before eveyone goes Kyle Van Tassel on me, hear me out:flipoff2:
I need to build a roof rack to incorporate sliders, not to put lights and shot up there. Here on the east coast, I get into my share of trees when it gets tight and the pigs starts sliding around in the mud. I found a rack similar to what I want on a (gasp) Cherokee, so that is my starting point.
1) this will be fabbed, not bought, so anything can be changed/improved
2) I will not be putting a basket, spare tire or anything up there other than maybe the hilift.
3) the main goal is to spread the load over the whole roof. I have already ripped about 10" of gutter off.:rolleyes:

thoughts/suggestions/random harrasment commence. I posted up in Gen, but I am curious to hear from Rover guys since I will probably take it in the ass over there just for being a RRC after WillTn's nightmare.

I suck at the internet, forgot the pic

So you want sliders on the roof to slide off of trees, etc.?

Why even do the back and front sections? Why not just make what would amount to full-length bars made of stout material -- sort of like the D2 roof rails only full-length and along the edge?

EDIT: Apparently "Josh" with the Cherokee has some enemies... :flipoff2:

There was a very nice looking "exo" Roof I saw years ago on a Disco in the UK..
Basically it was 1.5" tubing built cage like around the perimeter of the roof.. The thing bolted down via tabs through the roof to the internal cage. It had one tube around and a couple going over the middle with some other tubes to break the disco's lines at the raised section, you wouldn't need to worry about that bot bolting through an aluminum roof might be a problem.. You could probably make it from .093" Tube and keep it light..

Just a thought..

I like the idea of a roof slider like Revor described.
Don't like the idea of a roof rack.
Is this on a Disco? Are you considering doing something along the waste line of the vehicle?

Pete

On my classic, and not that I think about it something that just bolts to the roof would be easier to build. I may chop the truck in a couple of years, so building something removeable would allow me to pull it and sell it later. I could use it for hauling stuff for longer trips, i.e. Tellico and such.
I found the mfgr., Olympic and it is $300. Jeep parts are cheaper, who would have thought:flipoff2: :flipoff2: I think we will get started on this this week.

This is exactly the kind of rack Greg Hren did on his DII. I thought it was goofy looking, but he swore up and down it worked well.

I thought I had some pics of it somewhere, but basically it worked the same as that Cherokee.

I took my idea from Safety devices highlander and incorporated sort of a slider in thicker wall tube than the rest for that sleeper look :flipoff2:
Shitty pic, can improve tomorrow, it's away with the wife atm.

Can not testify to how well it works. I got to buy a RRC for mild offroading instead of taking wives D2 :p

Tobias

Didn't the Camel Trophy Discos have a roof rack that was tied into the cage? I thought I saw them flipping them back over by tying a rope to the roof rack and tugging. If you tried that with my Rover you would just pull the whole roof over a couple of feet while the rest of the truck stands still. You really don't want to 'spead' the load over the wimpy RRC roof anyway. How about an exoRRC? Just the back half. Tie it from your fabbed rear bumper and into your fabbed side sliders. Sort of an external four point cage.
John

The idea of roof mounted tree sliders is sound. You get significant lower loads in a tree sliding situation than in a flop. My seriously rotten RRC survived the first flop with no more damage than a bent in side mirror and the second flop, at significant speed bent the A, B and C-pillars inwards 4-5". That was way more violent than what you get when leaning into a tree in an off camber situation.
Wes, the exo idea is sound and gives protection for a lot more situations and more violence, but the thread starter did not ask for that...

T

this should be fine for tree sliding, other similar racks here work well. If I need more than that I will just chop the roof.

Didn't the Camel Trophy Discos have a roof rack that was tied into the cage? I thought I saw them flipping them back over by tying a rope to the roof rack and tugging.....

They did indeed. I fought off lots of trees with the rack on my Camel Disco.