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

Dude, incredible!

I’m getting in line for one. I was planning on Prinsu in a few months but this looks great.

Nice work!

 

It surprises me how little deflection there is when the load is shared by several bars but things like fuel cans can concentrate the weight so it seemed like a good notion.

 

That will definitely fit the 42" in the rear. The 52" bar is 52" exact without the mounts, so, definitely going to need something out front...

 

Hey sir email that to me please....micah@relicautomotivedesign.com

 

NICE!

 

I JUST ORDERED ONE!!! That is awesome

 

I've been using mine for the last two days. Loving it!

 

Was also looking at the Prinsu, but holding off now.

How much overall height does this add assuming nothing mounted to it? Shorter than normal garage problems...

 

Emailed. Just FYI, apparently my product was a teeny bit different:

 

whoa. Much cool! Very want! Great build! I'm definitely watching out for this coming into market!

 

Its nice to see a new take on a very similar product. Not to put your product down in anyway just a few comments.

1. Material - The design of the roof rack utilizes twice the material plus thickness increase from 3/16" to 1/4". I feel like you are out pricing your product from your competition. Maybe your in house fabrication is cheaper while others outsource and if you could sell under a $1000 for this product you have a strategy right there. If you could simplify the design (integrate the support plate and finishing plate) you would remove twice the material, hardware, PC and look to anodized the bars and could have a fairly cheap rack with the same design strength vs current design. I believe your marketing plan should focus on lower cost, low profile, strength and style. Like you mention its hard to convince people of value when $ talks.

2. Wind Deflector - Like the side finishing plates if you could contour the wind deflector to the front would elevate possible wind noise and reduce drag from between the rack and roof. Wind noise and mpg loss will be a BIG topic once you get the rack into production so any R&D prior could win you over more customers.

3. Cross Bar Deflection - There is a concern with the cross bars mounted on their weak axis prone to deflection under loading. Combined with the low profile rack could pose a problem. Have you tested any RTT hardware spacing to make sure standard hardware will work? Also to adjust any cross bars you have to remove the finishing plates which is also attached to the wind deflector. This could become pretty cumbersome to modularize the rack for mounting location.

Again all food for thought and I will continue to follow your thread for inspiration.

 

Are people really mounting a roof top tent to the cab of their trucks? Even with a double cab, adding that additional weight would make the truck too heavy, raising the center of gravity, not to mention the mpg loss from the wind drag.

 

I personally don't agree with extra weight above CG but I see it all the time and on bed cover racks. Hell I don't even own a RTT because I think its to much weight to off road. The current set up of the OP is how I have my set up besides the occasional 10'-12' lumber carriage and Kayaks.

 

I pass two here in Castle Rock about every other day. I blame the advertising of them strapped to Subarus. Hahahaha

 

All very valid points. We've got a decision to make for sure on what to trim, if anything, to get it on the market at a price most people could afford. With the background on building one off cars we would have to adapt to the mass quantity mentality and it will be interesting to see how that all turns out. Maybe sell 1/10th the amount we could have if we shaved it down...but the ones that are out there would be built like tanks.

One of the guys here yesterday actually joked about wind tunnel testing it for a commercial. If I go from my spectacular 14.9 mpg to something ridiculous like 13.....it's coming off. Lol. I see where you are coming from. I'll know some more about that stuff when we get the truck up in the mountains this weekend. Have a three hour drive to get where I'm going for testing so a good road trip will net some results, good or bad.

I've got a Tepui Kuk.3 and I did measure it's mounting structure when deciding on the spacing of the bars.We've got a little trick up the sleeve for locating the bars on the production model so hopefully when it hits the market you'll be able to really configure this thing the way you would want it, not the way we think it should be without compromising the structural integrity of the design.

Good info on the MPG loss. I think mine has been so shitty on MPG that I never even considered it.

 

That is SICK!!!

 

Thank you sir. I've been working on the A pillars all day for the audio upgrade but I just keep looking at the rack. Definitely put my heart into it.

 

The color came out nicely too. I was wondering how the modular pieces would all come together, definitely unique. I can't even consider a roof rack since my truck barely fits in the garage as is. I need to design something to house all my equipment though without having a toolbox take up a 1/4 of my bed space.

 

The biggest gripe I have about the Tacoma exterior design is that dang shark fin. For roof racks, it probably cuts near 10-15% off the usable space up there. I’d really like to use the back of a roof rack as a chaser to put lumber up against if I need to. That fin keeps the last crossbars so far forward it’s not possible. OP, you have any thoughts about that? Perhaps a longer side rail option with a crossbar behind the fin?

 

Maybe an attachment that gets stuff up over the top of it that is removable but usable as needed? It probably isn't something any of us would run all the time because of the added height but I understand exactly what you are saying. Camping and off road gear is fairly modular. Using a roof rack for utility makes all the sense in the world for what they cost. On my previous one I just bungee'd a few cut 2x4 to the rack to load flat lumber on it to overcome the height of the shark fin on my other Yota. Good idea.