Serious Roof Rack (M2 Browning Mount)

[The Badness]

Observe the roof rack design, the m66 will be affixed to the rack itself

 

[The Badness]

Was bored at work today so I drew up some more designs of the rack

 

[podm98c]

Looks good! What cad are you using?

 

[The Badness]

Autodesk...compliments of tinkercad. Super easy to use but only draws in stl or obj. That rack shown is literally 5" across but everything is to scale for when I transfer it to autocad for size adjustment

 

[The Badness]

And those lights are scale to hella 500s driving liggts

 

[The Badness]

More visualization:
All to scale

 

[-ND4SPD-]

Wow, this is getting interesting.

 

[AIbandit]

You definitely will need some support coming from an interior cage.
your gunners platform should be bigger than you show above. At least as big as the ring.

 

[The Badness]

I DEFINATELY don't intend on the roid strap. The m66 has a lock on the ring. So that's covered. The m23cradle has a lock as well. The m66 also rotates 360 degrees and it primarily designed for the m2 so supporting weight is in check. The m66 was design for the m35deuce & 1/2. I believe, I haven't checked for sure, but I believe it's geared as it isn't a simple skate...but more of a turret design with bearings. I've tried to think of everything. But the weight of the m2 is what made me shy from the m49 ring and skate, and go with the m66

 

[The Badness]

You definitely will need some support coming from an interior cage.
your gunners platform should be bigger than you show above. At least as big as the ring.

So I may have to abandon rear seats for the full size of the platform. Which is fine, but that's why I'm here on the forum....help with design. I can always try to figure out another seating arrangement of even possible. Not much room to work with

 

[AIbandit]

yeah I noticed the m66 part and edited, thought you planned on making your own ring. seeing the first post and your images.

Gearing is pretty important if you want to control it on the move. 100+ lbs 3 feet from center with force from moving is pretty uncontrollable. I've had to do it with a jacked up turret and it usually meant abusing the lock by getting it to spin where you want then slamming it in to stop it.

HMMWV turret would be better, but if this isn't important then go with the m66.

 

[AIbandit]

The platform SHOULD be as wide as the ring, it doesn't have to be if tripping doesn't risk getting a whole team killed. I'd still make it wider than that Perhaps some rear passenger seats that can fold to be part of the platform but are also pretty skinny when up.

 

[The Badness]

Yeah I hear that. Well, the xj doesn't provide much for room. The m66 is 48" across. Almost The entire width of the roof. Needless to say I'm going to have to shrink the platform a bit. I may go to 3ft because where the platform is to be mounted, 48" will extend into the front seats

 

[The Badness]

The platform SHOULD be as wide as the ring, it doesn't have to be if tripping doesn't risk getting a whole team killed. I'd still make it wider than that Perhaps some rear passenger seats that can fold to be part of the platform but are also pretty skinny when up.

That's a good idea. Seats on the platform

 

[The Badness]

The only problem with the hummwv turret, is they're very hard to find in my experience and when I find one, they're never complete. The m66 is prevalent in the olive drab world

 

[The Badness]

Not to mention, in the civi world, ANYTHING hummwv is ridiculously overpriced

 

[old_man]

OK, is pretty much filled with all kinds of folks doing all kind of builds, but I have a question.......WTF are you building this for?

I am really surprised that nobody has asked the question.

Now that is done, being a mechanical type, I have a large diameter tube roller. If I were doing this, I would do a continuous pair of tubing hoops the same diameter and do a roller bearing sled to move around the hoops.

Being the nerdy engineer, I would suspend a seat to rotate with the mount. I would rig a right and left foot pedal to rotate the whole assembly.

 

[The Badness]

Well, first off; I'm a bullet-head. If I could, I'd mount an m60 to a push mower. Second, I've seen a few JKs and endless willys (naturally) mounting the deuce...I think the XJ should have a turn, don't you?

Well, to save money in the long run, and fiddling with failed designs, as I don't have access to a fabrication shop. It'll be easier to utilize what I do have access to, an already assembled ring designed for the m2

 

[The Badness]

But, I may need a tube hoop at 36"dia. And 2" height. Something to strap a canvas cover to in order to cover the actual hole in the roof

 

[The Badness]

36" tube hoop with a 1" tube 360 affixed to the top so the canvas has something to grav