Roof Rack Attachment and Light Question

[Drake9]

So I had a question for you guys that have built a roof rack or modified one to have lights. What I am wondering is where/how are you guys running your wires? I saw in Bandit Runners build he came up through the roof and ran all the wires through the tubing. This made for a very clean install. My concerns with this is that water will leak into the the cabin or cause corrosion issues. Anyone else running there wires this way? If not how are you running yours.

I am also wondering about the front attachment of full length rack. Is the front just sitting on the roof or are you bolting through the roof? Any close up pictures would be awesome.

Thanks
Jake

 

[cj80cruiser]

I watched a "How to" video on youtube of an australian company that simply ran the wires through the driverside passenger door.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp-JMya_RWg

 

[Bandit Runner]

Yes, I cut holes in my roof to run the wires into the cab. Then used rubber grommets to run the wires through and to plug the holes. The front feet of the roof rack cover the holes/grommets and also have foam rubber gasket that seals around the holes/grommets. I haven't had any issues with water coming in.

As far as the front feet/legs of the rack, they are not bolted to the truck's roof. They just set on it. Although the limb riser wires do a nice job of pulling them nice and tight to the roof (which helps with the rubber foam gasket sealing too).

Hope that helps.

 

[dtc81]

Funny, I'm in the same boat. Hopefully this weekend I'll get time to build my roof rack, as well as wire up lights I have coming. I'm going to see how clean I can make the wiring look without drilling into the roof (run wires out the back by hatch), but I have a feeling I'm going to be drilling a hole. I'll be sure to post pictures in my build thread as progress is made!

As for the mount in the front, I purchased some rubberized furniture feet and plan to run a threaded rod tapped into the front of the rack and lock nut'ed. Hopefully I can preload it enough to keep it from moving too much. The feet are 2" in diameter if I remember correctly, so it should help with weight distribution on the roof. I dont really plan to ever overload the roof rack. If my design ends up sucking, I'll build another.

 

[Drake9]

Thanks for the info guys. It will probably be a little while before I start the build just trying to get it all planned out in my head. I gotta get my chopper put back together first then on to the rack and probably some sliders.

I will be watching for your build thread dtc81 to see your progress