looking for roof rack ( platform) material suggestions

[Billiebob]

I am looking to build a roof platform for at least one of my vehicles, but maybe both. I have been thinking about how heavy the material needs to be to hold what I would likely put up on the roof, which usually isn't a whole lot ( a couple of totes full of camping gear, maybe fire wood, a couple of small kayaks....).
I was thinking about a 3x1x0.125 or 2x1x0.125 to make an outer ring and then maybe 1x1x0.100 for the cross rails to save weight but I could go heavier on any of it.
I am not an engineer by any means, but I can weld. My understanding is that a 1x1x0.125 at a length of 4' would have a deflection of approximately 1" (roughly) with a 1000lb load, which I would never have that much weight up top. I figure I would likely put around 200lbs up top at most, however I want to build this to be capable of a 500lb load to be on the safe side.
I have access to nearly any size of material but I can only weld steel, and would like to keep the cost and weight as low as possible.
Any ideas or suggestions would be great!
Thank you

Think light tubing, not pipe not sure on the gauge but 1/8" wall is wayy heavier than what you need on an LJ. While I agree, no one builds what you want/need check out what they use in manufactured racks.

The one thing every home fabricator does is build it double or triple heavier than they need. Compare what the manufactured racks are built with.

I ran lumber yards and we built the overhead racks for our pickups to haul 20' rebar and 16' lumber, we used light wieght 1.5" by 1.5"" crossmembers, 72" long and 2" x 3" x 1/8" wall tube for the left and right sides, and the 6 uprights. We cut 12' lengths, 8' over the box, 4' cantilever over the cab and we would load up to 60 pieces of 20' rebar. 4' overhang at each end. Crossbars were lighter and 1.5" x 1.5", 4' on center. 30 sticks tied to the right side, 230#, 30 tied to left side, 230#. Plus a bunch of 2x4 and 2x6 16' lengths in the middle. Never an issue.

We overlanders really over build.

 

[Phillysteak]

Agree with @Billiebob ... I fall into it myself all the time; overthinking everything when there are work trucks on the road with anemic looking racks holding 20 ladders for a decade of abuse.

For a 40" x 64" rack you're looking at the following weight (2"x1" perimeter frame, 1"x1" cross beams with 8" spacing):

11 gauge (.125ish) - 69.5lbs



What are you planning to mount this on? 70lbs will really limit how much gear you can carry since most Jeep racks can handle about 300-350lbs maximum.

 

[Shakes355]

The ladder rack I picked up for my truck is comprised entirely of 14ga 2x1 rectangle. It gets a little wiggly with a 6ft overhang, but it's more than sturdy enough for what you're doing. Especially with how tight your cross bars are going to be spaced.

Plus, even at 12ft long, I can carry the whole rack on my shoulders (with careful balancing). 14ga weighs a little over 1.5lbs/ft.

 

[JDGreens]

this is what I am building. It’s just a platform basically outside is made of 1”x2” tubing and the inside is 1”x1” and 1”x2” laying flat-in the inside of the frame. Every so often I welded a hold for the hold down straps.

 

[PCO6]

I'm currently building racks for 2 Jeeps and 1 trailer that will all mainly carry 2 kayaks and/or 2 camp boxes and in the case of the trailer 2 bikes. Depending on where I'm going and on who's going it could be 2 of the same, one of each, etc. Coordinating everything is becoming a bit of a 3 ring circus but I'm getting there.

@Trail_pilot - I have an LJ too and it will mainly carry 2 kayaks, or when I'm on my own, 1 kayak and one camp box. I leave my hardtop on as I drive it through the winter plus I prefer it for camping. I'm making the rack so it can go together or come apart in about 20 minutes so it will work with my soft top too if needed. I started with a used aluminum 1.5" dia. light bar for the front (not sure of the brand). I had some 90* 1.5" OD 0. 0.097" steel tube elbows and straight tube and I pieced them together for the rear hoop. Unfortunately I needed a bit more than 90* so I heated them up with my O/A torch and "rebent" them. The 2 hoops are attached to one another with four 1" x 1.5" 14g rectangular tubes. The light bar was set up for 4 lights. I fabricated similar brackets for the rear hoop and the 4 slats simply bolt into place.

