The new Ve-hicle came with roof racks, so I thought I was in sheet good heaven. But upon closer inspection, these factory racks don't seem up to much. I imagine they would scuff up in no time and they have no simple/fast way to secure goods.
I was thinking I could make a 2x4 box (50x98) and dado a some plywood into the bottom. I'd make a similar cover for the top, with wing nuts to hold it down.
I think you can buy the glides that sit in the track, so I could use these to hold the contraption on. I could also use the U bolt trick to hold it to the existing frame.
Fri, Oct 8, 2004, 11:42am snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net (Bill=A0Stock) mumbles: The new Ve-hicle came with roof racks, so I thought I was in sheet good heaven. But upon closer inspection, these factory racks don't seem up to much. I imagine they would scuff up in no time and they have no simple/fast way to secure goods. I was thinking I could make a 2x4 box (50x98) and dado a some plywood into the bottom. I'd make a similar cover for the top, with wing nuts to hold it down. I think you can buy the glides that sit in the track, so I could use these to hold the contraption on. I could also use the U bolt trick to hold it to the existing frame. Any thoughts?
You must be a Yankee, or something, or you'd have bought a real vehicle - a pickup. But, don't worry about it, roof racks work great.
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smile because I know my God loves me. You on the other hand, he doesn't much like.
How much stuff are you going to carry? Almost any roof rack worth putting on a carry will carry a half dozen sheets of plywood or even a half dozen sheets (not pairs) of drywall.
Who looks at your roof racks?
No opening at all to clip rubber tie downs to? That's all you need. Unless you're going cross country...
What kind of ve-hicle did you get? I have both a '93 and a '04 Explorer and I've carried stuff on both easily.
Real story! A friend has a 'red neck' neighbor who owns a little rice grinder truck and an aluminum shell. My friend had a sheet of OSB left over from some work he was doing in his garage and offered it to his neighbor, the red neck. Said red neck didn't want to carry it home with assistance from my friend so he backed up his rice grinder, layed the sheet on top of the shell and preceeded to use a cordless drill and several drywall screws thru the OSB and into the aluminum shell skin to keep it from sliding off. Mind you he was only going a total distance of 3 houses. Seriously, a true story!
Make VERY sure that the roof can handle the weight and stress... better for to be bent out of shape than you roof/doors/windows... most suv roof racks are for looks and maybe a suit case or 2...
Here's a repost of another true story that I posted a number of years ago:
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This reminds me of a true story involving a co-worker who, years back, was building a summer cottage in the country. One Saturday, his wife took his pick-up truck shopping. He had planned to use the truck to transport some tools to the job site. His wife left him her Ford Pinto hatchback and the dog.
Now Jim wasn't know for being the brightest kid on the block. He needed to get a wheel barrow to the cottage and it wouldn't fit in the hatchback. His solution was to tie the wheel barrow on the top of the car using bungee cords. He loaded up the car, with the dog in the rear seat, and down the expressway he went.
Everything was going fine, until be braked on the exit ramp. It seems at 65 mph, the bungee cords were stretched in the airflow. The wheel barrow was no longer on top of the car, but actually trailing the vehicle by a few feet. Upon braking, the bungee cords retracted, pulling the wheel barrow through the rear window. The dog in the back seat, being a nervous type, promptly emptied its bowels at the sound of the breaking glass, all over the white interior of the Pinto. By the way, the dog was not injured.
Of course, according to Jim, all this was his wife's fault for taking the truck in the first place.
-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)
I've always wondered about lift stress on factory racks when sheet goods are carried. Especially since a heavily laden car might tend to sink in the rear and so the front edge of the sheet goods will be higher than the back. I've never seen or heard about a rack lifting off the car from this stress. Again, just wondered.
If it's a factory rack odds are that its weight capacity is very limited, and take their word for it, they mean it (DAMHIKT).
First thing you want to do is put an aftermarket rack on it. I use a Yakima with 58" crossbars that make it easy to secure plywood. The weight capacity is still going to be pretty limited if it has to secure to the factory rails but will be better than the factory rack and give you straight bars instead of curved. If you can use a removable rack you may be able to carry more weight.
Go to an outdoors store and buy four of the HD foam blocks that clip onto the gunwhales of a canoe. Set them on the roof, stack your sheet goods, tie 'em down and drive away. No scratches.
I checked out their website and the roof is only rated for 165 pounds including the weight of the rack. Fuck, I might as well make a trailer for my bicyle.
It's kind of pathetic actually. I made the mistake of trading a Cherokee for a Grand Cherokee. The Cherokee had gutters, and could take a real rack, the Grand can just take attachments to the factory rails and can barely hold a couple of empty kayaks.
"Bill Stock" wrote in news:X4adnbQ snipped-for-privacy@rogers.com:
Or buy the kit at HF or HD.
Or, if this isn't all that frequent, rent the $19 pickup at HD or U-Haul.
But don't screw up the new vehicle. You don't want your wife to have some constant reminder of your physics experiment with woodworking implications. I don't know about yours, but at my house, there are some lessons I'm not allowed to forget, much as I'd like to.
"patriarch snipped-for-privacy@nospam.comcastDOTnet" "Bill Stock" wrote in
Last time I rented the U-Haul it was $54.95 after insurance and mileage for the $19.95 vehicle. I don't imagine HD plays these games, but I don't know.
implications.
Already got the evil eye for stuffing the 4x4 plywood in the day old vehicle. So I thought I'd investigate the racks.
Sat, Oct 9, 2004, 12:10am snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net (Bill=A0Stock) says: Already got the evil eye for stuffing the 4x4 plywood in the day old vehicle. So I thought I'd investigate the racks.
Oh Hell, just get a trailer. My older kid got one awhile back that folds up for storage, for less than $200 new. Either that or get them to slice your sheetgoods before you leave the store.
JOAT I smile because I know my God loves me. You on the other hand, he doesn't much like.
I once hauled a full sized refrigerator on the top of a new 1977 Vega station wagon for about 900 miles, with absolutely no damage. I don't recommend doing that on your new jeep.
HF does have a foldup trailer with 12 or 13 inch wheels for about $220. It folds for easier storage and appears to be a pretty well built trailer.
yep.. before I got the pickup, I had one of those 4x8' trailers from HF.. worked well and got loaned out several times a year for friends moving... I keep it in the side yard now, because I'd rather loan IT to friends than my truck..
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