Decided a while back that I wanted a roof rack for my daily driver. Wanted to get my spare out of the inside to free up some space, and have a bit of added cargo options. I bought 3 24' lengths of 3/4" 11 gauge wall square tubing and went at it. I knew I wanted a light on the front of it, and eventually I want to add a floor to it. it's 50"x 80" x 5" and as you can see takes up the entire roof. some of them I've seen are only half or 3/4 racks, but I wanted the whole roof. Built my spare holder right into it.

initial layout


top, bottom, and most of the side supports


C Channel for the mounts


test fitting, and getting ready to weld on the light brackets


Sat up on the roof for a test fit before primer/paint


tapped the legs for the rail mounts


cleaned all the oils off, ready for primer


primer, sorry for the crap quality.


couple coats of black


ready to mount, getting it spaced right


Spare up there


Side view


mounted, and using it that night already


lights wired up


all in all, between a roll of wire, steel, primer, paint, light bar and relays, I'm just under $200 in it. took more time than anything getting all the little support posts in. overall, considering its the first rack i've ever made I'm pretty happy with it. what are your guy's thoughts?

 

Very nice work, it came out great. My only suggestion is to keep an eye on the mounting bolts. Not much threads in those legs and if the bolts come loose it will destroy the threads quickly.

 

Yeah thats a concern i have as well. The bolts im using are 20mm longer than pictured. Running lock washers to help some. Have checked twice in the last 50 miles or so with no movement. plan on taking a thin nut and tighting it down on the backside of the leg too. I really considered welding it to the roof at one point lol

 

Looks Good!


Based on the title I was expecting to see pictures of a Fisher-Price toy.

 

Also keep an eye on the power to the lightbar....one tre limb and it is gone.