Need idea help for arb awning mount

[TJDon]

How did you guys with awnings mount it to your factory roof rack? My ‘99 Grand Cherokee only has the factory roof rack. I bought the ARB awning mounts.


If you guys come up with better ideas I’ll return these.

 

[WAYAWAY]

I have not tried it, but I was thinking of monkeying up something with brackets out of the Simpson Strong Tie catalog. They have every imaginable shape and strength. Just add ingenuity and black paint.

Simpson Strong-Tie

Simpson Strong-Tie | Homepage

www.strongtie.com

 

[USStrongman]

If you have the rails that run front to back, you will need crossbars to mount to. Not sure I would trust any mounting bracket on those rails since they have such a small contact patch for a bracket to mount to.

Here is how I did my ROAM awning

 

[HIALT2D]

How did you guys with awnings mount it to your factory roof rack? My ‘99 Grand Cherokee only has the factory roof rack. I bought the ARB awning mounts.

View attachment 139638
If you guys come up with better ideas I’ll return these.

I used these same brackets to mount my 8' ARB Touring awning to my Yakima round bar roof rack. It was a bit of a pain in the butt because I had to drill holes in the bracket to accommodate the 2 u-bolts I used on each bracket to hold them in place. I also had to bend the u-bolts a bit to get them to line up. However, once it was done, they are rock solid & have held up after over a year of use. I'll see if I can get a pic posted in the next day or so.

 

[ChasingOurTrunks]

I am not sure if this will be helpful, but we use heavy duty L-shaped brackets in a bit of a different way than USStrongMan (clean install btw!). They are commonly available at Canadian Tire. We attach them to the tubular bars using u-bolts. A few minutes with a hacksaw, a file, and some spray paint makes the install look pretty good. The brackets in question are "Corner Brackets" by Hillman. They are about 10" long on the run, and about 1/4" inch thick so they are plenty sturdy, and this option negates the need to drill holes in the rack which can compromise your powder coating and allow moisture ingress that will rot the rack from the inside.

The brackets in question; the holes align with the nuts that fit into the extruded track on the back of the awning:

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The U-Bolts:

MotoMaster Trailer U-Bolt, Round | Canadian Tire

MotoMaster Trailer U-Bolt with round end is great for trailer axles, frames, side rails and other components | Canadian Tire

www.canadiantire.ca

The only thing we do is we use a bit of rubber tape between the mating surfaces of the bracket/bolt and the rack to preserve the powder coat, and we replace the u-bolt nuts with Nylock nuts of the same size. We've been using the same brackets and u-bolts for about 8 years and never had a problem.

However, like USStrongman said, I think I would exercise caution around the bars in your application. If the front-rear rack bars are not tied together, even a 30lbs awning will put rotational strain on a single bar and the mounts may not be designed for that.. If you have crossbars, then aligning the brackets with the cross bars might be ok. What I'm thinking about from my perspective is that the awning will act as a lever on a singular bar, but if that bar is tied into a bar on the other side of the car with a crossbar (making it more of a traditional cage rack), it will serve as a counter to that lever force.

 

[Anak]

How did you guys with awnings mount it to your factory roof rack? My ‘99 Grand Cherokee only has the factory roof rack. I bought the ARB awning mounts.

View attachment 139638
If you guys come up with better ideas I’ll return these.

I have the same conundrum with my XJ and the factory bars. Those brackets do not lend themselves to mounting to factory bars. I have thought about making some aluminum adapter plates that would go between those brackets and the factory bars, but I am tempted to go for something even simpler than that: Plywood.

I am thinking of making a plywood base to go over my factory bars. I have found U-bolts which work well on the factory bars. A sheet of plywood would simplify a number of mounting problems.

The downside to plywood is the speed at which it degrades when exposed to weather. The biggest problem is the fact that plywood has endgrain on all 4 edges, not just the two ends. This can be managed however. Thinned epoxies such as Rot Doctor's CPES product work well at sealing grain. Start out with exterior grade plywood, cut to the desired size, drill all holes you know you will need and then give the plywood several coats of CPES on all edges and the interior of all holes, then paint it for protection from UV and it should last a number of years.

 

[TJDon]

So when I purchased my RTT I purposely left the mounting rails longer than the width of the tent being I didn’t know what my plans were for mounting direction or the possibility of mounting accessories off the RTT “ long rails”

Glad I did (for now) until I figure out what I want to do without the tent on. My goal is to eliminate the RTT. I’m over the RTT..... pain to climb into, pain if ya gotta pee once up in it, pain if I bring my dog with me, pain to stay warm inside, fuel mileage is more horrible are among most of the reasons.
As soon as I can fab up mounting brackets I’ll be selling the tent.

Some pics of my current setup

 

[Motoboss]

With my 6 foot awning I used the ARB brackets mounted to my stock 08 Grand Cherokee roof rack bars. One hole I used the stock adjustment knob, drilled a hole through the rack bar and used a aluminum spacer with bolt, washer and nyloc nut on the inboard hole. Only 2 bars and it's solid.
I use plastic plugs to fill the holes in the bars when the awning is not on.