roof rack progress

[evldave]

Well, I don't have $1000+ for the Gobi rack, so I decided to do the same I've done for all my other offroad rigs - build my own. Sorry for the messy pictures, only about halfway through, but wanted to give a progress update.

[evldave]

View from the front. The diamond plate is what the front fairing will look like. Except it will be black.

[evldave]

Rear extra supports to hold the spare tire carrier (not built yet) and kayak mounts (rear of the sea kayak). Once the tire goes up top, I'll figure out a separate mount for my bike rack to hang off the back so I don't have to lift it up top once I get the RC lift!

[DarthKarl]

Looking good. Looking forward to final install pics

[evldave]

Last one, from the other side. YOu can see the metal grid mesh I'll use for the floor of the rack. It will be cut into 3 pieces and 'set in' on the round tubes making the whole floor the same height, but with the crossbars part of the floor (does that make sense?). Should be able to stand on it without any problems + will have plenty of space for storage/bins/gas/etc.

[DDWH]

Looks good so far!

[Vandakeg]

You forgot a close-up shot of the most important part... the poster on the wall!!

[The Green Lantern]

looks great, I was thinking about that today - a customized roof rack. About how much that thing weigh?

[evldave]

Right now, it's light enough to lift easily - maybe 30-40lbs. Once the floor goes in and the sides go on, I'm figuring 60-75lbs. Of course, I've got a lot of weight planned for it:

3 jerry cans (120lbs)
3 water cans (120lbs)
Spare tire (75lbs?)
Hi-Lift (30lbs)
Sea Kayak (60lbs x2)
recovery gear (40-60lbs)

Just the basics are 500-600lbs, so if the rack weight a little extra few pounds, no biggie.

My biggest concern will be tipover issues, but I had a similar rack on my lifted Jeep and never really had any serious issues. Time will tell...

[jp's-h3]

Is that a beach towel? NICE!

[Ma\'Deuce]

looks like it's gonna work. i like it. i'm planning to do the same(make one) as i'm spendin more than i want to on the H3. How are you mounting it to your hummer? I've seen some rack "T"mounting brackets that will mount to the slot rails on the roof. basiclly their just flat stock that have holes in em and will slide in the roof slots. then you mount an "L"bracket to them and tighten them down. seems like it would be pretty easy to make some custom "towers" to hold your rack. anyway, can't wait to see the final product. keep us updated with pics. oh yea, you SHOULD post a close up of your girlfriends pic hangin on your wall.

[Edspad]

looks cool, to hell with the other racks when you have the skill and equipment to build your own.

[evldave]

ok, so I've been working (regular work) too much to do anymore so far this week, but I got nothing going on this week and should finish all the welding.

Some rough comments:

The towel I got in south beach a few years ago. Nice boobies, it's a great garage accessory. My nekkid pixies picture of a girl with a drill I lost in a recent breakup (much better than the towel...the picture, not the girl).

The roof mounts will be 1" .065 round stock, 2-3/4" in height, welded to a 1-1/2"x3"x3/16" flat plate. The plates will mount to the rails via the same mechanism the little tiedown dohickies mount (a flat plate under the rails with a stainless bolt).

In the rear, the rack sits out back behind the rail, so I'll cut the round stock to match the front-back round stock and the rack will sit about 6-8" out over the rear roof mounting point.

The two center crossrails will mount on the roundbar.

The front crossrail is ~10-12" in front of the front plastic mounting bolt (torque bit). A 3/4 square stock (.065, same as the upper rails) will fit perfectly down in the hole. I've already made up a special tool to tighten that down and it will come up to the frontback roundstock and hold up the front portion of the roofrack.

The roof antenna (onstar?) sits right below the floor plate of the rack, which is why I went with that height of the rack.

There will be 4 supports on each side, 3 on the rails, 1 on the front bolt.

The rear tire will go up top, and I'll make up a bike mount for the stock rear tire mount.

The top rail is set up to exactly fit th 4xRac for the hi-lift mount, plus it nicely fits the PIAA 1500XT on the rear. The front will have separate mounts built in to hold lights.

The whole rack will be either line-x, rhino, or herculiner. My finish welds aren't really nice enough for powdercoat, plus I want to line-x the fenders (like Bebe) and that would be a good match.

Total dimensions are 4'1" x 8'1" - almost exactly the size of the roof. It may be a little too big, but I've done some fits and it seems to go nice with the lines of the vehicle. The roundbar/square stock seems to go well with the design of the vehicle, but you can only tell when it's all done.

Alec-I agree, the Gobi looks fantastic, but have some patience - when this is done, it will look nice + it will only be maybe $300 in parts & it will be exactly what I want, not what everyone else has. I bought my Hummer first for it's offroad capabilities, but also for it's uniqueness (otherwise I would have kept my XJ). If it doesn't look good, you can pick on me all you want, but I think/hope even you will be impressed when it's done.

[evldave]

Another update, now on the Hummer for a 1st fit. The lines are near perfect, except I made the mounting posts too high. I was trying to clear the onstar antenna and guess I must have been drinking when I did the original measurement!

I'm cutting 2" off the posts and the antenna should fit exactly at the bottom of the floor (got the expanded metal today, will be all welded in this weekend).

[The Green Lantern]

That looks awesome!!, great job evldave.

[evldave]

OK, all done with the main work. Still have to make the front roof mounts, but I'l lsave that for Sunday.

[evldave]

From the other side

[evldave]

Rear view