1st gen roof racks

I was looking to build my tacoma to a overland, "go anywhere" truck, and my next step if room racks, to mount lights to see when off road at night, shovels, jack, etc... I can't seem to find any good roof racks for my cab, and my cap, that go together well for 1st gens... I was hoping front runner or baja design made one for the 1st gens, but i cant seem to find one.

these are some ideas or like examples of what i'd want it to look like

 

Yeah Im having one custom built this spring for my truck. There isnt a great variety for 1st gen racks. But mabye this will help. This is what i did. Measure the width and lenght of the rack you want with a tape measure. (Inches or feet) Then use those dimensions to find one. Also use offroad in the search bar to get the more outback style. Hopefully this will help ya

 

Yeah that is why im having one custom made. I cant stand it when they sit up that high. You could probably use that as a deer stand as high as it is.

 

Okay yeah it will be a while before i can get it to a shop. But i plan on mounting it to the bed of the truck and running it across to the roof and put 1/2 inch rubber pads in the corners of the rack so if i do major offroading the twisting of the truck doesnt scratch the roof and mark it up. I have a few rough drawing of the rack idea if you want to see it.

 

This is the drawings

 

My idea is more for the single cab trucks. I did see this a while back though

 

The problem is our roofs are mostly just sheet metal, I have toyed around with the idea of making a custom one that attaches to my Q towers but rather than clamp on above the yakima cross bars it would integrate them as another cross bar in the rack if that makes sense. Would basically be a flat top the height of the Q towers

Here is my current setup, not the best but it's all I have on my phone

 

Good question, I

I've seen guys with RTT's up there with no issue, just need to make sure the weight is spread out evenly across the whole body. Personally, I would probably add a 3rd bar if I ran a RTT on mine

 

I think it is, but I don't think it's that much. I'll have to look in the morning

 

Ya it would look better if you put some bars across the bed and threw it back there

 

Yeah that just dosent work....visually that is...i love roof racks. I like the look when they're "right" and having all that added space!! Yours just looks so outta place, dont know if its just too tall or the rack itself is too tall, combination of both? Fur some reason it looks off on your extra cab aswell. Maybe a double cab would work out...gosh who knows. Didn't mean to totally bash your rig and tell ya how off it looks, lol. I of course dont really hate yoyr rig or anything, haha, we were just doing some testing right?..right...

See that double cab in post #11 it looks alot better and that basket setts really high! I think the cab size just allows the tall rack setup to work to the eye...atleast my eye, lol. Thats kinda why i think yours looks off, cab is too short.

 

Im in the same boat, i will never drill holes in my roof!! But dang it, really want a rack!

 

Wow dude! That is a really sexy setup for reg cabs! Im a reg cab guy too! I have 2!

On my more offroad oriented reg cab i have a shorty bed rack installed that only rises up like a foot i guess, off the top of the bed rails. I really wanted a short one so a RTT and or a basket, possibly even a spare tire could be mounted on it and still bebelow or right at the same level as the cab roof eliminating drag, bugs exploded all over everything and keeping the center of gravity in check!

However even though its up top your design is really appealing to me!

 

Agreed!!!

That's exactly why i got a short bed rack so i could put a basket on it, still have alot of room in the bed plus decent vertical space too while keeping everything at or below cab height...

 

Yes ^^^

 

You can check my build thread in my signature to see the bed rack I built. I ended up adding a basket to it later. The only problem with a basket that's sitting on rubber bumpers the roof is that it will rub through your paint because of road vibes.

 

thanks for all the input guys, I have a topper on mine, and id like to find a rack the would sit low and not high.. I'm really not a fan of the high sitting ones. I was looking at front runners rails to see if they would mount anyway or something to sit lower, but also line up with one on the body, but i really don't like the idea of drilling into my roof

 

What basket are you using?