Front roof rack

[neatvan]

I bought a set of 3 weather guard contractor roof/ladder racks on craigslist for $75. Gutter mounts and adjustable square cross bars all together. I see them for sale fairly often. They are utilitarian, but you could easily make them work to hold your cargo box. Pic from weather guard's website.

[Vanimal]

Here is the one I built about 18 years ago. It has a 6 foot center fence section and two gate sections one in front and one in back. Then I added full length upper tubing and light mount.

[stiggs]

Yea the gutter mount and fabbing something up seems like a good way to go. I wish I had welding skills

[Orv]

The K Suspension XJ gutter mounts clamp onto the Econoline rain gutters just fine. They don't have quite enough rise, so a flat bar laid across them will hit the top center of the roof, where it's domed up the highest. I don't see that as a big issue, just something to accommodate in the design. These things are super sturdy -- they're made out of 3/16" thick steel.

[Bellpilot]

Aluminess makes one that you see on the new SMB classic and they are asking $1700 for it.

[Vanimal]

Originally Posted by Orv

The K Suspension XJ gutter mounts clamp onto the Econoline rain gutters just fine. They don't have quite enough rise, so a flat bar laid across them will hit the top center of the roof, where it's domed up the highest. I don't see that as a big issue, just something to accommodate in the design. These things are super sturdy -- they're made out of 3/16" thick steel.

The gutter mounts you say will work just use 2"x !/2" or 3/4"rectangular steel tubbing double it up where the mounts are for spacing, or if you use the fence rail from Home Depot just do the same with some extra tubing. You'll be into this for under $400.00 and it is all bolt together.

[Orv]

That's roughly what I have in mind, yeah. If I could weld it'd be even more straightforward, but it should all bolt together pretty easily.

[Vanimal]

The mounts can be bolted unless you are going to weld up on the roof. I mean you can tack weld them then weld them up on the ground to save the splatter but bolted to the mounts is strong enough. Just build your frame on the ground or buy the wrought iron gate I told you about previously.

[Orv]

Did a mockup today to check the fit. It's about 1/4 inch too wide at the bottoms of the mounts, which will be easy to fix. This is using the KSuspension rain gutter mounts and the basket from a Titan Ramps "Hitch Mounted Steel Cargo Carrier Basket 500 LB Capacity." I picked that model because its dimensions were a good fit to the van's roof. I believe this is the same hitch carrier that Jegs sells, just with different branding.

Sorry about the picture quality, I was rapidly running out of light. I also didn't bother to install the clamps on the gutter mounts because I was just checking the dimensions.

After some minor tweaks to improve the fit, the next step will be to take it apart and paint it. I have to paint the mounts anyway (they come as bare steel), and the paint on the Titan carrier is sub-backyard rattlecan quality so I'm going to do it too. I'll probably shoot truck bed liner on the expanded mesh in the bottom -- I used it in the tire channels of my motorcycle trailer and it's held up very well.

[vandiesel]

Nice work. All the parts arrive this week to make mine.