Homemade Roof Rack

[Dirt Claude]

The last time we went camping, we figured out that we definitely needed a little more space. With the addition of a bigger dog to the family, we now had to find some place to put her. Not sure how we accomplished it, but we were able to cram her into the cargo area on top of all our gear. It wasn’t pretty, nor was it safe. So, I started looking around for roof racks and quickly found they were out of my price range, even for a decent used one. I decided to scrounge around and see what I could come up with. I happended to come across a couple of threads over on IH8MUD using ATV racks and decided to give it a go myself.

It’s basically Yakima gutter mount clamps, ¾” steel gas lines for the cross bars, and a modified ATV aluminum ramp. I went with the ATV rack since it was very light weight, wouldn’t rust, and was very strong. Plus I like the fact that it’s somewhat low profile.

Well, I hope the dog enjoys the ride up there now! Kidding :lol:

- Brad

[Pathrat]

Pretty slick rigging of metal. I think it's insane what roof racks cost. I did a bolt-on extension of my factory rack to accomodate the gear.

[Chris]

Looks great Brad! I've become accustomed to good looking work on that truck of yours, well done as usual.

:2thumbs:

[Funrover]

Looks great man!

[Tye]

Thats pretty sharp...

[gragravar]

that looks awesome. I think I like that better than my yakima basket. very nice work.

[4Runninfun]

:thunb:

[Brody]

Very nicely done. Good use of available materials, too. Nice to see someone doing this....

[Telly]

Brad,
The rack looks awesome. I also love the turd brown 60. Looks just like my old 85 60. I wish I never parted with that beast.

[Dirt Claude]

Thanks for the compliments. Wish I could figure out how to enlarge the pictures, while staying under the size limit, so you could see it better.

I think I built the whole thing for a little over $200. I searched Craigslist for awhile and scored some good deals on the Yakima gutter mounts. I was debating on going with 3 or 4 crossbars, but decided to over-build instead of under-build.

The turd brown has grown on me. When I first got the truck, I swore the color would change when I repainted it. But in the end, it was easier and cheaper to keep it same. I dig it, it's unique for sure!