[blacklabel000]

just thought id show you guys my latest work! im in love with it, i didnt want to be plain jane this time around! i never did like the way the gutter mounts looked so i tryed somthing different, and i was up on top of there jumping up and down and it is STURDY, and im a 6 foot 235lb guy.

its all made out of 1x1 1eighth thick(a little over kill on the thickness)
this thing is HEAVY, a ton heavier than i was expecting.....









let me know what u guys think!


oh a word of advice, dont use the duplicolor roll on bedcoating.......its terrible.
-nick

[blacklabel000]

oh and this is my new 96', im waiting on a few parts for my suspension to be ready so i figured id build this rack, paint the lower panals, cut and fold rear quarters, trim fenders, and get ready for front and rear bumpers!

next is rockers......and then longarms, which the metal and heim joints are on the way!

[broncofire75]

Good googley gawd!

That goes along with your seriously overkill rear bumper...Did you use measurments from a truck and threw it on your XJ?. Bet thats how you got up there and mounted the rack huh? LOL

Good fab work...

[the303hooligan]

thats a MASSIVE front rack u got there..looks really solid tho..how is it attached to ur roof?...and outa curiosity why so big on the front?..

[blacklabel000]

lol exactly what i thought when i first put it up there, but when i put it on my 91' with 6in lift and 33s it looked GOOOOOOOD, so im thinking that the 96 on 35s will make it look awesome

BTW the rear bumper is just hanging off, its not bolted down at all yet, i was jsut test fitting it....... but ya you get used to it haha

p.s. if you look at the 4th pic you can see how the 2in plate the runs the length of the jeep, has 6 holes that line up with the holes from the stock rack mounts (i hope you understood that) so there are 12bolts holding it down


-nick

[the303hooligan]

figured you used the roof holes, but wasnt sure since the rack is so beefy..im sure itll look real good on a built xj...just kinda over powering for the one in the pics...but looks like very good fab work for sure!

[blacklabel000]

thanks! hopefully itll grow into it!

[Stout95YJ]

roof rack looks awesome, is the a Fiat 500 beside you?

[lcarney91]

That design may prove to be the most aerodynamic yet..... as long as you are in reverse most of the time. HAHA.

Seriously, nice job on that fab skills. It's certainly not my cup of tea, but if you like it, then cool.

[cbordea]

I think it is pretty cool, if you have to slam on brakes you have some extra height to keep stuff from coming off the front.

not sure if that is a Fiat 500 but there is surely a Flat 1 beside him (rear tire is F L A T ) :-)

[Lupitaboy]

Structurally I would say you could haul stone blocks for the Egyptian pyramids on it. The only "weakness" that may show it's ugly head would be the way it is attached to the roof. If you are only using the same holes used for the oem tracks, they may prove not to be substantial enough for anchoring your unit as they were designed for anchoring thin metal rails that were not built for heavy loads like your rack was. Wind stresses , load shifts and/or rack movement(spring) could cause metal distortion at your bolt holes. If, on the other hand, you have an interior bracket running immediately beneath each track that you bolt through, then you're definitely good to go. Even though you've built a rack that could probably support two of you and shows some skill in construction, how it attaches to your top is equally as critical as how it is made. Just my $.02.

[blacklabel000]

haha that little red turd is a 1969 subaru 350 that we took on at the shop to rebuild, but we found one on ebay that is in awesome shape for 1/5 the price, so were going that route!

but with how i mounted it i figured id give this a shot and see how it went, if it comes down to it ill drill through the top and do it that way....

thanks for all the comments guys!


-nick

[captain_ruggy]

You should mount some off road lights in the big openings on the front. That would look good and they would have some protection.

[ausi02]

I have a similar rack on its way. Only I used round tubing and a lot loss of it to save on weight. Also might front isn't as big lol. Mine is gonna be mounted in the gutters tho.

What paint would you recommend if you didn't like the roll in liner? I will put up a progress pic up later. Also once you put stuff up there it will start to look better.



Now I know the front looks just as big but it really isn't. With the front vertical bars in it looks much better. Right now im just making the mounts and dipping them in plasti-coat stuff so they don't scratch my paint up. Plus with 4 or 6 lights it will look much more filled in. The rack is huge i know but im goin for the safari look.

[kb9qdi]

I would have made the front of the rack smaller but it's yours right

Good Job