Built a roof rack

[ROGLSTUBB]

After several years of my wife asking for a roof rack for her jeep. I finally got a chance to make her one even complete with her tweety emblems on the side. Now on to more important projects like a steel bumper for my ZJ.

This is my first time loading a pic so if it dont work I will try again.

 

[mingez]

That is wiwwee wiwwee nice. Siwwee Putty tat!

I like the design.

 

[mud4feet]

That is wiwwee wiwwee nice. Siwwee Putty tat!

HAHAHA!!! My God, with all the flooding everywhere, it's great that you guys keep me laughin'!

Nice rack, by the way (oops! supposed to say that to women, right?). I have great appreciation for innovation and "do it yourself" stuff.

 

[graewulf]

nice... one question.. no cross-bars? that'll be hell on the paint if you put anything that will scratch up there.. just an observation. Looks real nice though

 

[ROGLSTUBB]

My wife dont wheel hers and about the only thing we ever put up there is soft sided luggage. I will eventually put a cross rail for putting a full size spare on the roof like I have done on mine. But I just bolt that cross rail in. I use mine for a platform to put perimeter lighting and when I build those bumpers and some rocker rails I will put a hi lift jack up there as well.

I think my wife reason for wanting one is so she can mount the extra tweety reciever cover plates I machined for her reciever hitch. Good thing I only milled out three or she find a place to put another one. It only took three hours to cut bend and TIG weld the alum tubing up so was not like I spent days on it if she really does'nt use it.

I have had mine for several years and I have never used it for anything that would scratch the paint up there. I looked at quite a few when I was making mine and had always thought that they looked too shallow. If I ever needed cross rails they certainly would not be hard to add but the depth is nice too. Maybe make them to where they would be removable.

It is not the first time my racks were questioned about there lack of cross rails. So just out of curiousity just what do some of you carry on or use your roof racks for? I like to hear your input.

 

[mud4feet]

I carry kayaks on mine (TJ) so I don't have to worry about anything rubbin', either. 'Course I've got a soft top, so a little rubbin' doesn't really matter :mrgreen:

 

[bchcky]

nice... one question.. no cross-bars? that'll be hell on the paint if you put anything that will scratch up there.. just an observation. Looks real nice though

i was thinking the same thing grae, but sounds like you got it figured out man, looks nice. i'd like to get one for my zj, but living in the city, i dont know that i'd trust actually leaving anything up there right now. guess i'll just wait until i graduate and move.

 

[graewulf]

Mine currently holds my second spare, 3 plastic tubs full of recovery gear, extra fluids, etc.. The Hi-Lift is bolted to the side. I toss all kinds of stuff up there for my daughter when curb-shopping. I added some of that plastic lattice to make a deck so stuff won't fall through the slots. Works well. I have my CB antenna bolted to it too.

 

[mingez]

I carry spare roof racks on my roof rack.

 

[ROGLSTUBB]

I carry spare roof racks on my roof rack.

Thats exactly the way I got hers home from work was on top of mine. the aluminum was still hot from welding and I did not want to put it inside. I imagine it looked a little funny to the average passerby But I did not have far to go.

Graewulf it sounds to me you make good use of your roof rack. Far more than I have. I see them used for lots of luggage, bags, and sports equipment but most of the time they are empty. Your comment had me curious of just how much people actually use them and the things they use them for.

I 'd also like to though in for ZJ owners with roof racks out there the factory cargo net works better on the roof rack that it ever did inside.

 

[TwistedCU]

I like it! Nice work on the rack.

What do you have holding it onto the factory rack? Take a look at how the factory crossbars are held into the side pieces that slide up & down the roof. It is a piece of plastic held by a small screw. This might be a no-brainer, but I thought I'd point out that if you have to put anything with substantial weight up there to tie it through the side pieces which are much sturdier.

