Roof Rack Design and Fabrication Weekend 5-6 Progress ;)

The weight is not on the hook, but the end of the step leveraged against the B pillar.

 

I'd love the link to that one if you have it. It would be handy to have a couple of those around the shop, in the truck, etc.....Rock Slider make great steps but that thing puts me like 18" closer to stepping up on top of the truck. WANT!!

 

I'm fairly short ~5'7. And I can access most everything in the pelican cases easily from the slider height. If there was gear in between the 2 cases that would be another story.

Thank you. I try come up with innovative, yet practical solutions

 

@Relic_Micah here you go.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FNGP98R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Ordered! THANK YOU!!!!!!

 

Are those things actually safe?

 

About half of me wonders if I'm going to get the worst shin rack in the history of EVER when it breaks. But.....It was like $16 bucks or so and if it works without killing me I'll be sold on it. The video I saw was pretty legit. I think it's going to be like the last two rungs of a ladder the first use. White knuckle like I'm walking on a beam a hundred feet in the air and in reality I'm less than 40" off the ground. HAHAHAHAHA.

We are designing rock sliders that hug the bottom of the body line and don't add much to the body of the truck so putting a step in them or onto them is kind of a no-go at this point. I hope this thing works. It will make getting to the middle of the rack really easy.

If it works I'll let you know if it doesn't and shit hits the fan......good bye cruel world.

 

I use mine all of the time. I load bikes on my cab rack and the topper rack with it. You have to be sure to get your weight on it right or it can move sideways. I have not fallen yet. I am sure someone somewhere has fallen off and broken their neck though.

 

There has to be a video of that. HAHAHAHAHA

 

Be careful about too close to the body. Sliders can actually flex on impact so wouldn’t want them so close it could cause body contact.
As for that do hickey step.. I’ll risk over extending my back before that thing slipping out sideways or tweaking my door latch from the body jam. Just my own opinion FWIW

 

We've got them measured at a .625" gap...think that will be sufficient? I bought the material but I haven't cut anything yet so I'm open to any and all input.

 

I remember watching a video of a 3rd gen Tacoma going up a hill, came down on a uneven peak in the terrain and the sliders definitely had some deflection. How much..I can’t say for sure, that’s outside my expertise. But many factors; material, mounting locations, etc. maybe one of the armor vendors can chime in to provide better input.

 

Here’s the original Moki stop:



Rightline Gear 100660 Original...

$60 Rightline Gear Moki Car Door Step for Car Roof Access As Seen On Shark Tank, 8.75 by 3 by 5.25"

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JMTVP9N?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

On all the sliders I build for 2nd and 3rd gens I try to gap them a 3/4”. I built one set at 1/2” at customer request and they would contact the body on a hard hit.
The body bushings on these trucks are soft.

 

Thank you for the information. My design background always pushes me towards this low profile, OEM, stealth shit but with something like a slider I have no experience at all. I'm dangerous with a TIG. Hahahahaha. I will space them out at .750-.875" on your advice to be on the safe side. This forum is great. Cheers!

 

Just for reference on the gap. This is of the first set of 3rd gen sliders I built.

 

Subbed to see the final product.

 

I'm interested in one. I do some CAD work for fun and would be interested paying you for the file so I can get one cut.

Maybe buy a dxf?

Willing to sign some papers if you like that I will only produce one for myself.

 

Okay......it's all finished up. Stayed last night and assembled/installed. TacomaWorld.....meet the upTOP gearNEST.

The front wind screen is a one piece, removable .250" Aluminum plate. Production models will be solid with available options for various light bars. Mine is cut for a pair of Baja Design S8 10" lights. I've got the ambers and the clears, I'm not sure which ones I am going to load up. Headed up into mountains this weekend to play around and do some testing.

Shameless plug**

The side grab handle mounts. You'll see these at the end. These guys will mount to the side of the color match outside rails and hold some grabbers for pulling yourself up to get to stuff on the rack.

With the bars back from powder coat I preloaded each bar with four of these m6 t slides. The ball bearing lets you slide them around to position everything and keeps them stationary for mounting. Really helped with lining up the pelican case mounting. I figure the production units will ship with 24 of these, enough for four in each track. They are removable even when the rack is assembled. 316 stainless steel. Should last forever.

All 316 stainless steel assembly hardware. The front wind screen comes soon/off with four bolts allowing easy addition of lights without pulling the rack off the truck to reach everything. Ever tried to add a lighter to the top of a truck by yourself? It's awkward at best. This should make it easier. This is where it starts to get cool. If you notice the gap between the black inner side rails and the exterior color matched ones? That is a channel for concealing any and all wiring for lighting, solar, and other electrical things. It's .500" wide and the sides come off even with the rack mounted to the truck so again....adding things and keeping it protected and clean...easy.