I'm in the process of building the kayak cross rails. I'm using two 5' lengths of 1.25" OD chain link fence top rail (Home Depot) and mounting them on the rails from side to side. The cross rails are removable and only used when needed for the kayaks. I slide a 5' length of 1" OD pipe inside one of the tubes. It's a little hard to explain but I basically pull the pipe half way out of the tube, lift the bow of 1 kayak up on to the pipe and then the stern up on to the rack. I then push the bow of the kayak over on to the rack. and lash it down I then push the pipe through the tube and out the other side so I can put the second kayak on top of the Jeep. I'm neither young or tall and I've been doing this on my tear drop trailer and it works great. It takes about 15 minutes to mount 2 kayaks.

Here are a few pics of my LJ. The rack is a bit further along and is close to being done (bit of welding and paint to go plus I'm wiring it for lights). I've also included a pic of my tear drop trailer. I built the rack for it mainly out of a chain link fence gate. It also has an internal pipe and I use the same simple method as above for mounting the kayaks.

 

[PCO6]

I also built a rack for my XJ. It basically attaches to the original rails and is for the rear of the roof. I'm currently building the front rack which is a single tube with a pipe insert going across the Jeep and will only be used when carrying kayaks. Like the above I cut up a chain link fence gate, added what I needed and welded it back together. I used e-strut to provide a flat surface and lots of points for lashing things down. I had to make a wind deflector for it because on its own it "sings" on the highway. I think is due to the e-strut.

 

[JDGreens]

The first rack I built was way to heavy. But worked very well. The thing is so many manufacturers are building racks that are actually not rated for the loads that we are carrying, so overbuilt is underrated as far as I’m concerned. I’d rather have to compensate (better brakes and suspension) for the extra weight then have a failure on the trail or highway. But there are lessons on how we can save weight and still build it to holdup to the riggers of off roading. I’m certainly learning.

 

[Billiebob]

I also built a rack for my XJ. It basically attaches to the original rails and is for the rear of the roof. I'm currently building the front rack which is a single tube with a pipe insert going across the Jeep and will only be used when carrying kayaks. Like the above I cut up a chain link fence gate, added what I needed and welded it back together. I used e-strut to provide a flat surface and lots of points for lashing things down. I had to make a wind deflector for it because on its own it "sings" on the highway. I think is due to the e-strut.

View attachment 192137View attachment 192138View attachment 192139

the e-strut crossbar tiedowns are very cool. this I will remember

 

[Trail_pilot]

Think light tubing, not pipe not sure on the gauge but 1/8" wall is wayy heavier than what you need on an LJ. While I agree, no one builds what you want/need check out what they use in manufactured racks.

The one thing every home fabricator does is build it double or triple heavier than they need. Compare what the manufactured racks are built with.

We overlanders really over build.

I agree that I would likely fall into the category of overbuilding most times. Manufacturers likely have a basket that would work for me but the racks that hold them won't work with my combination of body armor, rear bumper, and some even interfere with suspension lol.

 

[Trail_pilot]

I also built a rack for my XJ. It basically attaches to the original rails and is for the rear of the roof. I'm currently building the front rack which is a single tube with a pipe insert going across the Jeep and will only be used when carrying kayaks. Like the above I cut up a chain link fence gate, added what I needed and welded it back together. I used e-strut to provide a flat surface and lots of points for lashing things down. I had to make a wind deflector for it because on its own it "sings" on the highway. I think is due to the e-strut.

I like the simplicity of your racks but I don't think something like that would work on my setup because I have a LED light bar over the windshield ( which may get removed when I replace the windshield.) And I would need to build a rear hoop as well and find a decent way to mount it.

