El Pathfindero Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 So here's my dilema: i need a roof basket to hold my spare and some other gear, but i have no factory roof rails (lookin to buy some) but even with rails, I dont have an extra $400 to throw into a Yakima or Defender basket. so I decided to make one. But do I use aluminum (pretty spendy) or 16 guage steel? also if I go ahead on making it, I plan to add a prerunner style Tire holder, brackets for a hi-lift jack, and brackets to hold an ATV porta tank or two (way better than jerry-cans) Also the dimensions i measured are about 3' wide by 4' long, cuz I have a sunroof but if anyone on here has more exact dimensions for a '93 SE w/ a sunroof lemme know Later, El P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94extreme Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 do a search of the forums. there were some great examples on here somehwere some time ago.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Pathfindero Posted March 22, 2006 Author Share Posted March 22, 2006 searched it, only found what racks people have used never found a write up on one someone made Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94extreme Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 well, i know there was at least one. hopefully that poster will chime in or others will share their ideas. i think the one i recall was made out of conduit. personally i would probably go with aluminum but you also said you'd be hauling some heavy stuff so steel maybe safer. regardless, figure on MPGs dropping with this mod and good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Pickles Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 (edited) You mean like this? *sneak peak of version 3.0* If you're thinking of the do it yourself conduit route, I'd search for Mookie's old post a few years ago. I posted as well, starting mine off similar to and based on his, but I've tweaked it a bit each winter when its off in favor of my ski rack. It started as conduit, then sheet aluminum was added, other stuff went on and off over time, and now I'm pulling it back apart, reinforcing it, adding mounts for 4 X 100 watt Pro Comp lights forward and some fogs rear, and am welding it all together. Whew! P.S. Yes, I know, my garage is a horribly cluttered mess at the moment! Edited March 22, 2006 by Mr. Pickles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94extreme Posted March 22, 2006 Share Posted March 22, 2006 lol. someone remembered. i knew it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Pathfindero Posted March 22, 2006 Author Share Posted March 22, 2006 well, i know there was at least one. hopefully that poster will chime in or others will share their ideas. i think the one i recall was made out of conduit. personally i would probably go with aluminum but you also said you'd be hauling some heavy stuff so steel maybe safer. regardless, figure on MPGs dropping with this mod and good luck. I know it wont help all that much, but the plan I have drawn up has a big wind fairing on the front (kinda like an Xterra) maybe not as big on the drage dept. if I put that on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94 Pathy Gary Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 I've been toying with the idea of making one out of PVC pipe and standard PVC fittings.... It'll be light, and dead easy to do. I can even use the long tubes to carry fishing rods in! Whadaya think? Cheers! Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 I've been toying with the idea of making one out of PVC pipe and standard PVC fittings.... It'll be light, and dead easy to do. I can even use the long tubes to carry fishing rods in! Whadaya think? Cheers! Gary PVC 1" or under won't hold much. If you are thinking 3/4", CPVC would hold a little more wieght and be less prone to warp from heat. I'd price ridgid alumimium tube; light, fairly strong and won't rust as much as steel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94 Pathy Gary Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 PVC 1" or under won't hold much. If you are thinking 3/4", CPVC would hold a little more wieght and be less prone to warp from heat. I'd price ridgid alumimium tube; light, fairly strong and won't rust as much as steel. Yeah, I was thinking of 1.5" PVC, or even 2" .... Something big enough in diameter to allow for useful storage (fishing rods) inside the tube CPVC... Hmmmmm, now there's an idea! Cheers! Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Pathfindero Posted March 23, 2006 Author Share Posted March 23, 2006 (edited) whats CPVC??? and Pickles Waht did you use and how much can it hold?? Edited March 23, 2006 by El Pathfindero Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 whats CPVC??? CPVC = Chlorinated Poly Vinyl Chloride; has a higher melting point and is stiffer than PVC. The color is beige instead of white. Cost a little more too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mws Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 (edited) Here's mine! Just for ideas... It is all mild steel, pretty thin wall. The basket sides are 1/2" square. The platform is 3/4" square on edges, 1x1/2" rails. The roof mount bars are thicker wall 1.5 x 1", with 1/8" plate risers. The risers bolt to aluminum plates JBWelded to the inside of the body panel. It will EASILY carry 3 to 400 pounds. I need to get it powdercoated after I add light mounts and "saddlebag" brackets hanging off the sides to hold the fuel cans.... Edited March 23, 2006 by mws Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mws Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 (edited) Front view. I extended the middle of the front section out so I can fit two tires, and to add character. It is shaped something like this: ____ | | | | \__/ Edited March 23, 2006 by mws Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mws Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 And one last thing to consider - these things add a LOT of windage which means noticeable decrease in mpg, so make it easy to remove when not needed! And the bigger the tubing, the more resistance when empty. That's why I chose 1/2 square steel tubing. It probably only costs me 1 or 2 mpg. A 2" pipe would probably be double that - round profiles are pretty terrible, aerodynamically speaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 And one last thing to consider - these things add a LOT of windage which means noticeable decrease in mpg, so make it easy to remove when not needed! And the bigger the tubing, the more resistance when empty. That's why I chose 1/2 square steel tubing. It probably only costs me 1 or 2 mpg. A 2" pipe would probably be double that - round profiles are pretty terrible, aerodynamically speaking. A small plastic or fiberglass nose would probably reduce the wind resistance to near unnoticeable. Doesn't have to be fancy; look at Xterras and those over the cab on tractor-trailers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94extreme Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 hey mws. how is the basket attached to the roof? bolted to the sides? can't tell exactly. round is less wind resistant then square? