So I've always loved the Land Rover Defender 90's and the safari packages that they were fitted with, so one of the things I planned on doing when I bought my FJ was adding a basket on top large enough to pitch a tent in or shoot video from www.adventurefilms.net. I do CAD for a company in Houston, so I decided to design my own "simple" basket that would just U-Bolt to the existing Toyota Roof Rack
I added some long Aluminum bars at forst to haul my canoe and to attach my "wimpy" basket but I hope to have the new design made in a couple of months, I haven't decided what to use for a flooring yet, so it's not shown with one. But the final design will allow for lights to be mounted under the front of the basket "upside down" to a light plate or on top of the front, side or rear rails. The cool part is the ladder design I have in mind.
I have thought up a bent tube welded to the rack that runs just behind the rear door and makes it's way to also be welded into on of the rock gaurds. About have way up another piece tube would bend out nad also weld into the rack with 2 rungs. So you would step from the ground to the rock gaurd, to the tire, to the first rung and on top of the FJ... I haven't modeled it yet as I don't have a side surface model of my truck... I can't afford to have it digitized, (does anyone out there have a 3D CAD model of a complete FJ?)
Last edited by adventurefilms : 08-10-2007 at 12:16 AM.
Very cool. While attaching another rack to the factory rack is a bit redundant, it certainly gives you the benefit of being able to remove it when you are not adventuring. I have the Gobi Stealth with ladder (also here in Houston) and serves the purpose of most of what you are saying but obviously is not as wide as yours. Nice pictures!
What if you tied it into the factory mounting holes. That is what makes a land rover roof rack so stable; its all metal and welded together, and has multiple mounting places to the roof.
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Zane
2007 Titanium 4x4 AT
Convenience Package, Upgrade #2
275/70 MT/R's, ARB, Warn M8000, 2.5' front leveling spacers, IPF 968's, original cut-hack, TRD sliders, Cobra 75WXST w/ Firestick, dbbd1's hi lift brackets & hi lift, K&N drop in
The guys who are quoting it are going to do that but only after the frame is made, then we will pull off the factry and try and design the feet. Again I'm going with a large basket so I can work from that platform and also sleep up there, it's more for a "deck" than it is for a luggage rack.
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"from His mud, and by His Blood"
"It's better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it"
That being the case, I would definitely not use the OEM rack as a support for the other one.
x2, the OEM rack material is thin-walled aluminum tubing designed to support plastic attachments. It is barely comfortable with the hi-lift mounted with Demello adapters. I have also seem evidence of the roof buckling slightly at the feet with only moderate weight applied.
That being the case, I would definitely not use the OEM rack as a support for the other one.
x2, the OEM rack material is thin-walled aluminum tubing designed to support plastic attachments. It is barely comfortable with the hi-lift mounted with Demello adapters. I have also seen evidence of the roof buckling slightly at the feet with only moderate weight applied. That being said, Stagecoachco has a full ARB rack he uses to transport cabinets, full sized grills and small elephants...
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