ERMB's D-I-Y Rack System Build

I should be home sometime early next month for a few weeks and since it will be warm enough to work on the truck finally I'll draw up some ideas. Having a higher sitting cap has started to make it more difficult trying to find a solid front/rear level roof rack.

Also need to design a corner mounting setup that mounts to the oem bed rail system so I have raised tie down points at the front of the bed. That'll be my first project.

 

Got one on the way

 

Nice!

 

any trick to painting the insides of unistruts? especially under the curls?

 

I just went back and forth from opposite sides. The force of the spray will push some of the paint underneath and multiple coats will get most of it. What it didn't cover I'm not too worried about since its a galvanized zink treated material. I've had a piece sitting outside just to see what happens to it since about January and it still looks like new.

 

So has anyone ever removed the plastic strips on the roof before and put them back on again successfully? I want to take measurements of the rivnuts that are under the strips but, want to make sure what I remove can be put back on anyone out there have some experience with this before I tear into it???

 

Yup I pulled them off on my old pre runner. It's got a set of clips built into the strip.

 

Someone said in the front, correct. Think I can peel the back up enough to take the measurements of the back two rivnuts without running the risk of not being able to reattach them?

 

You'll be able to reattach them if you pull them all the way off. When people sell their OEM roof racks they always ask for their strips with cash.

 

@ChamYota i see you down there!

 

i have no need for a rack system, i just like watching

 

Nice job!
This is what has been going through my mind for a few months now. Thanks for the write up.

 

I love this build, especially the price. I worked up a price list if you wanted to use all aluminum.

Item

• Cross Bars $36.50 49 Inches X6 $219 https://8020.net/shop/25-2550-black-fb.html#
• Risers $21.93 X4 $87.72 https://8020.net/shop/25-4156-black.html#product_tabs_additional_tabbed
• Riser Hardware $0.45 X16 $7.2 https://8020.net/shop/75-3404.html
• Riser Hardware 2 $0.27 X8 $2.16 https://8020.net/shop/25-1961.html
• End Cap SCrew $0.21 X24 $5.04 https://8020.net/shop/25-3266.html
• Side Rails $7.72 6 Feet X2 $15.44 http://www.metalsdepot.com/catalog_cart_view.php?msg=

Grand Total 336.56

Almost as much as a Prisu rack LOL! Your option is much more cost effective. Though you could save money going with a single track cross bar or not having them coated black.

 

That's actually the same website I came across while on my search(metals depot). I hadn't seen those risers though. Some people might be interested in mixing materials too. Having a tracked option is a huge plus even thought the superstrut is tracked if you flip upside down too.

 

Sweet rack!!! Well done!

 

The super strut is also stronger, supporting nearly 500 pounds over 4 feet vs the dual track supporting just over 180 pounds. Both over those are center load weight, not distributed across the bars. Though I think aluminum tracks looks more like the Prisu, it is also more expensive than super strut. Still, it is an option.

 

Thanks Ryan!

 

Stage 3: The Cab Rack

So I got around to taking some measurements this past weekend finally! I have a pretty good plan in my head as to what I'd like to do for my cab rack I'll be building to compliment the cap rack. Over the years I've seen many designs that are functional but there's only been one that when I saw it it looked to me like it would function for my purposes. A few years back @ragincajun35 had a front runner special ordered for his access cab. what I liked about it was that it only spanned the rear half of the cab, which is all i'm looking to do here as well. I find myself often running long items, mainly dimensional lumber using my truck and rather than having them extending off the back I figure it's safer and easier to manage if I had them more centered over the middle of the vehicle spanning both the cap and the cab of the truck.

The cab rack dimensions will be;

Width - 47" (same as Cap)
Length - 34"

I think I'll run 4 crossbars total possibly 5 depending on spacing. I took some measurements of the rivnuts mounted in the roof and others can correct me if I'm wrong but I ended up with the following;

2 rear rivnuts - 2.75" apart
center rivnut - 17.75 apart from the 2nd rivnut in the rear of the cab.

For my purposes this was all I needed for measurements and I'd like to thank Doc and Joe @DrFunker and @Blackout14 and @Boogyman for helping me figure out how to get at them as well as supply me with some much needed newly discovered supplies (Doc).

Something that was extremely helpful that I did not realize was that the rubber moldings on the roof are not stuck down across the length of the roof with adhesive as I figured they were. I was able to just simply pull up on the molding from the middle and take measurements.

 

Little package will be ship out by the guys in shorts today.

 

Nice, thanks Doc!!!

I'll have one of my students get right on that