Home made low pro roof rack
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Year: 1999
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
Home made low pro roof rack
Hello, I figured Id share my roof rack I completed a couple weeks ago. I made my own rack 2 winters ago out of square stock, but it ended up being way too heavy and too bulky. I was proud of it at the time but I knew I could do better. I started his rack about 2 months ago and worked on it when I had a chance after work (my boss let me keep it in the shop and I used his welder).
Here is the old rack I made. I used JCR's gutter mounts to attach to my XJ:
Here is the old rack I made. I used JCR's gutter mounts to attach to my XJ:
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Year: 1999
Model: Cherokee
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As you can see that old rack is ok for some things, but I needed more of a low profile and less weight, plus I plan on getting a Roof Top Tent in the future so I needed it to work with that.
I decided on using 1 1/4 120 wall tube steel. My boss and I are friends with many of the local business owners and he hooked me up with a guy that bent my 90's while we unloaded a bit of firewood from his pickup. I thought that was a pretty good trade! I was so excited to get started on this new rack that I forgot to take more pics... so hopefully the ones I do have will make due.
I decided on using 1 1/4 120 wall tube steel. My boss and I are friends with many of the local business owners and he hooked me up with a guy that bent my 90's while we unloaded a bit of firewood from his pickup. I thought that was a pretty good trade! I was so excited to get started on this new rack that I forgot to take more pics... so hopefully the ones I do have will make due.
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Year: 1999
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Heres where I started taking pics. This is after I welded all my 90's together. I used 1" tubing about 8 inches long where each section met, it fit perfectly inside my inch and quarter tubing and made it nice and sturdy.
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Year: 1999
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I added 1" trailer gate mesh on the back section, I wanted it to be a little bit more "open" because I knew of I had a tire up there it'd be easier to clean off if the rack got too muddy. I finished the rest of the rack (front section) off with smaller diamond flat mesh which was smaller and also very smooth.
Here I was test fitting everything
Here I was test fitting everything
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Year: 1999
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I ended up coating it with Rustoleum primer then adding a few coats of Dupli-Color Truck Bed Coating over that. Finished it off with my LED lights (and 2 halogens) and Im very pleased!
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Year: 2001
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Both racks look great! One day I'll tackle one. I like the Camel Trophy style myself, but I can see a lot of advantages of your new lo-pro one. Great job!
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Year: 1999
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Thanks. I still have the old rack, well half of it at least. I chopped the top half off of it and flipped it around to make it smaller. Its on my younger brothers XJ now. I really liked the Gobi stealth rack and thats what I was originally going to do with mine but last minute decided to keep it even more simple.
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Year: 1996
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so you used 1" round stock, correct? Were you able to find that locally or did you order it? Can I ask what your total cost was?
Looks great by the way!
Looks great by the way!
Last edited by jw13; 12-14-2014 at 05:02 AM. Reason: added comment
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Year: 1999
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
I used 1.25" x .120 wall tubing round stock. I used 1" to connect the sections together, basically I had two "staple" shapes that were 1.25" joined to make a rectangle, where they joined I cut an 8" piece of 1 inch and slid it inside the 1.25" as a stiffener (4 inches to each section). Any of the flat stock you see is all .120 wall. I put those pieces in for future mounting points (tire, jack, etc.).
I ordered my steel locally and had maybe $100 roughly in steel used, plus $40 for the JCR gutter mounts. Add welding wire and paint it was all built for less than $200. Overall dimensions were 48" wide x 72" long.
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Model: Cherokee
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Thanks for the inspiration. I bought 48' of the square tubing like yours, but hadn't decided on a design. It was going to be more simple, but I like your first one so much, I'm going to go that route.