matterial for roof rack

what did you guys make your racks out of? im thinking like 3/16th square 1*1 with gutter mounts. anyone know of a place that sells just gutter mounts?

Search ebay for yakima 1a towers, I made my rack out of 3/4" x 3/4" 11ga

3/16" wall is overly thick for roof rack material especially in a 1x1 square tube.

I'd go 1/8" at the most if that is the tube size you're looking at....but preferably lower than that...say 11 or 12 gauge.

The trick to making a good light and strong rack is to have lots of supports using thinner material as opposed to fewer supports with thicker material.

rehab said:

what did you guys make your racks out of? im thinking like 3/16th square 1*1 with gutter mounts. anyone know of a place that sells just gutter mounts?

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I made mine from 3/4"x3/4"x.120 square tubing. I removed the oem rails, replaced them with 1.5"x.120 flat bar with 1/4" thick mounting tabs welded on.

Here is a couple of shots of mine I built out of 3/4" x 3/4" tubing. It turned out really light and strong...It's a good sized rack, it's as long and as wide as the jeep is...I forgot the exact measurements.






I haven't finished yet, I still need to paint it and install my stainless wind panels I broke up to insert in the front of the rack

Here is a shot of the towers I am using. There will be four of these per side. I think they're rated at like 200lbs carrying capacity each, so I pretty sure my roof would cave before I broke all of them...

My first rack used Yakima mounts and bars- was not ideal. Yakima makes great stuff but their rack rails are not really intended for this application, they are for carrying moderate loads and mainly on cars and SUVs- not heavy racks and loads on a 4 wheel drive trail. While mine did not break, they would get some serious side to side sway going on any rough road and it would have only been a matter of time. I eventually went to 6 gutter mounts because a heavy rack and spare tire is a lot of weight to keep under control, let alone anything else you put in there. You used to be able to buy Con Ferr gutter mounts, haven't checked in awhile though.

As for material, I think 1"x1" .120 would be max and .090 is even better if the rack is designed well.

meatplow5150 said:

I made mine from 3/4"x3/4"x.120 square tubing. I removed the oem rails, replaced them with 1.5"x.120 flat bar with 1/4" thick mounting tabs welded on.

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Nice.

I like the mounting approach and the low profile. Mind if I "borrow" some of your ideas?

Kargo Master has nice low profile mounts for either gutter or factory rails.
http://www.quadratec.com/products/12138_906.htm
http://www.quadratec.com/products/12138_904.htm

Old bedframe I found alongside the road.

Bender said:

3/16" wall is overly thick for roof rack material especially in a 1x1 square tube.

I'd go 1/8" at the most if that is the tube size you're looking at....but preferably lower than that...say 11 or 12 gauge.

The trick to making a good light and strong rack is to have lots of supports using thinner material as opposed to fewer supports with thicker material.

Click to expand...

sorry that was a typo. i ment 5/16"
thanks for all the replys, unfortunatly i bent a tie rod and blew a rear seal in my engine over the weekend and the rack got moved down a notch or two.