solitary ogre
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- October 13, 2008
- Messages
- 182
- Reaction score
- 0
- City, State
- Surrey, B.C.
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '91 explorer, '88 bll
hauling anything long on the factory roof rack is not safe in my mind. so i decided to use the roof rack off my bronco ll but without rain gutters this was going to need some mods.
i thunked about it for awhile and came up with the idea of using nut inserts. i got mine at www.princessauto.com they are here in Canada. on sale i think i paid about $20 for it. the inserts are aluminum and the smaller sizes are not that strong. (i'd like to find steel or better yet stainless steel someplace) the aluminum pieces can be stripped out quit easily. the 1/4" seems rugged enough for what i plan to haul, a pair of kayaks or 12' & 20' ladders for work. i wanted this to be easy to take on and off 'cause i don't want the wind resistance messing up my fuel mileage any more than the box shape of the explorer already does.
this first pictures shows the driver side with the pop rivets drilled out of the upper weather strip. it is held back gently with a block of wood. be careful with it 'cause there is an aluminum strip in it that can distort too easy.
nut inserter and a cheapo plastic tool box to keep it organized in.
inserting a nut is just like putting in a pop rivet. make sure with smaller sizes you don't use more muscle than brains like i did on 2 of the weather strip #8x32 inserts. i decided rather than use pop rivets to hold the weather strip back on i'd use inserts 'cause there is obvious rust that will need attention one day and most likely it will be me taking it apart.
four 1/4"x20nc inserts installed. i didn't clean up the rust 'cause i'm still fighting a flu bug and am just feeling to damn lazy to do it today.
next, i found a piece of aluminum about 3/16" thick. it is not pure aluminum. it was difficult to bend so it must have an alloy of some sort in it. i did some bending in the vise and some tapping with a small body working hammer on the anvil. there needs to be a compound curve to the bottom part so it will have enough door clearance. i had planned on using round head stainless steel screws but i stumbled upon these flat heads and decided it won't likely rust that much anyways.
to keep the water out, i used glazing tape under the aluminum you can see it squeezed out the end a bit. hopefully it won't harden too much and i'll still be able to remove this bracket for painting in the next year or so.
weather strip screwed back in place there is enough give in it to let the door close without any problems.
close up with kayak on top. i prefer to carry my kayaks upside down to keep the rain out. occasionally it does rain here on the wetcoast.
wide angle view.
not a bad looking explorer for $300 at the auto auction. i've now got $1100 into it. my kayak cost more.
this isn't a pretty fab job. it is functional and that is what matters to me. if it looks like a piece of shyt then it is less likely to be stolen.
this roof rack likely won't pull an s10 out of the bumper deep mud but when a toyuka tundra dies in 6" of water i'd strap it on top and give the guy a ride home.
next i need to do something for the back. the factory rack is not wide enough for both of my kayaks. my aging gray matter will work on that..... very...........very.............slowly.
hopefully these images work. if not they can be viewed here........
http://s678.photobucket.com/albums/vv150/TGRtrucks/
thanks for a great site. the info here is sometimes overwhelming.
keep smilin............Thomas, Surrey, B.C.
i thunked about it for awhile and came up with the idea of using nut inserts. i got mine at www.princessauto.com they are here in Canada. on sale i think i paid about $20 for it. the inserts are aluminum and the smaller sizes are not that strong. (i'd like to find steel or better yet stainless steel someplace) the aluminum pieces can be stripped out quit easily. the 1/4" seems rugged enough for what i plan to haul, a pair of kayaks or 12' & 20' ladders for work. i wanted this to be easy to take on and off 'cause i don't want the wind resistance messing up my fuel mileage any more than the box shape of the explorer already does.
this first pictures shows the driver side with the pop rivets drilled out of the upper weather strip. it is held back gently with a block of wood. be careful with it 'cause there is an aluminum strip in it that can distort too easy.
nut inserter and a cheapo plastic tool box to keep it organized in.
inserting a nut is just like putting in a pop rivet. make sure with smaller sizes you don't use more muscle than brains like i did on 2 of the weather strip #8x32 inserts. i decided rather than use pop rivets to hold the weather strip back on i'd use inserts 'cause there is obvious rust that will need attention one day and most likely it will be me taking it apart.
four 1/4"x20nc inserts installed. i didn't clean up the rust 'cause i'm still fighting a flu bug and am just feeling to damn lazy to do it today.
next, i found a piece of aluminum about 3/16" thick. it is not pure aluminum. it was difficult to bend so it must have an alloy of some sort in it. i did some bending in the vise and some tapping with a small body working hammer on the anvil. there needs to be a compound curve to the bottom part so it will have enough door clearance. i had planned on using round head stainless steel screws but i stumbled upon these flat heads and decided it won't likely rust that much anyways.
to keep the water out, i used glazing tape under the aluminum you can see it squeezed out the end a bit. hopefully it won't harden too much and i'll still be able to remove this bracket for painting in the next year or so.
weather strip screwed back in place there is enough give in it to let the door close without any problems.
close up with kayak on top. i prefer to carry my kayaks upside down to keep the rain out. occasionally it does rain here on the wetcoast.
wide angle view.
not a bad looking explorer for $300 at the auto auction. i've now got $1100 into it. my kayak cost more.
this isn't a pretty fab job. it is functional and that is what matters to me. if it looks like a piece of shyt then it is less likely to be stolen.
this roof rack likely won't pull an s10 out of the bumper deep mud but when a toyuka tundra dies in 6" of water i'd strap it on top and give the guy a ride home.
next i need to do something for the back. the factory rack is not wide enough for both of my kayaks. my aging gray matter will work on that..... very...........very.............slowly.
hopefully these images work. if not they can be viewed here........
http://s678.photobucket.com/albums/vv150/TGRtrucks/
thanks for a great site. the info here is sometimes overwhelming.
keep smilin............Thomas, Surrey, B.C.
