Roof Rack Question

J

jaredking733

New member
I hope I didn't overlook this in my search attempts (not always easy on my phone) but is there a roof rack that slides right in to the factory roof channels after removing the factory cross bars? Everything I see that sits on top of the cross bars I don't much care for the look of, and everything I see that sits lower profile requires some kind of drilling. I don't want to drill and risk a leak or some other mishap.

Are there any options for what I'm looking for out there anywhere that the T4R brain trust would recommend?

Thanks all!
 
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I think smittybilt has one that fits directly onto our trucks, but I'm not sure. I bought mine from a guy with a Ford Explorer so I made my own mounts for my smittybilt rack, it wasn't hard at all and I did it with just simple hand tools no welders or anything. I could take some pics and post them up after school if you wanted.
 
Sure, I'm interested.

I've looked around and I'm not having any luck. Smittybilt seems more geared towards jeeps according to their site.
 
jaredking733 said:
I hope I didn't overlook this in my search attempts (not always easy on my phone) but is there a roof rack that slides right in to the factory roof channels after removing the factory cross bars? Everything I see that sits on top of the cross bars I don't much care for the look of, and everything I see that sits lower profile requires some kind of drilling. I don't want to drill and risk a leak or some other mishap.

Are there any options for what I'm looking for out there anywhere that the T4R brain trust would recommend?

Thanks all!
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Most of the racks can be modified fairly easily to do what you are wanting. You will, however, need to have some fab tools and some skills.

I did what you are asking with a Rola rack prior to just ending up and building my own.
 
jaredking733 said:
That's what I'm looking for!

Thanks!
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Sure! That's a different level of roof rack though. You can get into a Baja for probably no less than 800.00...that's a conservative guess.

Rola's, Thule's, and similar 200-300.00 racks are a universal fit.

But if your willing to drop serious coin I'd wait till Whitson is taking orders again.
 
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ajonesnv said:
Sure! That's a different level of roof rack though. You can get into a Baja for probably no less than 800.00...that's a conservative guess.

Rola's, Thule's, and similar 200-300.00 racks are a universal fit.

But if your willing to drop serious coin I'd wait till Whitson is taking orders again.
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Yeah, I was noticing that this morning.

I'd love to have one, but I'd have to find one at a bargain. I want the full length since the only real reason I want a rack at all (looks aside) is for a place to mount a light bar.

Maybe I can score something on eBay?
 
jaredking733 said:
Sure, I'm interested.

I've looked around and I'm not having any luck. Smittybilt seems more geared towards jeeps according to their site.
Click to expand...
This is what i did. The Smittybilt rack came with 4 "L" bracket that bolted to the rack and then went down straight. They were already pre-drilled with holes on the straight part so I went to Lowes and bought like 4 ft of aluminum metal that was also shaped like an "L". I drilled matching holes in those and put bolts through the aluminum brackets and the rack bracket. i then cut the newly made brackets in the roof rack slits to see if they would fit and then cut them accordingly with a hacksaw. Haha sorry if this is really confusing, its hard to explain, but the pictures explain it better.
 

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JeepKiller said:
This is what i did. The Smittybilt rack came with 4 "L" bracket that bolted to the rack and then went down straight. They were already pre-drilled with holes on the straight part so I went to Lowes and bought like 4 ft of aluminum metal that was also shaped like an "L". I drilled matching holes in those and put bolts through the aluminum brackets and the rack bracket. i then cut the newly made brackets in the roof rack slits to see if they would fit and then cut them accordingly with a hacksaw. Haha sorry if this is really confusing, its hard to explain, but the pictures explain it better.
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That's a great solution.

Props on the creativity!
 
JeepKiller said:
Thanks! I love that it's so low to the roof, there like an inch gap and I needed that with lights this big. My mpg is still suffering though haha
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When I welded mine up I actually used your concept to get it so close to the roof. I got to 3/4" of clearance and ended up with 1/2" deflection with 200lbs+ on my rack.

You can remove the slides and you will be left with 10 holes to mount to. These are fairly sturdy and as long as you don't go over 250 or so you are fine. Any more than that and I recommend bracing the roof. Best of luck with your build and I spent about 6 months designing and building my rack. If you have any questions just ask.
 
jaredking733 said:
Ok...

Want to build me one on the cheap?

:dance:

j/k
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I certainly could but cheap might not be the best description.

Custom would though ;) In all seriousness though I am a self taught fabricator with many things left to learn. My welds are good but I am not confident enough yet to offer commercially.
 
ajonesnv said:
You could build one. I'm into this under 100.00 and it does it all!

Click to expand...

See that's exactly what I'm looking for right there. Nothing too elaborate, but looks great and budget friendly.

Maybe I should ask a local welding shop to shoot me some prices. I don't have any of the equipment needed to do any fab work or else I'd probably take a stab at it.
 
jaredking733 said:
See that's exactly what I'm looking for right there. Nothing too elaborate, but looks great and budget friendly.

Maybe I should ask a local welding shop to shoot me some prices. I don't have any of the equipment needed to do any fab work or else I'd probably take a stab at it.
Click to expand...

Knowing how many hours I have in this, I'm pretty sure you would end up in the 800-1000.00 range at a fab shop. Its not hard, but very time consuming.
 
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