DIY roof rack

A little project from a few months ago. Utilizing some slotted strut from home depot and some superstrut parts nuts and bolts. I still need to add the middle supports on the rails which I have but need to grind down the tube steel a bit so it fits. But once I bolted the sucker down, it wasn't going anywhere. This thing is pretty rigid with the 4 bolts holding it down.

Overall cost of this between $100-$130....

I'm looking to slightly modify the rack later to add some side aluminium pieces to hide the mounts.

If your looking for a rack on a budget, this was pretty simple. And it holds up....

 

DIY is the coolest option. Looks good, and if it does what you need, it's perfect!

 

It looks like you used a piece of tubing as the spacer for the bolts, is that correct?

 

Yup. I had to grind them down to get the rack low as possible but also be able to unbolt everything. I just need to add two more supports for the middle. But its pretty sturdy as is.

 

Good stuff & well done. Gotta love Superstrut - I used it in a somewhat similar way to mount my bed racks. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bed-rack-hack.636774/

 

looks like a simple diy. might have to run to the hardware store and snag some unistrut.
Did you just run the bolt thru a hole on the strut and then thru the spacer to bolt to the roof?

 

Yes, I ran a bolt through the slotted strut with washers to secure the bolt in place and through the steel tube with another smaller washer at the base. Just make sure you use stainless steel or galvanized spray on the hardware so it doesn't rust over time. Just peel back the rubber strip on the rail and look for the tape that covers the holes. It took me a few times to dial everything in to get the right length of screws. Also, the strut lengths (cross members) are all different lengths from front to back as the roof narrows slightly towards the back.

 

Sorry if it should be obvious but how is the rack fastened to the truck roof?

 

Love the creativity, but if it gets bumped with some force... those spacers/bolt will act as levers. Won’t it pretty easily tear right out of the roof? Or at minimum cause some damage to the mounting hardware? If something bad DID happen there, seems like it would be an awfully complicated repair job?

 

@ WIGGLER.
The rack is fastened to the roof with screws on 4 corners. I'm in the process of adding 2 more with the existing holes.

 

@NMTrailRider


Lets just hope nothing like that ever happens. The rack is pretty tight to the roof. It would take a lot of force for something like that to happen..........