COHBSTEQ'S basic white girl

maybe something like this

$200 Thule TB60 Top Track Roof Mount Rack Mounting Track (60"es)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CQ20AK

 

sorry for the nasty cell phone picture. @MatthewMay1 @BYJOSHCOOK @Speedytech7

 

Never thought about tracks

That's not what I was expecting at all. Not sure I want to do it that way

 

The rack requires drilling. We drilled out 5 holes per side and installed plusnuts (basically a stronger version of a rivnut that flares out instead of bulges to distribute the load surface more). I mentioned to Jake that due to the weak roof, the rack is better suited for lighter duty loads.

When drilling and installing the front holes and the middle holes were close to an interior weld or spine and are pretty strong, I would trust those areas to support a load. The rear holes though seemed to be further from any structure in the roof and are definitely the weak point.

Do I feel totally comfortable with the rack to carry firewood, maxtrax, skis, bikes, a kayak, a pelican case, etc? Yes. Would I go bombing through the desert at high speeds through the woops with a 200 lb hardshell roof top tent mounted up there? No.

 

its really solid in person, you being a double cab, you could totally do something in the door jambs, similar to the thule an yakima designs, us ext. cabs dont have that luxury.

 

You could do it with tracks too. However, The tracks are installed with normal rivnuts which in my opinion are much weaker than the plusnuts I use. Since the tracks only attach in 5 -6 places anyways you are gaining any strength.

The other problem with tracks is they don't have a ton of flex. Since there is a pretty abrupt hump on the roof where it drops from the rear to the front you would have a hard time getting the tracks to follow that contour.

 

Somebody on here made one that had vertical supports that sat in the channels going down the length of the roof. I can't recall who it was though

 

@Box Rocket used frontrunner's rails to make one for his DC and then somebody else mirrored his and frontrunners design and created some rails for a double cab as well. Boxrocket discussed it though in his thread and the reason that frontrunner discontinued their product and the reason it is hard for anyone to make something similar is that due to the cost of production.

Lots of people say they would buy a rack if it were available but when it comes time to shell out $400-$600 that group of people dissipates. I would guess this is why front runner abandoned the models for the 1st gen.

 

Ah, yeah it was his I was thinking of

 

what did you have in mind??

 

Some type of support that ran the length of the roof to distribute the weight better

 

oh gotcha.

 

But that looks pretty difficult to build with no precision machines, soooo I may be sitting this project out for a while longer

 

What else you got in the works?? @MatthewMay1

 

Oh I have a bunch of projects lined up. I need to build the rest of my skids and want to do a shock relocation

 

What does the shock relocation do

 

better rear end flex, and give me a framework to mount an air tank to for an OBA system eventually

 

I'd only put some cargo up there or use it to carry kayaks and what not. So no need to remove headliner?

 

not with those fancy rivnuts he used

 

Sounds like a plan, I'm contemplating the same thing. But I think I also want to change the rear leaf bushings or shackle mount to currie johnny joints or similar. That way the leaf has an easier time coming further down too.