Show us your rack!

One I recently built after lusting over [MENTION=77764]Whitson Metalworks[/MENTION] beautiful racks...In all honesty I still want a WM, maybe even more now.








I also at one time sported a Rola:


And long ago built one from EMT:
 
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Here's my take on a roof rack...

For more info, see the write-up in my build thread: BFAD's Roof Rack Build

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Low profile rack I built, well I helped build. A fantastic fabricator, who shall remain nameless as I don't want him sued either, was the true master of this build. It was shake n bake, and I helped! Anyway, it's made out of 1" .065 wall. This was mostly for me to be able to mount my Howling Moon 1.4 Tent to. I have 3 bars going across in the back to support the tent with the forward and back most of the 3 having light tabs mounted upside down so the 4 T-slot bolts can bolt up to it. I wanted the area where the tent mounted to be flat so after the 3 bars I put a kick down on it to try and follow the roof curve. All I did was set the jack stands just past the forward RTT bar and push down on it. The rack is very secure, supports the tent great and me as I climb on it to reach things.

Here it is before the feet were made:

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Here it is getting painted. I would like to point out that it is designed for the 3rd gen 4Runner and these jack stands I have set up, which I am in the process of patenting to own the rights to a rack that can be mounted to two different types of platforms.

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Here it is mounted

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You can see the tabs used to mount the tent bolts

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I have 5 tabs across the back. The center one will be for a dust light and the outer ones for flood lights. The two bigger ones are for NMO antennas, one being my 2M/440 and the other for cellular

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And here she is in her natural habitat

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I would show you my rack if I had one, but I am in the market for one! I am having a little difficulty finding one for a 2nd gen and was wondering if anyone could recommend some to me?
 
Here's my rack!

I bought it off Craigslist and it was for a 3rd 4Runner so I had to make custom mounts to fit my 4th gen. It's 1 inch square tubing and has a cutout for the sunroof. It's just a little too long so my tailgate hits it before opening all the way.

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So I've had a roof rack design rollin around in my head for a little while now... I wanted a low profile, full length rack and I couldn't find one that I liked for less then 1500. So....

Last week I pulled the trigger and bought 250 bucks of steal, borrowed a welder, learned to weld, and just went to town. I'm pretty stoked at how its turning out!

Still more work to be done, but for not being a designer or welder, I'd say its coming along as best as I could have hopped.

My design:
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The start:
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Angles... ahaaa:
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Front basket part:
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Base design almost done!
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More pictures at: Toyota 4Runner Forum - Largest 4Runner Forum - Timmysj66's Album: Tim's Custom Roof rack build

I'd love to hear any suggestions or tips!

Also I'm trying to figure out the best way to mount it into the existing tracks on my 3rd gen if anyone has any insight.

Cheers!
 
Tired to keep mine low so it would still fit in the garage, but also wanted an area with sides to strap items down.
 

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I dig the roof tent option, but how do you avoid exceeding the 300lb roof limit in one of those things if 2 adults are using it?

You calling my wife and I fat?? J/K

If you're referring to the factory roof rack load capacity, keep in mind that first off that figure takes in to account the vehicle moving, so 300 lbs atop a moving vehicle is exerting much more than 300 lbs of force as the vehicle sways and rocks. Stationary it can support much more as a static load. The other part is that an aftermarket roof rack will do a much better job of distributing the weight than the factory cross rails. I don't have very much science to back it up, but there are probably at least 100 people on T4R with a RTT on their 3rd gen and their roof hasn't caved in yet. Much less the hundreds more in other generations which probably have similar listed load capacities. I just know it's worked for countless others and you can't beat the comfort of that mattress.
 
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Makes sense, otherwise there wouldn't be so many RTT companies around, I guess. The only other drawback I can see is the RTT takes up all the space of a roof rack, which kinda defeats the purpose unless you're using a trailer.
 
Makes sense, otherwise there wouldn't be so many RTT companies around, I guess. The only other drawback I can see is the RTT takes up all the space of a roof rack, which kinda defeats the purpose unless you're using a trailer.

Not really. I find it makes much more room inside the truck. Previously I would carry my tent on my roof, but the cots and sleeping bags were inside. I know it doesn't seem like much, but for some reason those took up a lot of room inside, especially the -30 degree bags. Also, there is room over the sunroof. I've put various things up there too. My first trip with the RTT I had a cooking grate with a bunch of firewood stacked along with a shovel up there. This last trip I had a table with 2 benches and two 4gallon Rotopax gas cans up there. The tent does have its drawbacks but for me space is not one of them.
 
Gobi Stealth

Just mounted it last weekend and it'll have a trial run in a few weeks on our next Boy Scout camp out. Not sure I want to put the ladder on for that. I can see one of them in particular falling off the roof onto my hood.
 

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Anybody know the setup that allows the box? I've done a cross country drive with all my gear in bags on a Rola. Driving back up to AK and not doing the loading/unloading of bags every night. Want a rack for camping, but want to put a lockable box (Thule/Yakima) for the road trip.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDoVSQBAxP7/
 
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