offroadordnance

The hero of this story is a HF kinker bought off CL for $50. His sidekick, a HF 115V booger maker was previously bought off CL for $50 as well. The material is schedule 80 1" for the main structure and 7/8" for the uprights.


First order was to bend up some hoops and join them together.

offroadordnance

Next order of business was to notch the cross bars that would make the floor and burn them in. The HF flux corewelder has good enough penetration to yield welds strong enough for this application. A hammer and chisel is used to knock off all the annoying splatter *****. In the end the welder was overheating and tripping the thermal fuse so I called it a day.

offroadordnance

After the first day, the base was complete and it was starting to look like a roof rack, or maybe an old fashion bed frame.

offroadordnance

The next day started with the top rail and welding in the uprights.

offroadordnance

The second day ended up with the top on and my helper crashed out on the massage chair with a bottle of mineral water.

offroadordnance

At this point I took a few weeks off due to an injury, I accidently put a knife through my hand in the kitchen. When I recovered I decided to use some 1'8" plate for the sides to tie everything in.

offroadordnance

A few days went by with no activity until a co-worker offered me a brand new set of Hellas he'd been sitting on for years. It gave me a good reason to shine it up and prep it for paint.

Flowpro

Looking good and extremely beefy.

What are the dimensions and how much does it weigh?

offroadordnance

At this point, I felt purchase of a set of JCR brackets were warranted and ordered ASAP. I wasn't able to get pics of the installation due to an unexpected "emergency" vacation . The rack was sprayed with Rustoleum bedliner, mounted, and on the road.

offroadordnance

60" long x 50" wide, I wanted it a little narrow since I intend on mounting items on the sides. My girl friend helped me take it on and off a few times and agrees with my 50ish pound estimate. I handled it by myself pretty much up until the JCR mounts were welded in place.

CMMC

Love the build(s)! Roof rack and cargo rack. One little thing I did notice is that you said you used Rustolieum truck bed liner. I too enjoy the versitility of this product. My only problem with it is that it turns a very light grey when exposed to the sun for a little while. I have found that using the cheapest rattle can black paint overtop of it works wonders. You may want to wait until a few days after it has dried to do the overcoat. I tried to do mine before the truck bed liner was cured and quite frankly I missed quite a few spots.

Hopefully this helps.

xjallseasons

Good job so far!

offroadordnance

Thanks for the tip. My bumper has this issue a year after spraying it with Rustoleum liner and I've just accepted it. I have a couple more projects in the works that need spraying, I'll use your trick on them.

offroadordnance

During years of travel overseas, I've seen side mounted ladders used on XJ's. I had a freind send me one that I saw online CHEAP . Unfortunately, the package came apart somewhere in transit, all the hardware is MIA, and I'm on my own to mount it. The construction is plenty sturdy though I'm not sure how to mount it or if I should mount it. I'm sure hooking a tree would be disasterous unless the bracketry were allowed to break away somehow.

DJKnightmare

^^ I like the ladders, but I really like the ones that attach onto the back. Less tree hooking action

https://www.trailduty.com/product_in...oducts_id=1558