly, haven't had the chance to use it...yet.

Portable Generators, Pressure Washers, Power Tools, Welders | Northern Tool + Equipment




You're table's looking good! That may be my first project here shortly since a pre-fab'd table is hundreds of dollars. What guage is the top and where did you get the drawer?

[/QUOTE]

This is an awesome idea. I like your build and all your mods.

Durwin

@Dezert4Runner @owyheerat

Thanks!

Honestly the top is thin at 1/4" (I found this out after it was built) but that's what I had so I used it. I would love to get my hands on 1/2" or 1" but $$$$$$!!!

The drawer I cut out of a cheap cabinet lol. The rest of the cabinet is going in another project.

I should start the outer frame this weekend provided I feel better. I've got this nagging cold going on.

Wow I never thought a roof rack could be so tedious. There has to be a few that were thinking to themselves "he's gonna hate life with all of those angles". ;) Anyway the outer frame is done but I have to bust two welds tomorrow for it to lay flat. Luckily those were the only two affected by the heat.

I wish my welding table would have been a lot bigger today and completely flat. That would have helped a lot but so would 100k cash so as I digress....on to the pics!

More work got done today. Lots more!

Two questions:

How much do you think it's going to cost total for the roof rack? Looking into doing something similar.

How are you going to mount it? From what I've seen in the previous posts, you're building spacers/mounts, but do those bolt on or what?


Other than that, I love all of your projects!

Right now I'm in for 75 bucks in steel and I had to get another spool of wire so that's 50 (10lbs). Pretty sure I won't need any more steel but I'm concerned about how narrow the rack is when I get my rocket box up there. I might have to widen it by 3 or 4 inches but that's the limit. After I test it out I might consider some expanded metal however that stuff isn't cheap...or light.


As for mounting right now I am planning on channel steel 1.5x.75x.12. The rear will bolt into the stock rail locations and the front will be sitting loose on rubber feet but I might stick them on with vhb tape. Hopefully I don't have to come up with plan b or c.

Love this build and projects! Keep up the good work man. Also love to see someone getting into welding for personal projects. Biggest regret about shutting down my garage and moving into a new space without one is the lack of welding space. I've thought about doing it in the backyard and building a structure...but it just doesn't seem to work out without endangering the house or neighbors. Keep it up.

@Kyogie thanks!! I enjoy almost every minute of it. I like taking my ideas and making them a reality. Also, much to the disbelief of my wife, my family will eventually get to enjoy the trips....all 4 of us.

Small update as I kind of hit a snag of sorts. I need to reinforce the roof before I mount this sucker. I suppose I don't have to....but to do it right I will. So currently I have the headliner dropped and I will be installing 3/16x1" flat bar on the underside of the roof to help distribute the weight more evenly. This also changes my mounting plan to bolting all the feet on the rack. Should be quite interesting to see how it all works out. Luckily I think a p I piece of steel like that costs around 20 bucks. Toss in another 10 for hardware and that is the added cost.

A picture of what chaos looks like lol

It seems like a small update but it's really a lot of thinking with a little work tossed in. Definitely the most difficult project I've taken on now.



That's how little clearance there is above the roof. I like it although I think it will end up being closer to an inch.

The new holes. I drilled 4 new holes and after measuring about 10 times I hit the reinforcement plates perfectly (well it was really close enough for government work but they hit all the same)

First mounting idea.....fail. Too easy to mount everything crooked and you're starting from square one for every mount.

Much better idea for mounting. I took the same metal that I used under the roof and put it in the stock rail location to effectively sandwich the sheet metal in between strengthening the whole assembly considerably.


All tacked up. Note to self. Ensure that you use an old tshirt or something if you are tacking on the vehicle. Slag will melt into your window (don't ask how I know)

Four mounts fully welded. Fits great. Now I still have to do the center mount and then the two mounts forward. Going to do the same plan as the rear mounts but these will be considerably taller due to the curvature of the roof. Still lots of work to do but it will be made easier since the rack is somewhat secure and I can measure off of it now.

I forgot two important pics. I tested the deflection of the design by setting the roof rack on 4 buckets like you see above. I then stood on the middle of the rack and measured how much it flexed with 215lbs standing on it.





Looks like half an inch to me. I stood on the front rails as well and while the flexed much more they did not deform either. I consider the design a success.

When I was designing my roof rack, I came to the same conclusion about the mounting feet being attached to one long piece that sat on the roof, basically replacing the OEM track pieces. I think it makes for a much stronger assembly too. I used a 3/16" thick, 2" wide flat bar for mine. I was worried it wouldn't conform to the curvature of the roof, but it did fine. I did keep the front 2 mounts separate, so I wouldn't have to run the flat bar so close to the sunroof.

I also know exactly what you mean about weld slag ruining your windows. I ran into the same problem when welding my rack while on the truck.

I don't know if you've seen my roof rack build thread or not, but it seems you are running into a lot of the same issues that I did.

Bandit Runner's Roof Rack Build

I definitely read through it but it has been a while. I should have thought about yours since you replaced your rails as well. I used skinnier stuff 3/16 x 1" but it definitely worked.

Success! Well kinda. Still have 4 more mounts to do. At least I didn't warp anything lol.





And it's sturdy. With the 4 buckets at the corner I recorded .5" and now with the side supports in I had less than .25". Guess my rack is a little high. It still sits at .75" in the center.