BTW, you need a shelf thread. I thought you had one but saw in some other post that you had one started.
Start one up, I've got some questions for you.
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BTW, you need a shelf thread. I thought you had one but saw in some other post that you had one started.
Start one up, I've got some questions for you.
Removal would be the primary use and storage would be secondary but honestly I'm not sure it would work out so well. The front feet will not have any bolts so tension has to be maintained from the rear bolts and I fear if I use either of those methods the tension will be lost and the front end would bounce. I am already planning rubber feet (1/4" should do the trick) to keep tension without stripping any bolts. All the feet will have a layer of rubber for weatherproofing. I don't have any rust in there and I plan to keep it that way.Quote:
Originally Posted by 4x4mike
I have given securing the box directly to the rack some serious thought. My only thought is if I did that two of my cross members would have to be in specific areas (not a huge problem but a consideration) so I could secure the box. You're right about the height though. The more I think about it the more I like it though. It might come down to testing it when I build it.
If it were me, one thing I'd consider is mounting the box directly to the rack. Previously you mentioned the top being expanded metal. One nice thing about that is that you can mount the steel to the rack in many many places. Another nice thing is that you can mount things directly to it and for the most part there is a hole there.
I'm not sure how many holes are already in the bottom of your Yakima box but if you use them all you'll have a solid mounting. If you use them along with large washers or a bar inside of the box and another under the expanded metal you've distributed the load in many more places than the few holes using the factory mounting option.
I've seen many broken boxes in my day. When someone drives into a garage or goes wild with too heavy of a load in the box the box breaks from the mounts. One thing I never liked is the holes in the bottom of the box. You only need a couple to mount it and the others are where cracks start. If you link them together with a bar and some bolts you've spread the load and have it secured in a larger area.
I've mounted fuel cans and full water jugs directly to my expanded steel with little to no movement. If the steel is light enough it will flex and eventually stretch in that spot but if you only mount the box in one location you can beef up those areas without adding an actual cross member. I'm thinking more of a 1" metal piece that stiffens the area and can bridge between rack members. If you wanted you could make it a little thicker or double it up at the box mounting points (holes) and thread holes. Mounting the box would be easier because you could just sink the appropriate length bolts through the box (with a lock washer) and call it good.
I'll try to dig up some pictures. I have some with my water jug mounted as well as a 5 gallon metal gas can. All are done with 5/16" hardware and have been tested offroad.
The way it attaches is a common u-bolt that secures inside the box and there are two mounting options for each U-bolt. It's fairly flexible so mounting it to the rack is definitely an option. thanks for giving me an idea of the strength with expanded metal. I figured it would pull through somehow.
I'm very aware of the inside of the boxes. At the age of 15 I was the youngest at a shop and found myself in one on at least two occasions. We'll leave it at that.
Here is the image I'm trying to paint. Build your rack like the image above shows. Under the holes of the box weld 1" strips of steel to the underside of the expanded steel. If possible tie those strips or additional pieces or gussets to the rack members. Put the box on the rack and mark on the steel strips all of the mounting holes for the box. Drill and tap those holes, adding additional metal if it's necessary (or just weld nuts) for proper thread engagement to the strips. On the inside of the box use similar strips on the inside of the box to tie the mounting hardware together. Yakima used to use credit card shaped metal pieces to do this job but it only tied two holes. I'm thinking the entire strip.
If you use some cap headed hex screws you'll have a clean flat interior and be able to ditch the plastic wing nuts. You could also sandwich some 1" webbing under the interior strip to use as tie downs. When the box is not in use all you'll have is the strips welded to the underside of the expanded steel yet still a flat top side of the rack.
I am very sorry about your negative experiences with yakima boxes but that has to be the funniest thing I've heard all day!Quote:
Originally Posted by 4x4mike
You're right though. There's too many positives to mounting it directly to the rack and then I can sell off the old yakima rack setup to someone else. I'm sure there's someone out there with a 3rd gen that would like quiet bars instead of the round ones. I'm sure that the box will be somewhere near at a reinforcement bar in at least 2 locations which would be good enough for me. On top of that it saves me 60 bucks or something like that in build budget. That track wasn't cheap at all.
Hopefully I will learn more as I gain experience with fabbing my own stuff up. Mike you have had some great ideas to incorporate that simplify my overly complex scheme.
Also I decided to leave the sleeving and joints out. I am mounting lights and such which will make it difficult to make truly easy to remove and re-install. It will end up staying up there more than likely. I will make the appropriate connections so it is not impossible to remove but in the end it will be easier to build as a one piece.
I will add that by the time I left that shop I managed part of it and was 24 so I feel I came out on top. As a group we transitioned to snowboard bags as they still fit a person and were much quieter when the victim started to go crazy.
I'd hang on to the Wingriders and Wingbars until you know it's all going to work. I think I mentioned it above but I'd use most if not all of the holes in the cargo box to be able to call it good.
I almost coughed up my dinner reading the second line. This sounds like something that would happen at my shop without a doubt. We had a guy that would fit in a gym locker (the 3 ft ones) so that was used liberally.Quote:
Originally Posted by 4x4mike
Man Mike you do know your racks! You're the first person that actually knew what they were called. I will definitely use all 4 corners. I was just talking about the holes being close to actual support bars for the rack itself and not the reinforced expanded metal. I will see if my Sketchup skills are good enough to come up with an actual finished product on the computer screen tonight and tomorrow.
Here we go. Sketchup was nice to me tonight. Wish to hell I had the 600 bucks to just buy the pro version so when I go to design armor and such when I finalize my plans I can just send it to the laser cutter. Don't know how much that would cost....but I'm sure it would be worth it.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...673/S3kIaO.jpg
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...540/JZU80Q.jpg
There is just one concern I will have to address and that is the outer edge of the rack. Since I designed it with a half inch lip I may or may not have to add blocks to clear the edge of the rack. I intend to mount the box as far over to the right as possible to save space on the rack. But this model at least gives me a heads up. It is as much to scale as I am able to do.
So I've been doing a lot of thinking, reading, and searching about warping metal when welding and how to try and keep it from happening
...or at least limit it.
Would using a mitered joint be effective in limiting this? What I mean by mitering is cutting a triangle out on the inside of the bend and then bending the angle I need. Anyway the bending would leave one solid outer wall to resist twisting, warping, and the like. The downside would be that I would be driving with two 12 ft sticks of steel on the roof racks. In Kentucky I wouldn't have a problem but what about cali?