aka Larry
Well-known member
I have friend with a Jeep Cherokee that does lots of camping. So he asked me to help him build a roof rack for it.
The first task was to get a design. He had a general idea and gave me the measurements to get started. For simplicity all the components would be 1"x 0.625" wall steel square tubing. So we could visualize the end product (and because I was bored during a recent power outage) I created this rendering using Google Sketch Up:
I put a lot of pre-planning into these types of things. I also created a "cut sheet" so we would know exactly what pieces needed to be cut and to what dimension. This results in less wasted time during construction and no waste or re-cuts. The size was 52" x 65" and the calculated weight w/o the spare tire was 66 lbs.
A lot of cuts would need to be made, and some corners would be mitered. The tool for the job was a chop saw with a metal cutting blade. The resulting cuts were so clean they hardly needed any de-burring at all. Here are the pics:
Here is my friend (Chris) making the first of many cuts.
The stack of components after cutting ready for assembly:
Here we have tacked the first corner of the lower hoop, making sure we kept it square:
The lower hoop all welded together:
Since it was Chris’ project, I had him doing all the grunt work with the grinder, making all the ****-welds flush:
Once the perimeter was done it was time to measure for the interior cross members:
Here all the components of the lower rack and in place. Here I'm welding all the joints:
Time to add the spacers to support the upper hoop:
Now we've added the upper hoop and I'm welding all the joints:
After all the welding was done, Chris used the drill and wire wheel to clean around the welds for paint:
Chris wanted to store his full-sized spare on the roof. Here we've added a section of rectangular tubing with a nut welded in place as a base to secure the tire:
To hold the wheel to the base, I built a holder from a 5/8" bolt welded to a 1-1/2" pipe flange. I bent a section of 1/4" rod to serve as a handle so it could be tightened by hand. Here's the final result:
To actually mount the rack to the roof, he bought specialized brackets that clamp on the rain gutter. We bolted those brackets to the rack and sat it in place for a test fit:
Once we were satisfied with the fit, we cleaned the whole rack and primed it with Dupli-color Self Etching primer. It was almost dark by this time and the bird-sized mosquitoes almost carried us away! :x
After the primer we used Dupli-color engine enamel for the top coat:
After the paint was dry enough to handle, we placed the rack on the roof and cinched it down on the brackets:
We heaved the spare up and into place and attached it with the hold-down. Now it's all done.
The first task was to get a design. He had a general idea and gave me the measurements to get started. For simplicity all the components would be 1"x 0.625" wall steel square tubing. So we could visualize the end product (and because I was bored during a recent power outage) I created this rendering using Google Sketch Up:
I put a lot of pre-planning into these types of things. I also created a "cut sheet" so we would know exactly what pieces needed to be cut and to what dimension. This results in less wasted time during construction and no waste or re-cuts. The size was 52" x 65" and the calculated weight w/o the spare tire was 66 lbs.
A lot of cuts would need to be made, and some corners would be mitered. The tool for the job was a chop saw with a metal cutting blade. The resulting cuts were so clean they hardly needed any de-burring at all. Here are the pics:
Here is my friend (Chris) making the first of many cuts.
The stack of components after cutting ready for assembly:
Here we have tacked the first corner of the lower hoop, making sure we kept it square:
The lower hoop all welded together:
Since it was Chris’ project, I had him doing all the grunt work with the grinder, making all the ****-welds flush:
Once the perimeter was done it was time to measure for the interior cross members:
Here all the components of the lower rack and in place. Here I'm welding all the joints:
Time to add the spacers to support the upper hoop:
Now we've added the upper hoop and I'm welding all the joints:
After all the welding was done, Chris used the drill and wire wheel to clean around the welds for paint:
Chris wanted to store his full-sized spare on the roof. Here we've added a section of rectangular tubing with a nut welded in place as a base to secure the tire:
To hold the wheel to the base, I built a holder from a 5/8" bolt welded to a 1-1/2" pipe flange. I bent a section of 1/4" rod to serve as a handle so it could be tightened by hand. Here's the final result:
To actually mount the rack to the roof, he bought specialized brackets that clamp on the rain gutter. We bolted those brackets to the rack and sat it in place for a test fit:
Once we were satisfied with the fit, we cleaned the whole rack and primed it with Dupli-color Self Etching primer. It was almost dark by this time and the bird-sized mosquitoes almost carried us away! :x
After the primer we used Dupli-color engine enamel for the top coat:
After the paint was dry enough to handle, we placed the rack on the roof and cinched it down on the brackets:
We heaved the spare up and into place and attached it with the hold-down. Now it's all done.
Fortunately I also have a buddy(retired boiler man) that's trying to teach my dumb *** some of his skill
s fun learning tho!!
That looks great
