mr.spooky the mounting plate and bolt should work great, when i made my rack i drilled and tapped some 1/2 in steel bar cut the width if the track about 2" long to spread out the pulling force on the track. I have never had any problems or had any loosen up. The carrage bolts are a easier way to go and would work to! with the weight of your rack Id want to spread the pulling forces out abit! that chanel lip will bend if tighten enough! Nice job on the rack and Its always nice to be able to say "I built it"!

 

the c bolt is good because the square shoulder holds it from turning. the weigh is on top so you put any size washer ,plate, weight spreader you want. it could be 1/2 in thick and 8 inches long!! c bolts from 2 in to 8 inch for abt a buck

 

While I have this on the ground, I would like to weld some plates on one side for a future high lift jack. Iv seen where you can mount them by running a bolt through them (the holes in them). My plates wil probabaly be 3" wide, and welded on the side of the rack, then ill just drill a hole in them and mount a bolt. My question is, how far apart should i mount the plates? I dont have one of these jacks yet, so i dont know..
Or better yet, if anybody has one, could you take a pic of it with a tape measurer running the leingth of it?
thanks for all of the encouragement and info along the way! I cant wait til this is done. Next will be sliders!
thanks
jason

 

Drtom I know many have used these cbolt on racks and hilift jack mounting to the track. on my mounts the flat bar is inside the track and tapped My thinking when i built mine was that with the weight of the rack and anything on top of the rack on uneven ground or up and down ,side to side pulling motion could start popping the rivnuts or what ever is holding the roof track the the roof. so the longer the mounting plate ,bar inside the track would strengthen the track evn more and spread any movement action to more of the roof rivnuts making them work as one. I think the ends of the track rivnuts would be more prone to pull up first Ive seen some pics of this and its not an easy fix so in my thinking again there must be alittle flex going on of the track. Of course im not an expert or anything in these areas just some of my self minded precautions when I built my rack! My rack weights about 65lbs and i only load about 100lbs most of the time. I think the roof track is rated at about 100 to 150lbs but i could be wrong on this ,i know its some where around there. Not saying the cbolts are any worst than the way i mounted mine or any thing, I guess one just needs to watch the weight of everything up there!

 

I made my hilift mount by taking some 1/4"X2" flatbar that sandwiched sides of the rack. That way you can remove it if needed and slide it to a different place. Does that make sense?

 

i also think that the more mounting points the better since it spreads the load the full length

of the channel. also lower is better, less leverage.

i did mine with 2x4 wood ,just as a emergency 4x8 hauler and if i ever use it i will keep the load light as possible. fwiw, its not ez to slide the cbolts even just 3 on a side!

 

yes,, it does. maby ill just wait and do something like that so it can be versitile to fit the ocasion. thanks!
jason

 

thanks for the pic. did you get your measurments for the holes on the rack, then drill it once and it fit? If i was smart, i should "dry fit" my rack first before painting and everything just incase my measurements arent right...
awww what the hell, a tape dont lie
jason

 

Jason is there going to be a nut and washer for spacing between the roof and rack? Or are you making some other kind of bracket to attach to roof and rack?

 

Actually just the nut and spacer is a simple but good idea. You could use longer like 3 or 4 inch carriage bolts. Just attach them to your stock roof rails then slide a piece of round or square tubing to space it up a couple inches then add a washer and nut to attach to rack. Simple yet strong design. You simply need to add some simple angle iron brackets to the rack for attaching.