 

[ROGLSTUBB]

Hose clamps and since it the factory roof rails a so tight agianst the stiff tubing it really takes alot of the flex out of the factory rails. You can still move that plastic piece your talking about but it takes considerable amount more force. I am able to rock the jeep back and forth by the rack and only after I start putting all my 220 lbs into it can I make those flex. I think the manual says only like a 150 lbs on the roof anyway and with a the lift on mine and soon BB lift on hers I think it would be wise not put a lot of weight up there.

I thought about machining a mount to go directly to the cross rails under the roof when I had it on my XJ. I had tore out the headliner anyway so they would have been easy to axcess. But with all my other projects never got to it. The hose clamps are kinda redneck but have served well over the last few years on mine so I will go agaisnt normal jeep policy and say for this project if it aint broke dont fix it. Although now that you mention it I will keep an eye on those and if it does look like it is starting to fatigue the screws or plastic I figure up another mount or reinforce the exsisting ones.

 

[bchcky]

Mine currently holds my second spare, 3 plastic tubs full of recovery gear, extra fluids, etc.. The Hi-Lift is bolted to the side. I toss all kinds of stuff up there for my daughter when curb-shopping. I added some of that plastic lattice to make a deck so stuff won't fall through the slots. Works well. I have my CB antenna bolted to it too.

so....do you actually keep anything inside the jeep grae? :wink: you dont make the daughter and wife ride up there do you? :shock:

 

[graewulf]

Mine currently holds my second spare, 3 plastic tubs full of recovery gear, extra fluids, etc.. The Hi-Lift is bolted to the side. I toss all kinds of stuff up there for my daughter when curb-shopping. I added some of that plastic lattice to make a deck so stuff won't fall through the slots. Works well. I have my CB antenna bolted to it too.

so....do you actually keep anything inside the jeep grae? :wink: you dont make the daughter and wife ride up there do you? :shock:

Actually, I have several straps, bottle jacks, clevises, gloves, and a bunch of other gear under the rear seat - I had to start putting stuff up top because I ran out of room under the seat and the rest was eating up too much of the back end... :wink:

 

[bchcky]

Mine currently holds my second spare, 3 plastic tubs full of recovery gear, extra fluids, etc.. The Hi-Lift is bolted to the side. I toss all kinds of stuff up there for my daughter when curb-shopping. I added some of that plastic lattice to make a deck so stuff won't fall through the slots. Works well. I have my CB antenna bolted to it too.

so....do you actually keep anything inside the jeep grae? :wink: you dont make the daughter and wife ride up there do you? :shock:

Actually, I have several straps, bottle jacks, clevises, gloves, and a bunch of other gear under the rear seat - I had to start putting stuff up top because I ran out of room under the seat and the rest was eating up too much of the back end... :wink:

haha, sounds good. i got a question for you grae, where do you hi-lift off of your zj? i've done it before off the rear bumper, but that put a LOT of pressure on it and it looked ready to give at any moment. just wondering cause i know you carry one, so i was curious what points you used to lift off on your zj. thanks!

 

[graewulf]

[qoute]haha, sounds good. i got a question for you grae, where do you hi-lift off of your zj? i've done it before off the rear bumper, but that put a LOT of pressure on it and it looked ready to give at any moment. just wondering cause i know you carry one, so i was curious what points you used to lift off on your zj. thanks![/quote]

Several places actually (with the right options)... slip the jack in the 2" reciever, use the chain from the off-road accessory package through the slots in the front bumper to hook the skid plate (used that to jack me off a tree once), use the Lift-mate to hook a rim and lift the wheel and stuff something under it. You need to have the right toys to do it is all. The bumper is plastic, you can't lift from it.....

 

[ROGLSTUBB]

If you'r not scared take a saw-zall to the plastic front bumper. there is a nice line to follow allready on the bumper. if done right it looks pretty good and gives a better approach angle. It allows axcess to the unibody frame channel to lift from.

 

[graewulf]

I don't think I'd lift from the unibody itself.. its pretty weak and I'd be afraid I'd tear it.... I do plan on chopping the bumper though.