Roof Rack Length

DCSB truck with a Snugtop cap. I've currently got a cheap basket on the rails mounted to the Snugtop, and the cab itself doesn't have any rack.

I've seen several campers (like GFC) which extend over the cab a bit. I was thinking this could be applied to a roof rack as well so that it extends over the cab a bit. I've done a little digging, but haven't turned up any images of that being done, so I presume there's some valid reason.

In the event that I can't/shouldn't extend the platform over the cab, what would the correct size be? The local shops seem to not have a solid answer as to what would work best.

 

Angle lense and focal point in that shot makes the truck look like:

 

cool.

 

Well you're just trying to do something like this?



https://www.victory4x4.com/product/...5H3qShEMuvIfQyqHV7d8odFEzeOMPSAIaAu1yEALw_wcB

 

No. While that looks great, I'm trying to keep the cab mostly clear. Not a fan of drilling my roof.

 

So you want a rack that is only attached to the cap but overhangs on top of the cab?

Not happening. It wouldn't allow for articulation between the bed and the cab and wouldn't be able to support any weight without folding in half.

The only thing I know of that's remotely similar to what I think you want is called a chase rack and it's for an open bed.

They're smaller sit up high to allow for cab/bed flex and use long triangular legs and larger tubes to get enough strength to support anything and typically they're not rated for much.



You might be able to get away with ordering a full length rack for an SUV and just putting feat on it that sit on the cab with rubber pads to allow some flex and dampening while providing support but my guess is it won't take long before it dents the cab roof or starting jumping up and down in the wind or woops and the noise drives you crazy.

 

I understand what you're looking for. A rack that extends over the cab while the base of the main structure is mounted on on the cap or bed.

Could be a custom build. Here's what I saw that caught my attention.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/720364902868531256/

https://***************/2020/04/06/2nd-3rd-gen-tacoma-roof-rack-options/

WTH! try this
trail with no space tacoma dot com 2020/04/06/2nd-3rd-gen-tacoma-roof-rack-options/

 

But... There's these.

I'm not looking to support much weight up front at all; a light, maybe a shovel or some traction boards...

 

No, I just wanted to see if there would be any known issues mounting a Rhino Rack (or similar) that is longer than my Snugtop such that it extends forward into the cab area a bit. The Thule standoffs mounted to the rails on the Snugtop should give me at least as much clearance as I see from camper RTTs that extend over the cab. I just want to make sure I'm not missing something.

 

The campers that have the extension are carrying no load beyond they own weight, are full length from one side to the other and front to back thick fiberglass and have full length corrugated extruded aluminum rails that take the load across their widest dimension.

The roof racks are small diameter thin walled tube and all load would be taking leverage off the last anchor foot on the cap.

 

If we're getting into physics, the load I'd be placing on the 'nose' of the rack would be transferred via reinforced boxed extruded aluminum with a minimum 2" thickness and 4" wide x4 plus 2x 1" rails; far more than enough to support much more weight than I'd be putting on it. The load wouldn't sit more than 28" from center moment. Further, the load path across the beams would load directly to the the most forward feet (stopping the evaluation there for the sake of simplicity). I could further reinforce that by tying another structure from the 'nose' to the front feet.

The most significant load would be from the lights, and I'd probably go with a smaller light bar instead of my current multi-light round light setup.

 

Aight so if you think it will work and you know the risks give it a try and report back your findings, that's what the forums about ain't it?

Go pioneer some shit!

 

The risks are what I'm after. Folks who might have experience are valuable. The physics of the idea is one thing, the practical application or reasons why it shouldn't be done (from experience) are another entirely.

 

Well I don't think anybody else has tried it because as you stated, there's a lot of risk with minimal reward especially when there's already a more traditional viable solution, just drill six holes into your cab.

 

Why do you say minimal reward?

