zeppelindrummer Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 So for the past month and a half or so, i've been working on this safari rack. Working about 15-20 hours a week, as well as full time school, all my money has been going into this beast I got the light bar put on, painted, me and my other friend, put on, and built a hi lift mount, and the final step, was to get it on the pathy! The problem of not having a factory roof rack kinda scared me, but after searching the internet, i came across some false Jeep Cherokee rain gutters, made by Thule for fifty bucks. The same site, had off brand thule bars, and arms for another fifty. So i spent the final 100 dollars and a weekend, of before work, and after work in the cold and dark, of mounting the roof rack. Took out the headliner, and started drilling holes in my roof The rubber grommet-ish things that came with the mounts relieved me a bit, and i believe they'll hold up just fine without leaking. The lights aren't wired yet, but i've got a KC wiring harness in the garage for my four lights, that i'll be installing this weekend. Its on now, and i think it looks pretty good, but it seems a little high... any ideas on lowering it? or do you think i should leave it how it is? Me and my buddy are going to be building an axe and shovel mount for it, and i've got some back up light plans for the rear... but until then... are people going to be laughing at my pathy because of the height? i'm a bit worried. Its rock solid, and keeps the hilift outta the car, as well as being able to take off my thrashed and bent rear tire swing bar, and of course serving the cosmetic purposes that it does so well What do you guys think? here are the photobucketed pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LandShark Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Excellent looking safari rack man. Adds alot of character to the truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aries247 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 it doesn't look too high to me. i have the yakima bars,mounts, and basket with 2 6x9 kc offroad lights on mine and it doesn't look much higher than mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 WOW! nice work! looks very sturdy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Nice man, what did you use for the Hi-Lift mount? I have the same basket but need to make a new rack for it, the factory rack bars slide all over. I used the farring mounts as light mounts, but I only have a pair of lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mws Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 (edited) Nice improvisation on the mounts! For others doing the same, the Surco rails are another option: http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.a...mp;autoview=sku I like them as they distribute the load over a large area, reducing risk of deforming roof. I plan to put a couple sets on the roof of Frankenvan to haul one of our sand quads. But you do still have to be creative when it comes to mounting rack to them. Edited March 12, 2008 by mws Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeppelindrummer Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 Nice man, what did you use for the Hi-Lift mount? I have the same basket but need to make a new rack for it, the factory rack bars slide all over. I used the farring mounts as light mounts, but I only have a pair of lights. Thanks! yeah i got the basket on costcos website for the 75, and then they lowered the price.... i emailed em and they sent me the difference, so it was like 60 including shipping! For the Hi-Lift, i went to sportsmans and bought the loc rack for 20 bucks, and some steel from ACE. I bolted the loc rack to a piece of steel, and then bolted the steel piece to the back of my rack, for the other side, i just took a piece of steel, and put a nut on either side to make it tight, and stationary, so that it wouldn't go anywhere, if you want, i'll post some better pictures of the hi lift mount. For the Light bar, i just took another piece of steel, measured it across, and put the holes accordingly for the daylighters. I painted all of the steel with a couple coats of black semi gloss rustoleum...and it all looks pretty good i think! the hi lift doesn't move anywhere, its sturdy as the car itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeppelindrummer Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 it doesn't look too high to me. i have the yakima bars,mounts, and basket with 2 6x9 kc offroad lights on mine and it doesn't look much higher than mine. Alright, thanks! do you have any pictures on here of your rack? i wanna check it out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aries247 Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 no not yet but i probably will get some this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveMyPatty Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Dannnng, that looks really good man, nice work. Wanna do mine for me now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeppelindrummer Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 (edited) Dannnng, that looks really good man, nice work. Wanna do mine for me now? Thanks a bunch!!! i'm pretty proud of it!! Give me a limitless budget, and i'd love to! Edited March 13, 2008 by zeppelindrummer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILoveMyPatty Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 So, Costco carries these roof baskets? Does it just get shipped to the closest Costco and you go pick it up? I like the looks of it, lots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeppelindrummer Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 So, Costco carries these roof baskets? Does it just get shipped to the closest Costco and you go pick it up? I like the looks of it, lots. Well... I went through a phase for about two months, where whenever i had a chance, i would oogle safari racks on the internet... one day, i typed safari rack into google images, and a new one popped up! it was the one i got, its a Coleman, and i clicked on it... it was listed for 75 bucks including shipping