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Yall may have seen my thread about my homemade cargo crossbars. They are nice but do still need a couple finishing touches. The right T-bolts for mounting them, rounding the corners a bit more, drilling out more anchoring holes, and some yet to be determined lighting. Since I had the aluminum from a scrapped bridge total cost on that one $0.00. But todays mod was something I needed to do to make the inside of the topper more useful and the top stronger. I added a 1/8" x 1" x 38" flat piece of aluminum to the inside where the roof rails are mounted. To that I added 4 cut down pieces of 1/8" aluminum angle. They have 1/2" hole drilled in them large enough for 12-25 Kn carabiners. It all mounted using the original hardware(4mm allen head bolt/10mm nut). I spent about $25 on the aluminum. I removed the ARE installed rails to use as a drill template for the aluminum. Pretty straightforward. Hardest part was being careful to not drop a tool on the paint.
I know I alread have the cargo holder but anything you hang on em can slide around and they dont feel very heavy duty. I do regret getting them and not spending that money on a second windoor for the passenger side(would have made this project alot easier on that side) but you live and you learn. They do still have purpose here on Maui for wet clothes from the beach and other random things while stationary. These are for hanging things that can and need to be secured with bungees or pull tight straps. Anything requiring a ratchet strap is probably too heavy or too risky especially with the dogs in the bed. But for beach chairs or the dog ramp or bags of whatever or boogie boards it will be just fine. Also I feel that the strength and rigidity of the roof racks has been reinforced. Still dont think I will put more than 200-250lb max up there. But I like it better than the plastic (albeit fat plastic)washers it was installed with.
This also gives me a good place to mount lighting that I have planned for my next mod. I picked up 10 blue LED panels and will mount 4 of them up here with the double back foam tape they came with. With the switch, wiring, lights, and sheathing. I spent about $50 on those. Hopefully I will get that going later this week.
For now enjoy my cheap mods.
I know I alread have the cargo holder but anything you hang on em can slide around and they dont feel very heavy duty. I do regret getting them and not spending that money on a second windoor for the passenger side(would have made this project alot easier on that side) but you live and you learn. They do still have purpose here on Maui for wet clothes from the beach and other random things while stationary. These are for hanging things that can and need to be secured with bungees or pull tight straps. Anything requiring a ratchet strap is probably too heavy or too risky especially with the dogs in the bed. But for beach chairs or the dog ramp or bags of whatever or boogie boards it will be just fine. Also I feel that the strength and rigidity of the roof racks has been reinforced. Still dont think I will put more than 200-250lb max up there. But I like it better than the plastic (albeit fat plastic)washers it was installed with.
This also gives me a good place to mount lighting that I have planned for my next mod. I picked up 10 blue LED panels and will mount 4 of them up here with the double back foam tape they came with. With the switch, wiring, lights, and sheathing. I spent about $50 on those. Hopefully I will get that going later this week.
For now enjoy my cheap mods.
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