Hybrid Roof Rack (sorry 4x4mike)

[Robinhood4x4]

I think the SS screws are going into regular steel, but just in case they're going into more SS, be careful. Stainless on stainless galls and will basically weld itself together. You need to use anti seize.

Instead of tapping, would it be easier to just weld a nut where ever it needs to go?

[Kryptoroxx]

I think the SS screws are going into regular steel, but just in case they're going into more SS, be careful. Stainless on stainless galls and will basically weld itself together. You need to use anti seize.

Instead of tapping, would it be easier to just weld a nut where ever it needs to go?

They are going into regular steel but thanks for the heads up!

Reason for tapping instead of nuts is because I will have no access underneath to hold a nut and I could either do weld nuts or just tap the metal. Tapping the metal was cheaper and easier too lol.

It will all become a lot clearer when I am actually able to grab my buddy and do this. The goal is not to increase capacity of the roof....just distribute it a lot more evenly.

[Kryptoroxx]

Very little got done today but measurements and the two bars ended up being 7ft long on the dot. Now if only toyota had put the roof holes on some kind of normal interval. I swear every one of them is a different measurement.

My buddy and I did a little more jaw jacking than work but at least no beer was involved so nothing crazy happened.

Tomorrow I should get all the holes done. Trying to decide whether I should cut out all the threaded inserts or not. They are weld nuts on the underside. I could leave them but the bar would sit much more flush to the roof if I cut them out.

[Bandit Runner]

Got my lights in for the rear. I was looking at how much I had to disassemble and figured now was as good a time as any since it's apart already.

These are the 3w version. I heard reviews about the 9w getting hot so I figured it was best to play it safe especially since I have 12 of them. Also heard it's good to run a 22 ohm resistor to regulate the voltage going to the lights.

I'm going to look up how it would be best to wire these up. Also thinking about making a few switches for the ceiling lights and tailgate lights. Thoughts anyone?

FYI, I have 14 of these lights on my roof rack, but in the 9 watt version. Not to discourage you, but after a year, I've had 3 of them get water inside them and stop working. I'm thinking about getting some clear epoxy and sealing them all up better. Good luck with yours.

[Kryptoroxx]

FYI, I have 14 of these lights on my roof rack, but in the 9 watt version. Not to discourage you, but after a year, I've had 3 of them get water inside them and stop working. I'm thinking about getting some clear epoxy and sealing them all up better. Good luck with yours.

Thanks for the heads up on that. These are all going on the inside but I might just do the epoxy thing like you're saying as a precaution.

Got a lot done today although it won't look like it in the pictures. I measured stuff until my eyes crossed and then drilled a few holes. Now I have 4 additional holes in my roof and a couple of metal bars running underneath the roof all drilled and tapped. The drill press helped a little but a couple of my holes were off by a little despite the accuracy.


Fitting test. The good news is about halfway down the roof there's a cross beam that I was able to slide the bar over helping me further distribute the weight. The best part is it's forward of the roof rack rails.

The rails run from the rear crossmember all the way to the front and when all the bolts are in you can feel that the solidarity of the roof is improved.

I spent a lot of the day standing on my rear tire with my buddy on the inside checking for fitment. Everything fits fairly well but it's not perfect. I had a few things get out of line. Nothing however that wouldn't thread.

It's hard to see the second hole in the pic but it's there. It was easier to drill the new holes than it was to measure and drill the stock roof rack holes. I ended up using a 5mm drill bit and installing the metal bars and using the drill bit to mark the length. Then I would pull the bar out and then center the holes and drill the bar. Worked pretty well for anyone who might try this.

The pictures as I said don't show a whole lot but there was a good bit of progress made. Next weekend I will be mounting the roof rack. I think my mounting system is going to change for the forward mounts. The channel steel might work fine in the back but for the front there is so much slope that I think I will end up fabbing something up from scratch to work with all the angles.

[Bandit Runner]

Oh, If all the light are inside, then you should be fine. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[Kryptoroxx]

Oh, If all the light are inside, then you should be fine. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

So am I as long as this mounting nightmare doesn't get me first!

So we will go with good news first.

-The rack fits squarely on top of the holes and maybe just a tad wider so that's good.
-The main beams of support will mount with channel steel directly below them so the weight of the load is directly supported by multiple mounts (4 of them are perfect, 6 are very close)
-The rack sits about 3/4" inch above the roof w/ 1 1/2" channel steel so that's within the concept of low profile. If that's too low I have no idea. Definitely would like some experienced opinion here. I would like to leave it as is but I'm not locked to that height.
-The rack can easily be lifted up onto the roof. I think it weighs around 40lbs?

Ok now we move onto the bad stuff....but first we have pics.


Of course I failed to take a picture of the overhang but It's about an inch into the windshield or so. 93.5" is the total length iirc.

I think the shape looks good but it might be a tad narrow. Easily fixed but I'm not sure if I want a behemoth top rack. I just want to have some usable space after I secure the rocket box up there.

