Building my own Expedition Roof Rack

StuRox said:

Makes you think of the amount of profit in the Safari snorkels at £260.00 odd pound

At least mine is solid 3mm Steel so it ain't going anywhere, unlike the plastic ones....

Click to expand...

They're all made of moulded ABS plastic though so theres probably a slightly lower profit margin due to the manufacturing process

But still at £260 I assume they're making a minimum of £150 + on it

So what's the progress with the baja style rack? If you can get a low slung (he he) one so that I can sort of fit into some sort of car parks then I'm in the market for that baby!

Good work altogether stu! very inspirational.
Time to buy a welding kit

Cheers

Chris

Sheeprus said:

So what's the progress with the baja style rack? If you can get a low slung (he he) one so that I can sort of fit into some sort of car parks then I'm in the market for that baby!

Good work altogether stu! very inspirational.
Time to buy a welding kit

Cheers

Chris

Click to expand...

It is getting there....honest...but my new springs have landed this afternoon so that's now top on my list, as does seem every other job I am finding lately...

To be honest, not sure if you would fit in a multi story with any sort of rack on, as they normally only just fit as standard...but pics will be posted as soon as its on the disco

This is very true, I struggle with most multi storey places, when I have my rack on I'm a shade over 7 foot so it's a nightmare.
Good luck with that, my Diff Lock is stuck and won;t engage so that's next on my list

Cheers

C

Well, Mark II version is done...well I think - got it all sorted at the weekend, flappy disc sanded down etc ready for powder coating.

Would have liked to get it on to make sure brackets etc all fit snuggly but my mate who lives around the corner was working so never got a test fitting...but here is how it looks now...







As I said previously, I took off the wind deflector as I couldn't seem to get the weld spot on, plus it seemed to be noisy when I was moving it about, so reckonned it would be even worse on the roof....best thing with a 'work in progress' job - changes all the time.

Mate!
That looks really good. (missing a few lights for you though is it not?).
Can't wait to see it on.

Cheers

C

The lights are still fitted on my light bar etc, no point taking them off until its been powder coated etc

But don't worry - there will be lights

Looks ace that.

Have you worked out how many hours you've put into it? It certainly looks like you've cared about it rather than just making a rack on a production line ..

Cheers mate.

As my old man used to tell me - 'if you are going to do a job, do it proper, if not don't bother at all'...and I guess it stuck!

As for how many hours, I think not as much as I thought, as I have spread this one out in between other jobs etc (replacement sills, new suspension, homemade snorkel, breathers the job list goes on...), so although it seems to have taken ages, in reality, if I had worked on it every night for around 3-4 hours, probably maybe a week?? as I only ever seem to do short bursts so I don't get bored or fed up and then make a hash of the job.

Looking forward to actually getting it out of the garage and on the roof now its almost done.

ITS ON!!!!

Well at least till tomorrow as its on ready to take to the powder coating place to get finished properly....

enjoy










And you can see how low it sits - couldn't really get it any lower



And here is one showing it sits flush with the current bars, just how I planned it...



Will put up some pics once back from the powder coating place and all the lights have been mounted

sorry if iv missed it, can you put up a pick of your mounts, as they look abit (alot) better than ones i did lol

I thought, if I just bought/made a half roof rack, I could still use the rails to put maybe a half roof box.
So you end up with half the roof with a rack and half with a lockable box. Well that's my plan for my expedition next year.

@Sturox

Looks great on the disco mate, can;t wait to see it powdercoated!

Paulmitchell1984 said:

sorry if iv missed it, can you put up a pick of your mounts, as they look abit (alot) better than ones i did lol

Click to expand...

Will have to wait a bit for them now as its at the powder coating place now

KoshkaMusic said:

I thought, if I just bought/made a half roof rack, I could still use the rails to put maybe a half roof box.
So you end up with half the roof with a rack and half with a lockable box. Well that's my plan for my expedition next year.

Click to expand...

All I did was make sure my roof box still fits on the rack, and then if I need it, its there, and if not I still have a full length rack

Sheeprus said:

@Sturox

Looks great on the disco mate, can;t wait to see it powdercoated!

Click to expand...

Thanks, and don't worry, there will be pics once its done, and the front lights mounted on it to save refitting the light bar

I want one as it looks great.

Seriously do you have any idea of costs to manufacture?

Enjoyed your posts, inspired to build one now. Congrats.

Post a final powdered, fitted, lights pic please.

Should be getting it back wed/thus this week, so will need to get the lights all wired in, then pics will be forthcoming

The wait is over

Finally picked up the rack from the local powder coating place...





Really chuffed with the finished product....so as you will guess, spent no time in getting it on the roof and the front lights all wired in.....













Not bad since I had never welded since this year and never used a pipe bender - Inspiration to you all

Now back to another project that has been on the back burner for some time - new LED upper rear lights....as its sometimes nice to do things that arn't 'necessity' for a change