Now as to why I'm not keen on doing a cab rack mount:

1. Drilling holes leads to corrosion and leaks; there is no shortage of threads and reports on this topic. That's not minimal risk. I've got YEARS of experience sealing antennae and panels on pressurized aircraft and I have a very deep understanding of this issue.
2. Wind noise; the cab racks are known to cause a lot of wind noise. This is widely reported.
3. I don't have any reason to mount anything further forward of the rear door hinges (if even that far).
4. Frontal area reduction. The lights (if mounted forward) may make this a minimal improvement, but will be a smaller frontal area when not loaded.
5. Approach into garage/overhangs: The further aft my rack sits, the more approach clearance I have; as it is I'm literally within 1mm of touching my garage frame due to the angularity of my driveway at approach.

I'll have to take some measurements and see what I get. I may have to add an extra set of feet to help distribute the load (at least as a precaution). I suppose we'll see what I turn up.

With all that said thanks for the input. I think you might be expecting me to put that rack much further forward over the cab than I'm planning, which would validate a lot of your concerns.

 

Minimal reward being not much load capacity, if you can really use it I don't see much point but if it suits your needs have at!

While I have seen a few flying Tacoma, I've even had some short take offs in my own a few times it's certainly no 400 knots pressurized vehicle that simplifies sealing.

For what it's worth since you're looking for experience, I have several holes I drilled when I first got my truck in 2017 and nutserted in my roof and A pillar for my light bar and snorkel and many more in other places of my cab for oass through wires like my comms antenna when I dropped my headliner a few months ago to do an all out sound insulation install there was absolutely zero rust just lots of cured globs of FIPG103.

No rust in my windshield frame when I had it replaced either.

I imagine you're still going to hear the wind noise and buffeting even with it not being secured to the cab itself, these trucks are not quiet in the first place, hence the full sound deadening and insulation treatment.

Your other points seem to be unique to your use case, but I will add that if you do add support feet up front make sure that they are only touching where the black inserted drip molding is.

That is an overlapped and spot resistance welded seam there with some extra structural material in it.

All other areas of the roof are extremely thin sheet metal that is easily dented, even the rolled edge where it goes from the roof and transitions into the side above the doors is pretty weak.

I've got a small depression in there from climbing on top of my truck where I bore down with my knee.

 

The only reason I want that little extra space forward of the bed is to mount my lights forward of any cargo and to get them a touch higher which gives a much better light spread than when they're closer to the body unless you're mounting them directly above the windshield, and then we get back into some points I touched on earlier... Anyway, there's not much load going there at all; nothing that should make a significant impact to the load capacity of the structure anyway.

You can take the fella off of the flight line, but you can't take the flight line off of the fella. Galvanic corrosion, moisture intrusion, expansion differentials, and electro-load/current paths on a chassis ground give me the heebiejeebies.

For sure. I get it right now with my setup, but it is so far aft that I seldom have it intrude to my position.

The extra feet (or any part of the rack, for that matter) would not be connected to the cab in any way at all to allow for articulation and frame flex. It'll be mounted at least 3" above the roofline. The extra feet would be just forward of the midline of the cap (not cab). I probably wasn't as clear as I could have been on that point, which as it turns out is the main crux of the discussion.

Not sure if the info above changes anything. Not sure that it means anything either...

 

I have an ARE topper with rhino racks and a cheapo extended roof basket that I reinforced so it extends about halfway over the cab roof. I've had it on there on and off for a couple of years. My 180 lbs son walks around up there sometimes to load/unload. We don't exceed the 220 lbs roof bar dynamic max but we have had more than that up there when parked.

 

I mean sounds like you know what you're on about and seems like a good project to give a try, I genuinely hope it works out for you.

I can understand the heebie-jeebies, I worked in NDT for a while I've heard and been trained on all the horror stories and even seen a handful of them.

I guess my take on things is that it's just a truck, it's temporary, hopefully I'll outlive it and if anything breaks fails corrodes or falls apart in that time it can either be replaced repaired refurbished.

But yeah, report back with what you end up doing and how it turns out.

 

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