Good clearance between the tailgate. It looks like about an inch to an inch and a half.

The channel steel might be one of those good concept, bad idea type things. Might be going to a set of custom bent flat steel mounts with a small gusset and just making them one at a time by measurement.

I don't think I could fill that by welding. It looks to be more than 1/4 gap although I should have measured lol. I think it's closer to .5

Again really hard to see but the holes I drilled came out really well. Almost right on. Definitely going to end up using a bent up piece of flat steel to mount with on these. The height is right at 2.5" in the front and the second hole behind it is 1.75"

Picture of the lowest part of the rack.

My eye level shot. It looks pretty flat to me.

So now we talk about the bad news.

-Mounting is going to be more difficult than anticipated.

I have considered making the mounts attach to a strip of steel so it effectively sandwiches the roof in between the steel on top and the steel on bottom but I'm not sure that would be any more effective than just making mounts where the fasteners will go.

I have officially decided that my led bar for the front will get mounted under the front bar. I have more than 6" of room before it becomes an obstruction of view with the windshield.

The backup lights I wanted to mount will have to be mounted onto a raised portion I will add on in order to clear the tailgate and make a backstop for cargo.

What kind of nails did you use on the side 4x4mike? I considered a ton of things including e-track railings but I think the nails will end up being the optimal side rail and attachment system.

[Robinhood4x4]

-The rack sits about 3/4" inch above the roof w/ 1 1/2" channel steel so that's within the concept of low profile. If that's too low I have no idea. Definitely would like some experienced opinion here. I would like to leave it as is but I'm not locked to that height.


The channel steel might be one of those good concept, bad idea type things. Might be going to a set of custom bent flat steel mounts with a small gusset and just making them one at a time by measurement.

I don't think I could fill that by welding. It looks to be more than 1/4 gap although I should have measured lol. I think it's closer to .5

3/4" of clearance is probably fine, but you can test it by propping the rack up on 2x4's and standing on it. Measure the deflection and you'll know if you have enough clearance. However, I wonder if you're going to get wind noise from that gap. Somebody else here, maybe it was sean, had a small gap and had wind noise. I threw mine up on the roof on Sunday, to see how it was, and it too had a slight bit of wind noise, but I'm not sure it's coming from. It could be the 1/4" gap between the box and the roof or maybe the box itself, or something else; I need to do some experimenting once it's painted and mounted up there.

As for the channel, you have a couple options. It's physically possible to fill that gap, but I don't recommend it because you'll need so many passes that you'll end up warping the main rack. Plus, it'll look amateurish.

You can cut off the top leg of the channel and just weld the vertical part to the tube. I think this is the way I would do it. The other way you can go is to put that channel in a vice and whack the top leg with a hammer and bend it down. I like the first way because I don't think the top leg is necessary for strength and it'll look cleaner without it.

[Kryptoroxx]

3/4" of clearance is probably fine, but you can test it by propping the rack up on 2x4's and standing on it. Measure the deflection and you'll know if you have enough clearance. However, I wonder if you're going to get wind noise from that gap. Somebody else here, maybe it was sean, had a small gap and had wind noise. I threw mine up on the roof on Sunday, to see how it was, and it too had a slight bit of wind noise, but I'm not sure it's coming from. It could be the 1/4" gap between the box and the roof or maybe the box itself, or something else; I need to do some experimenting once it's painted and mounted up there.

As for the channel, you have a couple options. It's physically possible to fill that gap, but I don't recommend it because you'll need so many passes that you'll end up warping the main rack. Plus, it'll look amateurish.

You can cut off the top leg of the channel and just weld the vertical part to the tube. I think this is the way I would do it. The other way you can go is to put that channel in a vice and whack the top leg with a hammer and bend it down. I like the first way because I don't think the top leg is necessary for strength and it'll look cleaner without it.

I didn't think of that but I'm going to test it out. Long day of work tomorrow so it might not happen till the weekend. I'm a solid 215 so I think that would effectively test the deflection on a point like that. It is certainly more than what I will load in such a concentrated form.

I didn't really want to fill that with weld either. I think I will end up making my own feet. I have about 4 ft of leftover 3/16 x 1" flat left and I can easily make the feet with the necessary angle and the height I need it to be.

While I am getting better at welding I have to keep in mind that it is much different than wood. Welding is a fusing process that is simply amazing and much stronger.

[4x4mike]

I have no idea what sized nails I used. They are from Home Depot and in a bin where you buy them individually rather than in a box. These pictures will give you an idea of size. They are thick enough I don't get any deflection. The smaller nails on my cargo rack would bend if I really cranked down on them as they are smaller nails.






FWIW I have less clearance between the bottom of the rack and my roof and it's quiet. I did notice when I put the front piece on my rack I hear the wind going through that section when the sunroof is propped open. Nothing from the back section and nothing touches when the rack is loaded up.