yup.

 

I found this out the hard way. Windshield already had a crack all the way across, so not a big loss, but


BTW, Nice Rack!

 

I used expanded metal welded on my EMT rack also all welded so far it has held up for 5 yrs of heavy loads and my wife and 16 yr. old grandson sitting on top in lawn chairs. It has very little wind resistance and is quiet on highway.


I bought the expanded metal from a welding shop who had a piece left over from a large job they had done, paid $25 for it and they shear cut it to size for me. This would never work for what you want with a tire hanging off the end and I really like what you have done with yours very clean and well though out.

 

Man. I'm definitely interested in seeing the progress on this. I've had ideas in my head of doing a hatch-mounted tire carrier incorporated to a halo for a while... so I can't wait to see where this is going.

Love your design so far - especially the mounting. Good stuff man!

 

Nice rack Fred. Do you have a build thread for it?

 

Smart using the gutter mounts in addition to the stock roof rack holes. The stock roof rack holes are just riv-nuts and can pull out easily if tested. We drilled out the Riv-nuts and used 1/4" SS bolts and large fender washers on the inside to mount.

Bent the 2" angle to match the roof arch, Nice and clean.

Nice that it also doubles as a roof slider on the sides. Now just need a set of matching rock sliders.

 

No doubt expanded will work and I actually have some that I could use, but after having my heart set on perf. and then finding out how much it costs, I just started re-thinking things. Honestly though, I haven't thought about it for a couple weeks, but I'm probably going to do something in aluminum; if for anything else, the novelty (and obvious benefits). I appreciate your comments though; thanks!

Thanks for the words. I've been slacking lately since I'm also working on a bathroom renovation in my master bedroom and the wife is just eager to see us finish. Once it's off my plate - I'm all over it.

Thanks. You're right about those panel nuts; not enough to do the job alone, but definitely helping support the gutter mounts and a good way to spread the load/weight out across the roof. Rock sliders are on the list - got some cool ideas there too.

 

Well, I'm finally making some headway on the hatch ladder. This project kind of made its way to the back burner what with this last hooah push on my bathroom renovation. Every married man on this site knows the balance.

A happy wife = more uninterrupted garage time; lol.

On with the pics; yeah? I formed up the ladder from more 1.75" OD x .120 wall (wanted to do .095" wall but the last stick I had wasn't long enough) and did the individual rungs from 1.5" OD x .065 wall. This was a tricky piece to get formed up correctly. The center line spacing of the ladder is 14" for those following along. I still haven't figured out the latching or if I'm going to even tie into the hatch at all. Part of me wants to, just so that it's simple, but I'm also tempted to create its own strike plate and latch. I also need to start thinking about the lift assist. I'll weight the weldment here soon enough, but add a spare and some bracketry to hold that and those two little struts on the factory hatch aren't going to cut it. Even healthy ones. I'll figure something out...

 

You have to relocate the license plate, why not make a bracket that bolts to the hatch with those holes? Just throwing out ideas.

 

Unfortunately that's one of the weaker areas of the hatch door. There in no real internal structure behind that skin and the license plate actually fastens there with self-tapping screws in plastic panel nuts. If I attach to the hatch, I'll likely do it down low at the bottom edge. The panel is hemmed there and also shares the welded location for the inner skin - much stronger.

 

Could make the ladder latch to the bumper and put some rubber bump stops on the ladder similar to the ones that stop the hatch. Just a thought.

Looking good though.

 

if you make the ladder attach to the hatch you will need an articulating mount, due to the hatch and ladder swinging in 2 different arcs..... seems more trouble than its worth compared to just having it latch to bumper

 

You're absolutely correct.The main reason I'm thinking against it, is that the hatch rests on just a weather seal and two little mounts. That alone means you would at the very least feel the hatch move when you used it and it would offer no back-up protection anchoring, nor be anything up to the task of holding a spare. The plan is to just deal with two latches and keep things independent by latching at the bumper.

 

I've never gotten as far as what to do about support, but the idea I had was to add a "roller" attached to the carrier that would rest on the hatch as it moves up and down. Only thing is the obvious issue of making sure that the roller only comes in contact with strong metal. 'Cause there's DEFINITELY no way the back glass is going to withstand that much weight.

 

You might be surprised by how much weight that back window can support. I scrapped cars for 2 years, broke many windows. Once swung a sledge hammer at the middle of the back window of a 1980 Camaro, it bounced! Watched the glass flex in about an inch or so. Don't think I would test the theory on my own car though.