Roof Rack Basket

[4x4mike]

Now that we travel with a baby we bring along a lot more things. Strollers, play pens, etc and the 4runner is limited in interior room. Well it does have decent room but when you've got a child's seat and no option to lay the seats flat you're stuck with little room after you throw an ice chest in the back. I bought a roof basket online in the spring and used it a bunch this summer. It saw at least 6000 miles and worked great. One thing I didn't like about it was that it wasn't big enough to hold my folding table (6 footer that folds in half). I decided to make one after I came across some 1" square tubing and here is what I got.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/Roof%20Rack/DSC07703.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/Roof%20Rack/DSC07704.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/Roof%20Rack/DSC07707.jpg

I still have to tack on the expanded steel and paint it but it's looking pretty good. It fills in the space between my Yakima bars and bike mounts. The old one did as well but fills it out all the way. I designed it to ride as low as possible because I don't like having a bunch of stuff up there. As a result the front and rear bars along with the bike trays act as walls. I strap down everything anyways so I'm not sure I need to build any walls but only time will tell.

[4x4mike]

Once I get it cleaned up and installed I'll take some pictures.

Here is the old basket.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/Roof%20Rack/DSC07288.jpg


It rode a little tall because it had to be mounted on the factory bars. With the basket off the wind would howl through the Yakima and factory bars making it very annoying. I would have to disassemble half of the Yakima rack to remove the factory stuff and then put it back together and I wasn't liking that.

Now I've got something that size wise works for me and can be taken off as I please. I might sell the old one if anyone is interested. We can still use it on the Subaru but I know I'll run into the same problems that I did with the 4runner.

[Obi..]

FWIW a properly "tuned" rack/fairing will let you eliminate most if not all noise.

*Let me know if the new rack makes any noise, I would be willing to help you set it up, that way I can get you to make us a rack for the Buick(?).

**like the front of this one, if you look closely, you'll notice I switched out the assembly and lowered all of it with a clamp setup. I also changed out the 5 bolt-nuts that attach the fairing to a longer set, then using some CPS (v-brake) hardware (cup/cone) I kicked the top back and the bottom forwards to kill the noise.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3460/3798297681_3ff4186872_b.jpg

[4x4mike]

I installed racks for 10 years and know all the tricks. I also used the 2 fairings I have and nothing worked. The problem was a cross wind in the freeway with the Yakima bars and factory bars installed. I might build a small metal fairing onto this new rack if it needs it. I think that because this new one sits just below the Yakima bars it'll be fine.

[4x4mike]

Got it all finished today. I had to get creative with some tie down points and I'm happy how they turned out. I used some big nails that I cut the heads off of. I like them so much I'm going to weld some of these to my trailer as they are functional and low profile.
Tomorrow I think I'll spray it with some hammer finish.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/Roof%20Rack/DSC07718.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/Roof%20Rack/DSC07719.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/Roof%20Rack/DSC07721.jpg

I also got some hardware from HD so it'll get bolted up as soon as I can finish painting it.

[slosurfer]

I like those tie downs! :thumbup:

[Obi..]

Where's mine? :D

[Robinhood4x4]

I hope that grate doesn't whistle while it works.

[Obi..]

I hope that grate doesn't whistle while it works.


:lol:

Someone photoshop this onto the top of his Runner.. :laugh:
http://freemovement.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-3.jpg

[4x4mike]

It's painted and installed. I crawled up there and stood on it as well and all is good. It's nice a snug to the roof line and lays at the level of the Yakima bars. This is why I'm pretty sure it doesn't make noise. I took it on the freeway about 70 and all is well.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/Roof%20Rack/DSC07725.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/Roof%20Rack/DSC07726.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/Roof%20Rack/DSC07727.jpg

[Robinhood4x4]

Nice. I need to do something similar for my 4th gen, the roof rack isn't exactly useful the way it is.

[slosurfer]

:thumbup: Looks good!

[Obi..]

Make sure you go ahead and remedy this before it begins to show stress cracks, your left front of the rails twisted up and to the left..possibly just have to move the load bar a couple of mm or so inwards.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/Roof%20Rack/DSC07726.jpg

[Lee]

that or the star bit isnt screwed in all the way?

[4x4mike]

Make sure you go ahead and remedy this before it begins to show stress cracks, your left front of the rails twisted up and to the left..possibly just have to move the load bar a couple of mm or so inwards.
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/Roof%20Rack/DSC07726.jpg



It's fine. I think you're talking about the piece of junk plastic beauty piece on the front o
's been like that for close to 2 years. It see's at least one bike 4 days a week and not one problem.

[4x4mike]

This roof basket was sized and built to fit between the Yakima bars and bike trays. Size wise it was a bit small but I wanted something that fit within the Yakima system since it was always on. The basket was sized to fit my then 4 gallon Rotopax, my folding table and water can holder (not all at once).

I've since removed my Yakima system and only use it occasionally to hold more bikes than my hitch mount rack will hold as well as my ski mounts. The factory crossbars are a bit boring and don't care for the loads I put on them during my weekend Home Depot trips plus I needed an additional project. Rail length wise I could not fit the basket and both factory cross bars as the factory bars have long feet. I decided to ditch the factory bars and increase the size of the basket. This would make it look a little less modular up there but also move it forward, off my Ham antenna, as well as give me a bit more storage space.

A larger basket would mean I couldn't run it with the Yakima but I was fine with that. The basket is light enough and easy enough to remove when needed. I had been toying with the idea of making a new one from scratch but there weren't enough things I wanted to change or add and didn't want another of the same thing. I kept the original squarish shape along with the tie downs because they hold my larger folding table as it was, plus I had built my water carrier around them and liked their placement for what I hold.

The new piece adds about 10 inches forward plus tie downs. I had been envisioning a short fairing of sorts but scraped that idea because didn't see a way of working it in nor really see a need for it. Instead I added a few more tie downs so it matched the height of the old side. Who knows what I'll put on this little shelf but I could see sleeping pads or firewood. I found a triangle piece in my scrap box and thought it would be perfect for a cross piece/place for a mag mount or flag mount. I ended up drilling it to the pattern of my flag mount which will be way stiffer than how I had it installed before.

While I had it off I drilled out and re-tapped the metal pieces that slide into the roof rails. I went with a much larger diameter bolt (M8 X 1.25) which is more at home holding something that get's loaded and romped on offroad. Sorry for the blurry picture. This is how a picture comes out while wearing gloves and coughing up a few hours of welding and paint fumes.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-m--B7eHCDJQ/VA00eg4uOEI/AAAAAAABALw/ebfh_s4ZDko/s800/20140907_155533.jpg

Old set up
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e13/mezamichael82/Roof%20Rack/1127091125.jpg




New
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-KYdLekm-INQ/VA00vYsMFEI/AAAAAAABAL4/Fz2xfNfgwtI/s800/20140907_194359.jpg



Old flag spot. As you can imagine it was not very stiff and stretched out that part of expanded steel.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-OMLi_ZEO1pc/UhGBzYXqQQI/AAAAAAAA6ug/iv4OppPTy_o/s800/20130811_184052.jpg


New flag spot
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-cN55I2TPZKQ/VA01hKbqBbI/AAAAAAABAMQ/422gt1kRw-U/s800/20140907_203645.jpg

[Kryptoroxx]

Hey that looks good! I like the minimalist design but it certainly serves your purposes well. I also like how you incorporated the stock rail system for support so that you can switch back and forth.

[Good Times]

nice Mike! Gotta check that out at Pismo! :)

[Robinhood4x4]

A roof rack is on my to-do list this winter. You need some LED backup lights.