 

[Trail_pilot]

I am thinking of doing an outer hoop of 2x1x.125 in case it clips a tree it should still stay solid, and may go as low as 1x1x.083 square tube for the inner cross bars. That should keep the weight down significantly. The Jeep itself if more geared to rock crawling but I am working on making it a little more ... Civil lol.

Too much weight up top wouldn't be good for my setup anyway do it doesn't have to be super strong. Just enough for me to throw a couple kayakys and some light gear up top if needed.

 

[Trailjeeper]

I just modded up a rack made out of the shallow Unistrut. I went with it for a couple of reasons. It is not overly heavy, it is pretty cheap, it is galvanized, but most of all, it is extremely versatile. The range of adjustability is amazing. I had a factory ZJ roof rack mounted on my hardtop of my YJ. It was ok for light things, but just barely.
I removed it, and replaced the rails with 1/2" Unistrut, 5 feet long. I bolted it to the hard top with 1/2 " bolts. The roof line of the hardtop is curved so slight bending of the strut was called for.
I used two cross rails to which I mounted 6 longitudinal rails, all 1/2" deep. The cross rails are 48". The longitudinal rails are all 5'. By using two cross rails, the 6 long rails lay flat. I can adjust the cross rails anywhere, fore and aft, and the long rails anywhere side to side. This way if I need two closer together, or further apart, no problem.
I stull have some mods to perform such as a vertical perimeter rail. That is coming. So far I love it, and it is super strong compared to the old plastic and aluminum factory ZJ rails. Once the perimeter rails are installed, everything above the mounting rails will be removable as one piece, or I can leave the cross bars and remove the "rack" in one piece.

 

[JDGreens]

11 Gauge tubing gets heavy really quick.... Do you have an expected payload capacity in mind? I've been using 1.25" SQ and 2"SQ 11 gauge for my trailer build, really easy to weld but might get too heavy depending on your rack design.

A lot of the modern roof racks use two laser cut/ plasma cut flat plates for the sides of the rack and 8020 for the cross rails. 8020 can get pricey but if you want to alter the design you can always take it apart and reconfigure it.

If you know the ballpark length and width of the rack I can CAD it up quick and give you a weight estimate for 11 gauge tubing.

Yeah I weighed it by standing on a scale with it it my hands. It weighed right at 80 pounds. Which to some might seem way to much. But it is full length and what I plan on carrying up there is clothing, sleeping bags (lighter bulky stuff) and a small stand alone awning. Anything that wieghs anything at all will be stored in the rig. I figure to try and keep the total wieght up top to 250 pounds rack included. When I explore the local trails around me there will be hardly anything but the rack up top. I have yet to add the wieght that comes from armor for the under carriage which will add the wieght to counter the rack.

It's almost finished. I should have taken more photos for the write up, but I think most will get the just of it. I'll post the writeup in both forums since I've read we are not supposed to post links to other sites. Put a link for the Overland bound write up in this thread.

 

[JDGreens]

Finished the rack and mounted it on my Xj yesterday. Time will tell on how well it works for me. Here are a few Pics.

I did a write up on how this was put together on the Cherokee Talk Forum in the fabrication thread. I would post a link but after reading the regulations I am not sure if it's allowed???? but a little leg work and it's easily found.

 

[DMStrength1]

Finished the rack and mounted it on my Xj yesterday. Time will tell on how well it works for me. Here are a few Pics.
View attachment 194274
View attachment 194275

Looks great!

 

[PCO6]

Finished the rack and mounted it on my Xj yesterday. Time will tell on how well it works for me. Here are a few Pics.
View attachment 194274View attachment 194275
I did a write up on how this was put together on the Cherokee Talk Forum in the fabrication thread. I would post a link but after reading the regulations I am not sure if it's allowed???? but a little leg work and it's easily found.

Looks great!

