Found an old industrial cart (wire mesh parts) and some kind of whacky bed frame thingy. Decided to make it into a roof rack. Also snagged some bed frame angle iron out of the dumpster to help with some of the other brackets and whatever...
Total cost so far... $0.00

 

Interesting.

 

Dumpster Diving at it's finest. Hey Cudos. It works.

 

Now just find a solid way to secure to your jeep besides straps, I like it, provides a lot of point to securely tie something down

 

Thanks guys...
It isn't perfect but for free so far who can complain? I do wish the thing was a wee bit wider but I think I have a couple things that can make up for that... We shall see.
At first I was on the fence about using mesh for flooring on a roof rack as it seems like it would be flimsy. Well... like I said, the grey/mesh part of this "junk" came from some kind of rolling industrial basket/cart/doo dad(!?!) and the mesh is pretty stout. I have a couple places where I want to add some additional welds but all in all it was mostly run what ya brung. And the big squares will offer a lot of tie down options indeed. As for mounting it...Yeah, the straps were just so I could get it home. The car shop on my base is closed on Sundays and I had to take it to the next base to work on it. Otherwise if I don't travel I only get one day a week to work on the Jeeps and stuff. Way to much to do to only have one day....
Other thing of note is that I think I passed the "free" part of this yesterday. I went looking for some paint stripper for another project and ended up buying some German Hammerite black paint. That stuff was pricey but I've heard its tough as a tank so I will try that on the rack when its finished.

 

Any progress?

 

haha ratchet strapped for the win?

 

Sorry guys, haven't made any progress on this. I tried to go to the shop last Sunday but got shut out due to to many other folks being in line ahead of me. Hope to get some done this Sunday so I'll keep this updated as I do.

 

Does a mattress fit on top? ...you know...in case of camping lol

 

"just because you can doesn't mean you should"

 

That sort of goes against the whole "jeep thing"

 

Guess it depends on how you mean it? "Could" I go buy a roof rack and put it on, sure. "Could" I go buy brand new metal and start from scratch...yup.
But if I want a roof rack, have the time and skills, and tools... WHY would I? Just wait an see it done and see if its worth a $hit....Then let me know.
no pressure... lol

 

Well, I only managed to get very little done Sunday but it wasn't all bad. Got the factory rack off with no drama. Measured and cut the bed frame angle iron with relief cuts so it sorta follows the roof line. Also drilled the holes for the bolts and got it all set. Then I went to mount and center up the rack itself to begin measuring and making the "legs" that hold it to the angle. Well, that's about where it all went south on me. Realized the other tubing I had scavenged was just to small looking. The main tubes of the rack are about 2 1/2" OD while the other stuff was about 1". While I'm sure it would have worked ok it just looked funny. So instead I put the small stuff away for later rack additions (secret) and went out to the dumpster to see if any of the tubing was left from when I built the rack portion. The dumpster was pretty full but I saw some way down toward the bottom...figures! lol! But the cool thing is while I was shuffling all the crap out of the way to get my piece back I stumbled across some stuff that looked familiar. You know your a Jeep addict when you can see a used coil spring in a dumpster fill of metal car parts and have a good idea of what it fits! Well... the further I dug the more I found. Turns out one of the other Jeepers on post had swapped his 2.5" RC lift for a bigger one with long arms...and he threw away all the old stuff! ACK!! It took me about an hour to salvage all I could find but now I have most of what I need to now do the bastard lift...and mostly FREE!!!!!!! Stay tuned for that one too...
Here are the lame pics of the progress (or lack thereof!) and of the rescued lift parts! Score!!

 

WOW, I am digging the free lift thing!

 

Guess we shall see how "free" that lift works out to be... I found the guy that removed it and it was from his TJ... Its a 2.5" lift. I feel a little cart before the horse but having these nice 33" BFGs wanting to go on means I have my work cut out for me. I'm going to end up ordering some ACOS and some other odds and ends. I will likely try the "free" springs to see where that puts me but I have a feeling they won't be enough. I could only salvage the two rear shocks so no matter what I'll need at least two. And then there is everything else...lol! I feel a very large chunk of NOT FREE heading my way...
Got kinda shut out on the roof rack Sunday too. It was just so packed with people that I ended up with only about 45 minutes to work. So I cut some and grinded some and got one little support foot made.. More next Sunday hope!