Custom Roof Rack - ORNG TACO

So about a month and a half ago (January 2019) I began researching roof racks, manufacturers, and the like. As an Industrial Design Engineer I'm pretty used to dissecting products, reverse engineering them etc. For the prices and offerings I saw one was NOT worth $820 shipped, another was a good price (@gmartin284) but I wanted to customize and create my own to be one-off (the @mesojdm way) and suit my needs.. and I figured I could potentially beat the price also.

I saw a lot of complaints about fairings and wind noise, so I jotted that down as a design criteria to adjust along with the following:

I wanted multiple tie down points along the side rails. (Plan on camping so its a must).
I wanted holes for quick fists.
I wanted a more flush fairing, suitable for a single row light bar.
I wanted it to sit closer to the roof (Less gap).
I wanted it to look aggressive and utilitarian (not smooth-edged and wavy).
I wanted to just make one myself and enjoy the process.

And for the help side of things, I wanted to show everyone the steps and the materials. SO, I will provide a hardware BOM for the final design when it is on the truck.

(I have a 2018 Inferno TRD Sport 4x4 DCLB). I'll be posting chronologically, from v1 to current v5 to show some process.

My current plans are to simply make this for myself. I have no idea how selling things works on here but I just wanted to share to encourage others to go make things themselves.

All designs are made in SolidWorks 2018-2019 and renderings are done in SolidWorks Visualize Professional 2019. Any questions about anything just ask away..

Edit : Just an FYI: I am not sharing the files.
Enjoy.

 

First step was removing the weather stripping, which was easy. A simple YouTube video shows you that it can simply be removed by hand. I then measured all the OEM bolt hole locations and their respective distances. There are painted 'stickers' over the bolt hole locations. They simply peel away.

 

After measuring bolt locations I also measured the roof line curve and got into CAD quickly. I tinkered around with this v1 for a week or so before making a cardboard mockup. Some problems with this v1 was the fairing angle was far too steep. I didn't flow with the windshield's angle. Also, I had a crossbar run into the sharkfin, so that had to change.

 

In for the outcome. Nice looking design.

 

I got that into cardboard and up onto the roof so I could see how it fit, and adjust for errors. The front angle was off, so I adjusted that to be collinear with the windshield. It gave me a good view of the length and height.. I also measured the shark fin to sit at 24in in from the weather stripping's outermost edge (if I remember right).

 

This is awesome! In for progress!!

 

Good ol’ cardbaord cutout. I did the same thing when mocking mine up. Lookin good

 

After learning from the previous, I made a new cardboard mockup. I had made the side rails too long this time and off the back behind the shark fin. That had to get tucked in a bit. I was happy with the fairing angle now and how it will sit on the roof and air should come off the windshield real easy and glide right over that. I am wanting to seal the fairing against the roof on the bottom. I have a seal picked out but am still considering other seals as I research.

This CAD model has separate brackets rather than bends for the mounting flanges, which was stupid on my part. I later change them to flanges of the main side pieces at the wise point from @Nimble9

 

Sub’d

 

This is a v4 I think... I wanted to see the rack in all the 2018 Tacoma colors. I tried to color match as best I could. The stormtrooper white one is sexy..

 

cant wait to see this finished. awesome work so far

 

I got my crossbars in. Anodized black ofc. I tapped them all by hand. I managed to break off the one tap inside on my 3rd go.. shit happens!

 

I went to a semi-local anodizer to see what they had.. mostly for fun. At this point I wasnt sure what I was going to go with color-wise..

 

I had some fun running into tolerance issues on the front fairing mount. I've adjusted my hardware and ordered some T Nutz off Amazon. They are arriving tomorrow!

 

Cardboard Aided Design is CAD version 1.0

 

I did some (shitty) renderings of the v4 on the truck. I haven't taken appropriately angled shots to do a rendering over yet. I will have to do that one day here when she sun decides to come out. The proportions aren't 100% correct in the rendering, this was just a quick visual mockup.

 

Here is the v5 (and present) design. I reverse-engineered (quick/dirty) the light bar I've got to sit in the fairing and have the light be totally flush. I added all the appropriate hardware. The spacers are going to be fun to play with to get the rack to sit as low down as possible, like a bagged wheel well kissing a tire. I may put some edge seal on them, I'm not sure yet though.

 

The front fairing is adjustable depending on how the rack sits on the OEM mounts. I can slide it about 1.5 inches, or even reset the fairing back a whole other inch with that extra screw hole. It has a crossbar behind it for maintaining rigidity/reduce wobble from 50+ speeds.

 

subd

 

good looking rack