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Homebuilt Safari-style Steel Roof Rack |
This was one of the first mods made to my Jeep, way back before I owned a welder or many fabrication tools. It was made for me by my very good friend, and expert fabricator Karl Charest. He did a great job and charged me almost nothing.
The rack is built of 3/4" hollow square steel tubing, 1/8" thick and is styled like a safari rack. Note: This is a 'function over form' design - looks brutal and heavy duty - not at all pretty. I don't think I'd do this to a nice new Jeep - I drilled about 80 1/8" holes in the roof !!!!!
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As to why the T runs the whole length. The rack "brackets" that are bolted to the vertical part of the T, have 2 holes in them, through which the bolts pass, also passing through the vertical part of the T. By having several holes drilled in the vertical part of the T, the rack's position on the roof is adjustable - it can be slid fwd or aft. We did this so that it can be adjusted, depending on load, e.g., If you were to strap on a canoe or 4X8 sheet of plywood or something - u may want to adjust the position of the rack on the roof. Incidentally, the rack is exactly wide enough to fit a 4X8 sheet. Also, in the future we had planned to make the rack size itself adjustable, using sleeves and quick disconnect pins, sort of like adding an extra leaf in your dining room table. The "full length" T would easily accommodate this. |
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It has 4 mounting brackets, essentially one at each corner. These are L-shaped pieces, the vertical part of which is drilled and bolts to the vertical strip of the T that is riveted to the roof. The T on the roof is the clever part. It's not actually a square T. The bottom strip is 1/8" thick, & 3/4" wide steel about 6' long, it sits on and fits perfectly the raised "bump" that the factory channels came off. It is riveted to this raised bit about every 2" with stainless steel 1/8" short rivets, there is a thick layer of silicone in-between for sealing. Now, the "vertical" part of the T - to which the rack brackets mount, is not at 90 degrees to the base strip. Because the roof bows slightly, the vertical part (1/8" thick, 1/2" wide, 6' long) was welded onto the base strip at a slight angle so that they will be vertical, not 90 deg to the roof , this way the rack mounts "square". The L-brackets are 1.5" angle steel, 1/8" thick, with a small piece of flat 1/8" steel welded on the back side of one of the pieces of the L, thus creating a lip to butt up against the vertical part of the inverted "T" strip. |
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View from above the rack showing floor and side construction. The hockey puck visible was originally placed to eliminate roof to rack contact during flexing of the roof but has since proved unnecessary. |
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Rear corner. |
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Front view of rack showing lights, spare tire, and CB antennae mounted. Note: The lights have since been removed after heavy trail damage caused by branches on woodland trails. |
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A picture
of the hardware used to attach the spare to the roof rack. Note: it is just slightly modified (i.e. bent) hardware used to mount stock spare in trunk. |
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Finished rack. |
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Finished rack. |
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Finished rack. |
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Finished rack. |
Summary
Thanks Karl....still one of my favourites !!
Here's the list of the steel required in the construction: (dimensions in inches)
| Part |
Number
|
Length
|
Width
|
Thickness
|
Style
|
| Flat bottom of T that is riveted to roof |
2
|
74.5
|
1.75
|
0.125
|
Flat
|
| Vertical part of T |
2
|
74.5
|
0.5
|
0.125
|
Flat
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| Side rails of rack (horizontal bars) |
4
|
60
|
.75
|
0.125
|
Square
|
| Cross rails of rack (front and back horizontal rails and 3 floor cross members) |
7
|
43.75
|
.75
|
0.125
|
Square
|
| Angled corners (horizontal bars) |
8
|
4
|
.75
|
0.125
|
Square
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| Vertical bars that separate the side and front/back rails |
18
|
2.5 (can be adjusted depending on how "deep" a rack you want)
|
.75
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0.125
|
Square
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| L brackets |
4
|
4
|
1.5
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0.125
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Angle
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| L brackets |
4
|
4
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0.5
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0.125
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Flat
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