My DIY Roof Rack

hahaha I drilled holes in roof for a lightbar mount and the only other time im gonna do it is to mount a roof rack

 

Excessive alcohol usually gives me a boost of confidence…and stupidity! LOL

 

goodluck lol. dont forget to check the inside for airbags and some sealant of some sorts.

 

Go for it, it's not that big of a deal with some forethought and preparation. Check out my "build" page starting at post 15 to see how I managed to carefully drill mine safely and without incident. Your work with the "porch" lights on your rack inspired me to modify the process a bit and light my cab rack without drilling through the roof for the electrical connection.

 

same for better or worse haha

@TampaRD Pro thanks man. Your technique is definitely the way to go and I appreciate the pics! I definitely think about building the cab rack a lot still, here's the matching initial design to the rear:

 

That's a really nice design! I can see that you allowed for the curvature of the roof on the cab which is important. Make sure you allow for clearance for opening the sunroof if you have one, and on the 2020 I had to clear the sharkfin antenna in the rear, too. With a cab rack and a matching rack on the cap you will have a ton of real estate for carrying things up top. Go for it, and post some pictures when you finish, you do good work!

By pulling down the sides of the headliner for safety you could also through bolt it and forego the rivnuts all together. It's probably a stronger attachment that way, too. I already had the RivNut tool and made good crimps so I feel good about using it. I've had two 15 foot kayaks up there at highway speeds plus an awning and lots of other gear and weight at different times with no problem at all. I love the cab rack and use it all the time.

 

@junior this is fantastic - on my short list of projects to do now. When you say the fairing was measured for your leer shell - is that something you did? how did you account for the curve? that looks like a dicey measurement to get right.

 

I started with a straight on photo, then to a digital to-scale mock, then to a test cardboard cut template. What I didnt account for, and why I dont run it any more is for a tiny bit extra "space" that the rubber grommet edge took up after I applied it, so under vibration while driving it started to rub the clearcoat of the shell's paint.

 

@junior one last question for ya... are you close to getting the measurements for the cab rack? I've got a single cab and was scratching my head on the best way to measure it since its such an obscure application

 

If you were going to fabricate this yourself, it seems like a feasible solution would be to use vertical grooves in the fairing sheet for the bolts that attach the sheet to the crossbar as opposed to round holes, which would give you a little play in how closely you mount it to the cap. Having built one already, does this make sense? Or am i thinking about this incorrectly?

 

Same technique I just posted above. I started with a super parallel photo. I used Adobe Illustrator to mock it up as close to full scale as possible and then made a cardboard mock up with printed sheets. Its not perfect but the best I can think of for DIY. If you don't have Illustrator, I'd start with a straight piece of cardboard and just slowly start trimming it til you get a curve that you like, you know?

Edit: if you give me a good side shot of your truck I can help you if you need it

100%. Slots would have definitely helped and give you adjustability. The thing you want to be careful of is to not let the top, leading edge of your fairing be above the crossbar/siderails. If you don't have anything on the rack its not a big deal though

 

Think I’m going to try making a rectangular fairing out of 1/4” thick x 4” tall x rack width black UHMW. It will follow the rack dimensions and not the shape of the cap, but I’m not sure how much that matters…unless I hear excessive wind noise, of course. Will advise how it turns out and I may need to do something about the “scratched” surface appearance of the UHMW.

 

Had a little extra time today so I installed a 1/4 Thk x 4”x54” UHMW fairing on the rack. Pretty simple work and looks ok for now anyhow. I’ll provide feedback and may need to remove if too much wind noise.
Best

 

Does anyone have the stock width of the roof rack rails on the leer toppers? I bought my topper second-hand without rails and I'm looking to install my own, hopefully with the same dimensions.

 

Somehow I missed this. Nice work man! How's it working for you?

I just went out and measured on my 100XR. Its 40.5" center to center between the rails

 

Awesome, thanks for the information!

 

Hey Zach! Thanks for the comments and hope all is good out your way. All is well here, but I just don't take the Tundra out too much. I've got a '98 Taco as my daily driver as it's a lot easier to wash than the Tundra and already has 330K+ miles...a bit better on gas too! I hope to get out soon for a road trip and check out the wind noise on the fairing.

Take care my friend!

 

Just for the record, using UHMW as a fairing material is a bad idea. Expansion/contraction under temperature changes makes it buckle between the anchor bolt locations. It was worth a try anyhow and the rack works fine without a fairing.

 

I'm a software engineer also. I think CSS was used to place the roof rack on the Tundra Just missed the roof by a slight margin

 

Hot Damn, I am a CS/math HS teacher and we have lots of toys in our Engineering Department, wonder how much the Engineering guy is going to charge me for the Aluminum to make this...