expedition roof rack...

[steve.h]

Ok, so ive been towing this stupid little 4" x 3" trailer behind my shogun on camping trips, I hate it, its not towing that bothers me, its the size of the trailer, its an old trailer and like a lot of little trailers it bobs and bounces around a fair bit, I constantly worry about it rolling over round corners, and as the truck is so big and chunky you have no idea of what is going on with it and to top it all i cant see it unless we turn sharply or I see a shadow on the ground.
So I am thinking a BIG roof rack, the truck will take the load, it wont affect the aerodynamics much as driving a barn anyway a bit on top will make no diference. I am undecided on the fixings, do I pick up half a dozen of the thule type feet on good old fleabay or do I make up some with bolts like you see on many a big rack. The other dilema I have is what size tube do I use, round or square and what wall thickness do I go for ?
I am thinking 35 mm square for the main frame and 25 mm square for the rest with 2 mm wall thickness, will this be strong enough for the job ??

thanks as ever for your thoughts.
Steve.

 

[Robotstar5]

Have a look at some of the Brownchurch racks, should give you a few ideas?

 

[danneh]

AN expedition roofrack in on my list of jobs to make for my shogun

Ive spent many hours trawling through this thread (and many more!) http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/37607-Homemade-Roofracks

 

[steve.h]

Cheers Danneh,
Ive had a quick scan at the pics on this thread, now I have more ideas of what I want to do, I think fabricating my own feet/clamps is the way I will go. I have seen a disco locally, the feet are one big long bar from the front to back of the gutter, this has to be the best for strength.

 

[octo0072000]

fly the flag

tips for unseen trailer
just attach a small garden cane/broom handle to centre line of trailer make a small flag for the top so you can see it in you mirror job done


this may give you some ideas plenty of pictures

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-...ccessories_Touring_Travel&hash=item256f2df1e6

 

[awemawson]

Beware of too much weight too high. IIRC long wheel base landrover roof racks were only rated for 1cwt (50kgs) distributed evenly not because the vehicle couldn't take the weight but because of the difficulties it gave handling on cornering.

 

[steve.h]

£450 maybe i need to be makin these things, cant cost any more than £100 for the steel and paint, cold galv and black on top. IIRC the shogun handbook says 100 kg on roof. I would only be putting reasonably light stuff up there, I am the one who will have to lift it up there.... Just the tent, windbreaks, water containers etc.
I did think of the garden cane idea /little flag, the lad next door has one of those low down sit on kart things, I was going to "borrow" the flag from it, or I had thought about one of those mirrors on the back door like the delicas have, would be usefull for parking at sainsburys as well.
I think a big fat roof rack is more suited to the truck, makes it look bigger, I was thinking of a wind deflector on the front of it with cut outs for spot lights as well.

 

[rich r]

Yep - Pajero/Shogun gutter mounted roof rack limit is 100kg. If you spread the load onto the roof panel itself where the pillars are, you can go higher. Some of the roof tents work like this.

Don't forget that off tarmac, the maximum load theoretically drops by 2/3 due to the twisting of the bodywork if you have wheels off the ground, so 66kg is sensible. Aluminium is better than steel if you do a lot of offroad driving, as it can flex more easily. Not that the Pajero/Shogun body actually flexes that much, anyway due to it only being fixed to the chassis by 8 bolts in rubber spacers...

 

[steve.h]

what sort of wall thickess would be ok to use, I am thinking of using 15 and 22 mm tube, this is because I can borrow a plumbers tube bender for the corners rather than having square corners or buying a bigger bender...
I can get 16 and 22 mm erw in 1.5 mm thickness, would this be any good or is it too small diameter and too thin wall thickness ??

 

[steve.h]

I like the look of this weld mesh stuff for the base of the roof rack, what size/weight is suitable for the job, obviously there would be a frame under it for support, I dont want to over do it on the weight of the rack.