DIY Roof Rack

Farnsrocket

New Member
Mar 14, 2021
10
6
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Vehicle Drivetrain
4wd
Vehicle Year
2014
Went hardcore with my DIY rack project this week. Bought 12, 9"x2” 3/16” thick, stainless steel flat bars and bent them to the correct angle with a BFH and my bench vise. Drilled a hole in each one and mounted up one side of brackets with a piece of 1/8" silicon underneath to protect the roof. Still gonna need to do some tweaking (yes, I realize the split washer is in the wrong place on that one pic :D) but I’ve got them pretty close. My rails are two 8’ 1/4” aluminum angled pieces. Once I get those sitting level and at the right height, I will mark 2 holes on each bracket and drill those out. Then mount the rails to the brackets and measure the length in between the rails and order 7-8 aluminum extrusion pieces to fit. Oh yeah, I’ll also mark the top of each bracket sticking above the rails and cut this length off even with the tops of the rail.
Was going to mount a 50" LED light bar in front but I may not do that now and just make a nice wind reflector for the front. I will paint it all black with truck bedliner/hammer finish paint and I should be good to go!
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Farnsrocket

New Member
Mar 14, 2021
10
6
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More progress!

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Farnsrocket

New Member
Mar 14, 2021
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Cost me just under $600 and I’m very happy with it..........it’s amazingly strong and would hold its own against any rack I’ve seen out there costing 2x or more! I wouldn’t want to do it again. Very tedious work with just hand tools in my garage. Getting all the holes drilled and lined up, especially in the stainless brackets sucked. :(
I plan on adding a smaller light bar under the front crossbar and then fabbing up a wind deflector around that.

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Sequoia Owner

New Member
Feb 21, 2021
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54
I really like this DIY rack but I could wait on the GOBI rack and get a ladder by the time I finished.

Does anyone have any recommendations for an adapter or bracket kit on which I could build a platform? An ABS adapter for the first gen is available on Etsy. I just need something to level off of the factory holes - crafting uniform brackets is my challenge.
 

Farnsrocket

New Member
Mar 14, 2021
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That was the biggest issue for me.........our roof geometry is goofy......nothing vertical anywhere. My first attempt was pieces of HDPE (cutting board) epoxied together to use as a platform for the rack to rest on/screw into but as you can see, the angles were extreme and I would need to shave/cut/level each one just right ......way too much work.
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