Using four of the six OEM roof mount points, each corner has two m6 stainless screws with rubber sealing/stainless crush washers. All of the mount screws are reachable with the bars installed. The front passenger corner will require a short 5mm Allen key (will be included in package) if you use the MaxTrax bracket and have it mounted where I do. Or you can just loosen the bracket and use a T handle. This picture has the mounts for the MaxTrax, one of the Rotopax, axe, shovel, Out Limits first aid release and off to the left is where the Pelican 1720 mounts. I positioned all the mounts while the rack was still on the ground so I could maneuver everything around to where it made since without having to be on a ladder. I put this one last night by myself. Moving blanket on the roof, set the rack on top from the bed and then worked my way around the mounting brackets on the truck one at a time. Leave everything loose until you line it up and then go back and tighten everything up. 25 ft.pounds with a small torque wrench.

My Krazybeaver shovel won't be here until Monday and I'm headed out this weekend so I stole old trusty off my other Yota to check all the clearance and layout hurdles. All of this comes part on Friday night for the purposes of doing it again to document assembly and installation instructions for market release. While that's happening the roof gets a Matte Black wrap and then I will seal up the mount holes with some urethane seam sealer and reinstall the front portions of the OEM roof line rubber trim. You will have to cut them if you want to reinstall them. Instructions will list part numbers for applicable years incase yours is a lease and you'll need new ones when you turn it in. Or you can run them naked, up to you.

the two remaining holes in the rear are for the bar/bracket that holds the Baja Designs chase light bar. I'm adding a couple of extra little things to mine so it won't be ready until next week. The two small blacked drilled plates on the sides....those are where the grab handles will attach. The tallest thing on the rack is the Pelican. The bar clearance over the roof line of the truck is .3125" so this thing really is low profile as F. It could actually be adjusted to nest lower to the roof line but I elevated mine to make a little clearance for the grab handles.

Some of the gear loaded up and almost finished. You can see the missing OEM rubber trim leaves the front corners exposed. It's strictly a cosmetic thing but I don't want to snag my hand on those clip tabs when I'm cleaning so I will be cutting and reinstalling portions of my gaskets once the roof wrap is completed. The cut outs for the Baja Design lights.....see that the mount holes aren't parallel to the light openings? the front wind deflector is bent at 45 degrees. The openings for the light lenses are offset down by .625" to allow the light bars to mount behind the wind deflector for protection and then rotate down so that they shine through the holes. If they were parallel your lights would be shining up into the sky. Cool, but no.

Handle attachment. GPCa makes stuff for Jeeps and a super cool tactical pen that you could mess somebody up with. I love their stuff but as I no longer have a Jeep....in coordination with GPCA.....they fit Tacomas now. the paracord is secured with Stevedore Knots and laced into the holes in the attached aluminum mount points. I weigh 180 pounds or so...I've got them lashed so that they don't move around freely. It takes pull tension to move them at all and even when forced down they wouldn't contact the truck exterior.

I finished about 11 last night. Total assembly and mounting was about three hours give or take and I did it by myself since our other guys are all on vacation. So what I can verify: It can be installed with one person. The total weight of the rack without any of the attached brackets is just over 36 pounds. This rack is coming to market. We have gone into production on other things before so we have some experience that will hopefully prevent upset fellow off-roaders and get us off on the right foot. There won't be any pre-orders for this product. The next four weeks will be spent assigning production models, assembling hardware lists, packaging, marketing, etc....When we have them dialed in, and we have a viable inventory to ship on receipt of order...they will be available. I've had my money wrapped up in products before with crazy lead times that make you forget that you even ordered it, or worse. Slow and steady wins the race. Testing will provide load ratings, do's and dont's, and we have to initiate agreements with our powder coating company to ensure they can handle the stress of production. Like us, they are a Colorado company and their priority is to be in the mountains....not the shop. In the immediate if you are in Colorado and you would like to see it in person.......Relic Automotive Design 2278 Manatt Court Castle Rock, Colorado 80104.

I hope you guys enjoy, support and feedback is always appreciated. At the recommendation of some of you I ordered some legit Jerry Cans and when they arrive I will design some brackets for them. At current time the goal is to produce the rack and ship it with the exterior sides ready for paint (powder coated inside and prepped for primer/paint on the outside). The various brackets and mount attachments will be available for purchase by themselves and after a few tweaks on the CAD they will be able to mount to any rack. Right now the mount holes correspond to the spacing on our bars but I want to make sure our stuff plays nice with everybody. It's not about what brand you take with you.....it's about getting out there but before you head out check your gear and make sure it's upTOP. Cheers, Micah