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need help with custom roof rack!

mountaindrew

NAXJA Forum User
Location
st.louis
I picked up a piece today that I am going to use as the base of a custom roof rack. It is the tob bunk of a bunk bed! it is exactly the right length fo the top of an xj, and only a few inches too narrow. It is strong ans haz plenty of cross bars. i need help with mounting it. i want to mount it in the gutter channel. if anyone has made gutter mounts before, or has pics of aftermarket mounts i could copy, that would be great!

I try to make as much stuff as i can, rather that buy and 3oo-400 dallars is too much for a roof rack.
 
Here's one idea, sorry for the fuzzy pic it's pretty old, but you get the idea.
Image1.jpg

Think they were 3" or 4" wide 3/16 with one bend in it. The clamp is nothing but 2" angle 1/8" thick with one leg trimmed down and bent slightly to fit under the drip rail. Notched it and welded in some threaded rod, add a small piece of square tube and done deal. If you don't have access to anything to bend the 3/16", or even a big vice and BFH, then maybe try a local metal shop that has a press brake. Mock up the angle you need with some thinner metal that you can do by hand, take it with you and they'll bend all 4 or 6 of them at once, shouldn't charge you much but guess that depends on them. This setup worked great for a rack I built a guy who regularly loaded it up with about 250 pounds of gear and a canoe. The u-bolts also allow some room for getting your bunkbed lined up. ;)
 
Thanks alot AJ! i just finnished making the mounts, and I pretty much used your design exactly, with metal i had laying around. I will post pictures when i take some, and how it looks on the truck.
And Chuck, I am all about the ghetto- fab-rications. Cheap all the way!
 
Hi all. Brand new here. Spent a couple of months at JeepForum, but I need some better info now.

I know over there they like to have people use the search button, which is why I have a post from 3 years ago!!!

I want to know how hard it is to bend 3/16 inch 4 inch wide flat steel. I have never welded before, and my Dad's friend is a pro welder and he is going to show me how on the 11th of March. I want to have all the parts cut out and build a safari rack for my first project (with his supervision). I have the design, and I like the gutter mounts that AJ Made. I just need to know how to bend that steel! Yes, I have a vice and a large hammer. I have never worked with metal before.

Thanks ahead of time,

Daniel Deisenroth
 
dirt machine said:
Hi all. Brand new here. Spent a couple of months at JeepForum, but I need some better info now.

I know over there they like to have people use the search button, which is why I have a post from 3 years ago!!!

I want to know how hard it is to bend 3/16 inch 4 inch wide flat steel. I have never welded before, and my Dad's friend is a pro welder and he is going to show me how on the 11th of March. I want to have all the parts cut out and build a safari rack for my first project (with his supervision). I have the design, and I like the gutter mounts that AJ Made. I just need to know how to bend that steel! Yes, I have a vice and a large hammer. I have never worked with metal before.

Thanks ahead of time,

Daniel Deisenroth
3/16" flat stock bending? I did that with my vice: I put it in and made sure it sat the way I wanted and pulled on the other end. If your piece is short enough then as jayuu suggested use a hammer.
 
Ok, and lastly, how about bending the square steel tubing. We have one of those Galvanized Pipe Benders for electrical conduit and I was thinking about using this. I know I could just go buy some and try, but I wanted to see if it was even feasable first. I think the radius is too big, but it will look better then mitering it anyday! Thanks a bunch.

By the way, this forum is GREAT!
 
dirt machine said:
Ok, and lastly, how about bending the square steel tubing. We have one of those Galvanized Pipe Benders for electrical conduit and I was thinking about using this. I know I could just go buy some and try, but I wanted to see if it was even feasable first. I think the radius is too big, but it will look better then mitering it anyday! Thanks a bunch.

By the way, this forum is GREAT!
All the bends in my roofrack and tire carrier I have done using a press. Just plan the bends carefully and don't "overbend" (couple small bends next to each other will work better then one BIG bend).
 
The other thing you can do with square tube is cut a series of 2 or 3 'V's' in it to make a radius bend then weld the now closed V's once you get the right fit.

BTW, while stationed in the sub base in pearl harbor I built custom nerf bars for people using the metal from GI Issue beds that I picked up at the post dump...
They worked out pretty good too...
 
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