Another low profile roof rack build

Any production of the DCSB Taco one?

 

DCSB.

Where do I put a down payment on this...

 

Let me get the prototype finished and mounted and I’ll let you know.

 

Ok its been a while since I've posted. I moved my family to washington and finally got the pieces cut out. and painted them silver with just some simple engine enamel paint for the time being. ill get them powder coated later. I have attached the spacers to the roof line and hopefully today ill get the cross bars and start tapping them to mount them up.

 

well here is the progress so far. not sure if anyone is still interested in this or still trying to make their own racks. this is where I have gotten so far.

 

Looks great...but them horns on the ends...

 

well those horns allow it to tuck up really tight to the windscreen and roofline for a better aerodynamic profile. which could result in less vibrations while driving. I won't really find out until I get it mounted. plus it is a prototype so there's always roof for improvement

 

You need to be friends with an aircraft frame mechanic... do the proper bend/slope.

 

Looks good. Any room to go shorter on the height? I think a shorter side rail height and shortening up the "horns" would make it look much sleeker.

 

Looks good but those tips hanging further than the windshield would get to my OCD. Good work though.

 

That looks great! It would be nice to have some Prinsu alternatives!

 

Have you thought about milling the T-Slot cross bar so that you can drop in T-Nuts without having to remove the bar?

To me, that’s a major drawback to all of the racks that use T-Slot cross members.

It’s also one of the main reasons why I went with the Front Runner rack. It only takes me seconds to add or remove mounting hardware from my FR rack.

 

I did think about doing that and I still want to mill out a small slot at either end to do just that. just haven't gotten around to doing it yet.

 

Thanks man. yeah I do have to say that I prefer the curved wind deflector that you came up with is super slick. It matches the curves way better and tighter. For right now this is what I came up with and i'm sure i'll do some changes down the line. I am curious how it will sit once I get the wind deflector changed fit right.

 

Im sure there will be room to make it better and sleeker for sure. This is the prototype after all. from what my math said from the design perspective the cross bars should sit low to the roof line. I know I will have some room to sit lower which ill be able to determine once its bolted on and I can use a caliper to check the actual fitment height. On the plus side the interior width between the rails is 48.5" so hey you could put a sheet of plywood up there pretty easily

 

Looks really good man. I’m impressed. What has the cost been for you up to this point?

 

Well I got hooked up on a few aspects of this but ill do my best to give a good estimate on cost. So I split the cost of the aluminum with my brother since I designed a rack for his Lexus GX470. so for that its around $350ish for me. Got hooked up by a buddy after hours using his shop for the cutting which depending on where you go for water jet cutting, laser cutting or other methods it can be from $400-$800 depending on where you go. The cross bars plus T slot nuts for the wind screen was $175 and then all the stainless steel fasteners was about $75 again I split the order with my brother to save a few bucks on shipping. So in terms of this being cheaper than buying a rack from a company that already makes one then probably not. There is a lot of costs that they eat up and the profit margin isn't that high for them anyway. also keep in mind this is the prototype, which means I've dealt with some design issues which have cost me more and means a lot of trial and error. on the upside this is my design and it should be nice to have once its done. ill keep updating this as I make more progress.

 

Yeah very nice. I think it’s a pretty cool hobby thing to do. Looking forward to seeing more of it

 

Thanks man. Im obsessed with building all manner of items. Im gonna make sliders for the truck next, then its on to a swing out style rear bumper, new front bumper, then I have a a few other trick items I want to figure out. Again im just an average dude with some experience a set of calipers, a ruler and a little bit of CAD.

 

Great. I’m sure that will be tons of fun. I am just getting into welding and plan on doing some rock sliders and armor when I’m confident enough. I have no experience with CAD so it will probably be all pencil and paper lol