Quote:
Originally Posted by HIHUMMER
the frame is made of 1.5" square tubing that is an 1/8" thick. But sshh....don't tell anyone.
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Just an fyi on that tubing. I have the exact same thing for my roof rack crossbars. The spread between supports across the rails is ~47". The bottom of the crossrail sits ~3/8" off the top of the roof. With me standing on the rack, jumping on the rails, they won't deflect to hit the roof, but they do deflect, up to about 1/4". They also have center rails running front to back, and so truly aren't even a full open spread.
My point? You may have issues with deflection when you come down on a rock. I'm sure the combination of 1/4" plate + the tubing will be beefy, but you might want to jack the truck up using the plate and maybe a small piece of tubing to localize the lift point (just be careful, you might even be able to find the true weight center and jack the whole truck up off the ground!). See if the plate deflects, because you don't want to find it's not beefy enough on the trail
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