Where to find low profile cross bars for the roof-rack

[96Pathfinder4x4]

I may not be needing mine any longer...will know for sure after my roof rack is hard-mounted.

 

FYI: I've decided to retain mine for better support.

 

[tooslowforgr]

Thought I'd drop in on this as I also dropped my roof rack lower towards the roof, to eliminate that stilt look. I used the idea that Stioc had in using the three middle lower bars from the roof rack. I really like how it turned out. its held down with 9 worm pipe clamps, and replaced the knob style adjuster screws that you turn to tighten the bars on the roof track with hex bolts and lock washers. Enjoy!!

 

Before:

 

 

 

 

After:

 

 

 

 

Looks great, so what's the eastiet way to do it?

 

[96Pathfinder4x4]

You could start by reading the thread and links.

 

...from my cell...using Tapatalk

 

 

[AZ_Pathfinder]

^{Yeah Tooslow I did it this way using the three middle lower bars from the roof rack. Its held down with 9 worm pipe clamps, and replaced the knob style adjuster screws that you turn to tighten the bars on the roof track with hex bolts and lock washers. Its pretty eay to do but may take a while to do with all the worm clamps. As for the strength it seems pretty strong but I havent had to put a really heavy load up there yet.}

[Kyle94]

Done.

 

The older Pathfinder bars sit slightly lower but still too high for a sleek/think rack like the Rola Vortex, same for the Thule/Yakima stuff not to mention how expensive the stupid towers are from these two companies. I finally realized that I'd have to fab something up myself. The plan was to use rectangle tubing somehow bolted to the factory tracks. I figured the sliding hooks (that held the older R50 secondary cross bars as shown in the pic above) were good for at least 25lbs of loading...though I wanted close to 200lbs so here's what I came up with.

 

 

 

So I've got a total of eight feet holding the roof rack on top of the the Thule Load Bars (LB50) cut to proper width. I found the load bars on Craigslist for half the price of the new ones and cheaper than what I could get the bare tubing for myself.

 

 

I'm very pleased with the results, the rack is on solid and looks 100x better now- I can finally sleep now and move on to other things.

 

Speaking of other things I bought a hi-lift jack and the lift-mate attachment for it. There are still a few more accessories I'd like to buy but man it's one of those things where the entry price is cheap but pretty soon you realize you need a whole bunch of other stuff to take full advantage of it. However, I'm put off by how bulky and heavy it feels. I tried holding it up next to the rack to see if I should mount it there and man it's a pain to lift it up over your head. As cool as this tool is (and dangerous) it sucks how awkward it is, I'm not sure if I want to carry it on the roof rack. I keep thinking if I'm ever involved in a wreck that things going to hurt someone bad.

My questions, How do you stop the bolt from turning to screw the basket down? And, What are they attached to on the basket? Unless i'm missing something.

I'd like to make mine sit on the roof as well..

[tooslowforgr]

Thanks for in info AZ pathfinder, Ill get started on mine, how do you get the 3 bars mounted to the roof off?

[96Pathfinder4x4]

Thanks for in info AZ pathfinder, Ill get started on mine, how do you get the 3 bars mounted to the roof off?

 

Pretty simple.

Star screw on the tail side secures the rack retainers on each side...those slide off. Then unscrew the bars and slide them off one at a time, in order.

[96Pathfinder4x4]

My questions, How do you stop the bolt from turning to screw the basket down?

Tack weld them?

[stioc]

Tack weld them?

 

I used a bit of JB-weld but being impatient that I am I tightened them even before the JB Weld set in. Just grab the top and pull up carefully using an extra nut and vicegrips while you tighten the real nylock nut, it will create enough friction for it to work.

 

[Kyle94]

Thanks stioc!!