on costcos website! so me and my brother jumped on that. He got one for his jeep, and i picked one up for my pathy. About a week after we received ours, they lowered the price to 60 including shipping (still), so i emailed em, and they gave me 40 bucks right to my debit card! it was pretty sweet. About another week passed, and i looked for it again at the costco website, and it had disappeared! its gone! I saw it on another site, marked with a different company name (rather than coleman) but it was obviously the same basket. It was like, 105 there, not including shipping? I just looked through all of my safari rack bookmarks, and there was nothin... I dont know how costco could have afforded to send these out for 60 bucks a piece with the free shipping, its insane! So long story short... yeah, costco. they shipped it to me for 60 bucks... but unfortunately, they only had em for i think, less than a month, so they aren't there any more It was a sweet deal too! comes with mounts for a rack and everything! and its really good looking powdercoated steel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Sounds like the story with mine. Got it on clearance 2 years ago at Target, never saw em again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aries247 Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 hey zeppelindrummer here is a current picture of my roof rack and lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pezzy Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 So, Costco carries these roof baskets? Does it just get shipped to the closest Costco and you go pick it up? I like the looks of it, lots. Check Canadian Tire for SPORTRACK. It's the same rack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeppelindrummer Posted March 16, 2008 Author Share Posted March 16, 2008 hey zeppelindrummer here is a current picture of my roof rack and lights. That sure is a pretty pathy! and yeah, the placement is pretty much the exact same as mine, it looks good! I love it!! how much was the Thule basket when you got it?? and one more thing... What kinda lift are you sportin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aries247 Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 it's actually the yakima load warrior basket. cost was $350. yes i know expensive but what the hell. lift is a 3in body lift, rough country uca's and jeep grand cherokee coils in rear. torsion bars cranked of course. tires are 33x12.50 on 15x8 wheels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeppelindrummer Posted March 16, 2008 Author Share Posted March 16, 2008 it's actually the yakima load warrior basket. cost was $350. yes i know expensive but what the hell. lift is a 3in body lift, rough country uca's and jeep grand cherokee coils in rear. torsion bars cranked of course. tires are 33x12.50 on 15x8 wheels. Yeah, thats really nice though! it looks good. Did you stick with the stock shocks with that JGC lift? and the stock A-arms/upper control arms? i've been wanting to do the JGC lift for a while... but have been questionable about that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aries247 Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 (edited) the rough country uca's replace the stock ones. as for shocks you'll have to do a search for the part numbers as i forgot what it was but they are rancho 5000's. fronts are stock length and i think the rears were too. i wasn't able to get the 1" longer rear ones because my mom ordered them online for my b-day last year and i didn't know she was ordering them until it was too late. it still works though. for now Edited March 17, 2008 by aries247 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeppelindrummer Posted March 17, 2008 Author Share Posted March 17, 2008 the rough country uca's replace the stock ones. as for shocks you'll have to do a search for the part numbers as i forgot what it was but they are rancho 5000's. fronts are stock length and i think the rears were too. i wasn't able to get the 1" longer rear ones because my mom ordered them online for my b-day last year and i didn't know she was ordering them until it was too late. it still works though. for now Yeah, thats what i thought, i was just kinda wantin to clarify... i found a Rancho 5000 kit, with the new UCA's, 30% higher spring rate torsion bars, shocks, and coil springs for a little under 700 bucks. http://www.4x4parts.com/public_html/shop/i...babee63ed4560ae Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mws Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Before you buy, do some research! As I recall, some folks had some issues with the AC UCA's. And you can do it for quite a bit less and get a MUCH nicer ride using stock T-Bars, JY cherokee coils, Rough Country UCA's and Heckethorn (sold by RC) shocks. Personally, I HATE the buckboard harsh/rough ride you get with RS5000 shocks and stiffer t-bars. I like my suspension to absorb the bumps, not bounce off them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeppelindrummer Posted March 18, 2008 Author Share Posted March 18, 2008 Before you buy, do some research!As I recall, some folks had some issues with the AC UCA's. And you can do it for quite a bit less and get a MUCH nicer ride using stock T-Bars, JY cherokee coils, Rough Country UCA's and Heckethorn (sold by RC) shocks. Personally, I HATE the buckboard harsh/rough ride you get with RS5000 shocks and stiffer t-bars. I like my suspension to absorb the bumps, not bounce off them! alright!! i'm needin all the help and advice i can get with this, i dont know what i'm doing!!! hahah. So go with the JGC Coils? check... and Rough Country UCA's... do you possibly have a link for where they are cheapest? and possibly the heckethorn shocks? cuz i love my friends soft, flowy like ride in his jeep, compared to my harder ride in the pathy. Thanks!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mws Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 I got the UCA's and Heckethorn shocks (called Rough Country 8000 series) direct from Rough Country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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