DIY roof rack
 

Hey guys,

probably a dumb question, has anyone mounted some bars to their hardtops?

I was thinking of welding up some bars to go on my roof with a few mounting/weight distribution points and mounting them with a plate on top and a plate underneath for each (as big as I can make the plates). would this hold a hard shell roof top tent (~80kg) or would it be too much risk.

Before I put a set of Teraflex rails on I did the DIY thing by drilling holes in the roof and corner bracing plates on the roll bar. Mounted a rolla cage to carry spares and fuel. Used on a trip that included the Tanami and Gibb river roads. Weren't a lot of options when I did this. Worked well but the Teraflex option is pretty good with templates for holes. I'd recomend going fo one of the options that either pick up the roll cage or have bracing down to the tub.
80kg dynamic load is probably a bit much just mounted to fibreglass.

I don't believe it would be strong enough. You are relying on the strength of the fiberglass corners & side pieces.

There are some that have been done, but they run through to bolt to supports on the roll cage underneath the hardtop.

Remember, if it is a rooftop tent, then you also have to add the weight of you there as well, and the fiberglass is somewhat flexy...

From memory, the weight capacity of the hard top is only 35kg.

That's why if you look at all the heavy duty roof racks available for the Wrangler, they are either the exoskeleton type that doesn't touch the top or they are mounted through the top and fixed on the internal roll cage.

So what you propose would have several kilos of steel, the weight of the rooftop tent, plus 1 maybe 2 humans sleeping.

https://www.sevenslot.com.au/product/aev-jk-roof-rack/

This Is a perfect roof top tent platform. No lips or ridges anywhere so the tent sits flat on the rack

Thanks for the info guys, was just looking at the options and they were all so expensive, so kinda though about diy but I dont think i'll be able to avoid it by the sounds of it

Well, if you're keen I have a relatively well documented blog post you could follow: https://nerdsofsteal.wordpress.com/2...a-jk-wrangler/

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/ukntfdpl7l2...ift%20Jeep.jpg
(note the post is 3 pages in length)

It took a lot of doing but the end product is indeed serving me well.