Ok so i've seen a ton of roof rack ideas on here and im going to give it a shot. The problem is, I have 2 6' sections of 2" angle iron that is 1/4" thick for the long sections and two sections that will span the width. I tacked everything together and it is about 60-80 pounds. I can barely get it on or off by myself for mock up. Is this too heavy of a base? because i was going to add 6" sides with 3/8" rod. And yes I do know one of the corners broke, I dropped it getting it off and the tack weld broke.

 

Just a comparison my 6'2"x4'2"x8" -1/4" rod rack with 2-4'x3/16" angle iron sections and 3- 6'-1.5"x2"x1/8" box all welded to 2 thule load bars and gutter mounts weigh 80 lbs...

so yeah i would say to heavy! unless your welding it onto an exo cage lol

 

I kept mine simple and it works great

 

Mine is going to be very complicated haha, and probably weigh around 80lbs, minus the tire off the back.

I would say yes, that 80lbs is too heavy for just a base. Metal that thick would be better suited for frame stiffeners, For a heavy duty roof rack, I would say go with at most 1"x1"x.083"wall square tubing, thats what mine is being made out of out of. Even 1/8" is pushing it.