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mws Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 hey mws. how is the basket attached to the roof? bolted to the sides? can't tell exactly. round is less wind resistant then square? Oh, crap... don't make me remember... this feels like a test... But as I recall, aerodynamically best to worst, it goes: - Teardrop/airfoil/fish shape - Square on corner (aka, diamond) - round - square And the signifincant part I remember is that the difference from airfoil to diamond is huge, and the diffence from diamond to round is pretty darned big, and from round to square is not all that much - the overall area presented to the air is more significant. So keeping it smaller is much more important than choosing round versus square. The deflector idea: Wouldn't help much unless it contoured up and over and enclosed the entire structure. Just a wedge in front (like those vanity plates some bicycle racks have on them) usually only make it worse. The mounts: The basket bolts to the two cross bars. The cross bars are welded to the uprights. The uprights bolt to mounts inside the body. Front mount: I removed the 4x4 emblem and drilled three holes through the body in the divot behind the emblem. This way, I can remove the front bar and stick the emblem back on with silicone to hide the holes. Inside the body, I pulled the plastic panel and JB welded a contoured piece of 3/16" thick aluminum plate to the inside of the sheetmetal. Then drilled and tapped the aluminum for the bolts. This piece was about the size of the divoted metal (2"x4") and serves to distribute the weight over a relatively large amount of sheet metal. If I just put a nut on the bolt, all the weight in the rack would be concentrated on the tiny section of body under the bolt, and it would be very prone to ovallizing, tearing, or distorting the thinnish sheetmetal. With that hardpoint, it is extremely strong. Rear mount: Similar, but four bolts going (gulp) directly through the metal in a very visible place. But it's a truck! So form followed function. If I took the rear bar off, I would need to put the bolts back in to hide the holes and seal up the water entry points. I'll mention it was quite difficult to fit my big 'ol hands in there to glue the hard points in the rear. Patience and care are mandatory! Dropping them meant almost impossible recovery. I dropped one. Thank goodness my wife has TINY hands! Even so, I recall it only took about 8 hours to do the entire job of fabbing and mounting the 4 hardpoints (including interior dismantling and reassembly) As it turns out I never take the rear bar off anyway. The impact to mpg was unnoticeable - probably because it is so far back. So I just take the basket and front bar off when not needed as the noise and mpg impact from those ARE noticeable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
94extreme Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 thanks man. i hate drillling into the body. you said sqaure that's why i asked. so is the basket "diamond" or square? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Pickles Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 (edited) and Pickles Waht did you use and how much can it hold?? The majority of it is 1/2" electical conduit. As for how much it can hold, I haven't tested it just to see, but I'd say quite a bit- surely 100lbs or more at least, depending on how its loaded. I've fit a bunch of camping gear up there with no worries at all, and Mookie used to carry a spare (I believe either a 33 or 35) plus gear, with no issues. It probably also helps that I mount it to a Yakima rack's cross bars with some pretty stout U-bolts. It won't go anywhere, that's for sure. As for wind resistance and mileage, I dodn't really notice much difference with it. There's a bit of wind howl, but nothing excessive. I've had the basket off for about 2 months in favor of a ski rack, and nothing really changed. There was a far greater difference going to a lot of lift and wider tires (but still only 31" tall). Oh, and one final note: conduit is CHEAP! Like $1.50 or so per 8 foot piece. Edited March 24, 2006 by Mr. Pickles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Pathfindero Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 I was planning on using 1/2 inch sguare steel tube with a sheet metal fairing on the front to reduce drag on the road, but have the fairing removable so you can have lights behind it when you're off road, then building a prerunner-style tire carrier out of steel, and a bracket for a Hi-Lift Jack. another idea would be to use an ATV porta-tank rather than heavy Military cans. the ATV tank measures about 3' X 1' and only sits about 4 inches tall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Pathfindero Posted April 25, 2006 Author Share Posted April 25, 2006 started bending my metal today the dimensions are: 3'6'' X 4'5'' I'm using 3/4 square steel tubing then using a 20-16 gauge piece of sheet for the wind fairing. and using 3/16'' steel (smaller if I can) for the supports When it is all finished it will have mounts for spare, tanks, and hi-lift Also plan to coat it w/ spray on bedliner get pics up soon.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Pathfindero Posted May 25, 2006 Author Share Posted May 25, 2006 ITS DONE!!!!! (but not mounted) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vengeful Posted May 25, 2006 Share Posted May 25, 2006 Looks fantastic, man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted May 26, 2006 Share Posted May 26, 2006 Schweet, good job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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