Oops- I think I made a roof rack

You're right, forgot to mention I did have to drill out the fairing holes as they were off a touch. I would re-align the fairing holes to match the rest.

I'm located in Canada, so I got a local source for the T-Slot bars - Rocky Mountain Motion Control in Abbotsford, BC. They also had all the black hardware on hand - seemingly difficult to find in Canada.

 

Yeah, I update and maintain CAD drawings full time, so I’m always checking details! I just wanted to confirm those holes, because sometimes things are a way for a reason.
I was thinking of trying to source the extrusion locally through one of our material vendors. But in all honesty for $165 shipped from TNUTZ.com isn’t too hard to swallow if that’s the majority of the cost. Like you, I will get the main parts fabbed and coated for next to nothing through my shop.
Oh, and one final request, could you tell me what the outside flange dimension is on your mounting flanges after you bent them?

 

@JRYTacoma , did you get your spacers? Any luck on warmer weather for the install?
Anxiously awaiting

 

Sorry all! Install is happening tomorrow 100%. Got really busy since my last post. It’s been sitting inside just waiting to be installed.

if all goes well, I’ll post of photos tomorrow night.

 

Good luck and make sure to take lots of pictures. Are you planning on drilling clearance holes through your drip rail filler or simply removing it?

 

So...it’s in! I left off the gutter rail trim and put silicone at each end to avoid water getting down the windshield or the rear window.

Ran into 2 issues:

1. as mentioned the slots I modified were required. From the middle mount to the front of the truck it was just too short - by about 1/4”. But I can’t guarantee that’s the case with everyone’s truck. But I maxed out the slots I had dremeled out.

2. Factory quality issues left me with 2 misaligned holes that I had to trim before the bolt fit. Kind of hard to tell in my poor image but the roof panel actually overlapped over the threads.



otherwise I’m super happy!









Edit: still short on some black hardware - disregard haha

 

Looks amazing!
And as for your issue with the misaligned holes in the roof, when I installed my factory roof rack, I encountered the exact same thing and it was extremely nerve racking to try to expose the threads without feeling like I was going to damage the roof paint!

3 questions:
1) do you feel as if you could have adjusted the bends to have been at 2” instead of the 1-3/4” to lower the rails to the roof a little? Or does it fit pretty low in certain areas?
2) I notice you have the wind deflector mounting bar down on the lowest set of holes. Do you feel it might need to have a lower set of holes?
3) Did you go with 47” long bars?

Sorry for interrogating your efforts, but I just want to make any adjustments I may want before cutting.
I printed a 1:1 scale print of mine and plan on templating it for a mock up this weekend.

By the way, that spruce mica is the best color ever! I couldn’t find one at the time so I settled with Blue Ribbon Metallic!

 

no worries on the questions haha! I asked a lot in several threads to get this far. And yes I love the colour, although ribbon blue seems just as rare around here.

1. yes I think the bends could have been tighter to bring the rack lower. Comparing to prinsu photos I think mine sits a bit high. The other option would be 3/4” tall spacers instead of 1”.

2. the wind deflector seems to sit abnormally high. Likely because of my poor bend radius’. I don’t think I would personally make lower holes, I’m just going to get some weather stripping down the road.

3. yes 47” cross bars.

I went for a drive and overall it just added a consistent hum to the truck. However at 120km/h there’s a decent amount of whistling. So I’m going to try taping the Tslot slots smooth on the first crossbar and get weather stripping. Also saw that others spiral rope/paracord around the first bar to help break the wind.

I put loctite on all the threads to avoid corrosion in the future.

 

I was looking at my 1:1 scale prints and noticing how the lower holes for the deflector would make the top of the deflector sit lower than the main bars. That’s probably where the wind noise is coming from. If you have the capability maybe a 2nd version of your deflector would solve a lot. Maybe make it taller and take up some of the lower gap. I was considering adding a bent flange at the top of the deflector which would sit level with the bars, I think this would help smooth the air to keep it from becoming turbulent leaving the top edge of the deflector. Just a thought.
It’s funny that you mentioned the slots at the ends of the rails. One of the changes I made to my files was to remove them and add 2 holes instead. After drawing the bars I didn’t like how the slots allowed the hollow centers of the bars to be open to bugs, water, and like you suggested, wind noise. I didn’t see a purpose for them anyways since there is no adjustment in those locations.
I think I may put some weather stripping on the lower edge of the deflector as well.
Overall it looks really great, and it’s sure a lot more affordable than an $800 rack system!

 

Looks like you're on track! That's a good suggestion with the fairing and bend up top, maybe a project for the future.

In Canada where I am, this is a $1100 rack plus taxes, so it was very worth the effort to piece it together myself.

 

So of the two files that are posted on this thread which one works the best

 

I’m still working on mine, and mine will be a 3rd version, I’m not trying to make a verbatim of the original. I’m making quite a few changes to make it work for me. I often haul 4’ wide sheets of wood on my rack, so I’m moving the extrusion flush with the top of the sides. Since the bars I purchased from TNUTZ.Com are 47” long. This way the sheets aren’t resting on the sides that protrude 1/4” taller than the bars.
I’m also removing some of the large slots on the sides since I don’t think I will have a need to move my bars around. Also, another thing I’m thinking of doing is making some stainless steel brackets with large slots to have easier hooking points for straps.
I’m making the front deflector with a bend to help smooth the air transition to above the bars.
I’m going to template my design out and cut a test side panel from thin plywood to make sure my fit looks correct before cutting the final profile.
I’ll be sure to post mine once I get further along. But mines a side project to all of my others, so it may be a while.

Once I get mine together, I’d be happy to post the files.

 

OK I’m just asking because I have a friend that’s willing to cut one out for me on his machine at work

 

Honestly, whats they difference in strength of 1/8 vs 3/16?

 

Any updates on these .dxf files? I'm definitely trying to get one cut soon. Thanks!

 

My progress on this has come to a halt for now. I ordered the extrusion, the black oxide stainless hardware, the mounting bolts for the roof, the wind noise weatherstripping.
But I unfortunately, I need the time to take my factory rack off to verify some things. I mostly want to make sure I get the height right since I am planning a matching topper rack and want it all to be level.

 

Thanks for the update. Would you consider it usable as is, or is there some reason you wouldn't recommend it?

 

I've been looking for a template for the side rails for a while now and looking over @JRYTacoma file that was linked it looks good to me. I sent it off to a local fab shop and we'll see in a few days how it comes together.

Appreciate this thread. Awesome work.

 

I got the rack cut from the metal shop. Looks amazing. I just finished bending the mounting "feet"; a vice and dead blow hammer is what I used. Measured 3" up from the bottom for all of them and torched the bend line for 20-30 sec before pounding. Going to try Rustoleum primer and flat black paint if I have time this weekend. If it looks like complete shite I'll send it for powder coating.

So far so good here.

 

which file did you use?