Cross bars

[Arnel]

This has been done before, but didnt see it posted on OB so I thought I would post what I did. The Chevy trailblazer factory cross bars are very flimsy and I needed more support before putting my RTT on.
Picked up a 10ft section of super strut. Cut down to 48" I welded a washer to the top of the 1/2" nut and inserted into the factory mounting rails, which essentially is superstrut in itself.
Topped off with a washer, lock washer and nut. Now just waiting for better weather so I can paint the cross bars.

 

[Miguel Hernandez]

Not a bad idea there bud. You could easily make a bolt together roof basket/rack, and aluminum like that is pretty lightweight. not bad., I may go your direction for my new daily.

 

[Arnel]

Quite a few people have done it and works great. I'll be making a mounting system in the back of my rig to hold my CO2 and fire exstinguisher, but also allow it to either be moved or removed with wing nuts if needed.

 

[Miguel Hernandez]

sounds PERFECT I WELDING MY OWN MADE ROOF RACK OUT OF STEEL I DONT HAVE A TIG WELDER AND DIDNT WANT A BOLT TOGETHER BUT AFTER LOOKING AT THAT ONE I THINK IM GOING TO INVEST IN A TIG WELDER AND MAKE IT

 

[GTJeeper]

I see you said you're planning to mount an rtt to these. I've been looking to do a similar set up, would you say these are pretty easily strong enough to hold an rtt on bumpy trails?

 

[Arnel]

If you google superstrut roof rack you can see where I got the idea. There's a few other people that have mounted RTT's to superstrut before me, and others who have built entire roof racks out of it too.

 

[hardtrailz]

I did the same thing but with 1 inch thule crossbars.

 

[Arnel]

I did the same thing but with 1 inch thule crossbars.

You replaced the factory bars rail that bolts to the roof right?

 

[hardtrailz]

No I left the stock bolted to roof and just used the thule for crossbars using the bolt n washer trick.

 

[Arnel]

The superstrut worked pretty well over the weekend but I think I might weld together a full rack. it would be nice to get some storage space in front of the RTT, and be able to mount accessories up there

 

[Arnel]

No I left the stock bolted to roof and just used the thule for crossbars using the bolt n washer trick.

You're running 35's right?

 

[hardtrailz]

Yes I am.

 

[Arnel]

What other upgrades did you have to do to make that happen? I have a 3" spacer lift up front and 2" in the rear. Bilstein HDs all around. Need to upgrade my rear springs for the weight. But need a little more clearance I think.

 

[hardtrailz]

https://www.overlandbound.com/forums/threads/2006-trailblazer.536/

Good chance I prototyped that 3 inch lift you have since I did both the spacer and body lift prototyping for 3 stuff.

I currently run Radflo coilovers up front and Skyjacker C25R Tahoe lift spring in the rear with Bilstein 5125 shocks plus I have adjustable panhard and extended control arms back there. My front UCA are flipped and swapped for better ball joint angles as well. Also I have a 3 inch body lift and the front fenders are cut on the resr portion and the steel bumpers have the fenderwells opened up compared to the stock plastics. I also did a SF14 bolt rear w locker and 4.10 gears in both diffs, plus some tuning n such.

I did run 35s before the coilovers with 3 spacer and 3 body. It worked fine.

 

[Arnel]

So you have one of the maybe 2 sets of radflo coilovers

 

[hardtrailz]

There are lots more than 2 sets being used. We did a group buy on them a few years ago and it was ten or twenty of us that bought in. You can still buy em.

 

[Arnel]

Oh really?

 

[Veggie Man]

I see you said you're planning to mount an rtt to these. I've been looking to do a similar set up, would you say these are pretty easily strong enough to hold an rtt on bumpy trails?

Super strut is seriously strong stuff. I would worry more about the overall capacity of the factory mounts than I would the super strut.

 

[Arnel]

Factory mounts and the superstrut did awesome and the dynamic weight for the factory roof rack is 200lbs on the trailblazer and the RTT is less than that. Only other thing id want in front or some max traxx as a fairing. After this weekends trip it will definitely be my next purchase


Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk

 

[Daniel Clark]

Did this to my 2001 Isuzu Trooper with the 1 3/4 in uni-strut and 1/16 in bar stock for the brackets. Painted it with Rustolium hammer finish. Hope to create my own roof top tent platform using an inflatable air beam tent in the future to save on weight. Finding an airbeam tent with the dimensions of my rooftop platform.... Not easy. :-(