Coincidentally I finished the roof rack on my XJ yesterday too (also a white 2 dr. - post #26 above) and mounted a kayak on it for the first time. I have a few adjustments and straps to make and the second kayak should go on today. The test drive with one kayak went great ... no noise, no rattles and everything returned home in tact.

The kayak goes up with very little effort ... pull the inner pipe out of the front cross tube, lift the bow up on to the pipe, lift the stern on to the back rack, slide the front over on to the front rack and strap it down. I'll then push the pipe out the passenger's side of the front rack and then put the second kayak on the rack.

 

[JDGreens]

Very nice! We have some Yakima roof rails with a couple kayak mounts. One kayak mounted like a sail the other laying flat. I made the rack so that I can still use them over the top. I made my rack (hopefully) strong enough to support a RTT but don't see getting one as my wife doesn't have any interest in climbing up and down to get into a tent. We have a overnighter/trail run planned for next weekend with a 4x4 club, so that will be my first test on how functional it will be.

 

[JDGreens]

Looks great!

Coincidentally I finished the roof rack on my XJ yesterday too (also a white 2 dr. - post #26 above) and mounted a kayak on it for the first time. I have a few adjustments and straps to make and the second kayak should go on today. The test drive with one kayak went great ... no noise, no rattles and everything returned home in tact.

The kayak goes up with very little effort ... pull the inner pipe out of the front cross tube, lift the bow up on to the pipe, lift the stern on to the back rack, slide the front over on to the front rack and strap it down. I'll then push the pipe out the passenger's side of the front rack and then put the second kayak on the rack.

A little off topic but;
So with our 2-door I have removed the bottom of the rear seat so that I have room for some gear and made a wooden platform to level out the cab to sleep in on our adventures when we don't want to mess with a tent. I do wish mine was a 4 door,but I have to much invested to start over.. All in all I'm pretty pleased with my rig. Nothing fancy but very capable,

 

[Trail_pilot]

Finished the rack and mounted it on my Xj yesterday. Time will tell on how well it works for me. Here are a few Pics.
View attachment 194274View attachment 194275
I did a write up on how this was put together on the Cherokee Talk Forum in the fabrication thread. I would post a link but after reading the regulations I am not sure if it's allowed???? but a little leg work and it's easily found.

This looks great! Very similar to what I have floating around in my head. So far life has got in the way of my building anything yet but I am hoping that in the next couple months things will level out.

 

[PCO6]

A little off topic but;
So with our 2-door I have removed the bottom of the rear seat so that I have room for some gear and made a wooden platform to level out the cab to sleep in on our adventures when we don't want to mess with a tent. I do wish mine was a 4 door,but I have to much invested to start over.. All in all I'm pretty pleased with my rig. Nothing fancy but very capable,

I removed my rear seat bottom too and it's been a 2 dr. / 2 seater for years. I plan to make a "Goose Gear" style wood platform for it. I have a spare 2 dr. rear seat back that I stripped the upholstery off of. It's now a metal panel that I plan to cut in half and add hinges to so I can open the left and right side s independently to access storage underneath. I'll cover it with wood after that and probably have it Linexed. The entire cargo area will be Linex over wood which is what I believe Goose Gear does (for JK's etc.).

A minor "problem" is that being a Limited my interior is leather and "unfortunately" the seats are in perfect condition. I'll try to find a good home for them. I put Hyundai Tiburon seats in my last XJ and I will in this one too. I have them in my TJ & LJ and much prefer them to the original seats.

I also thought of replacing mine with a 4 dr. There are advantages for overlanding but I would hate to part with my 2 dr. as it runs great and is basically rust free. I sleep in the back of mine and it's surprisingly easy to crawl in on the passenger's side. I'm OK with tents and have a few including an SUV tent which provides plenty of room. I also have a tear drop trailer and a fibreglass camper trailer project on the go. It's often nice to just go in the XJ and keep it simple ... although my wife would disagree. lol

BTW - I'm only going to use the front rack on my XJ when I go kayaking. It goes on and comes off in minutes with 4 bolts and 2 thumb screws.