Emergency Element roof rack for $20

21988 Views 37 Replies 17 Participants Last post by zimbop, May 15, 2007

Clarkm

Discussion Starter · Nov 19, 2006 (Edited)

I needed to leave town that day, and went to Lowes and got 12 of the 6mm bolts and some "L" bracket steel material.

I hack sawed off the "L" bracket and drilled holes for the 6mm bolts into the Element and holes for the sheet rock screws into the 2x4 Douglas fir wood.

I left town that day, and have been driving around with the rack still on the roof for 2 months.

The steel is starting to rust, but the rack is very solid.

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21 - 38 of 38 Posts

Clarkm

Discussion Starter · #21 · Dec 6, 2006

OK,
My first post here, and I put it in the wrong forum

ApriliaGuy

· #22 · Dec 7, 2006

Clarkm said:
OK,
My first post here, and I put it in the wrong forum

Sounds good to me....a roof rack in the Racks, Hitches & Towing section ! :wink:

Will

eversavage

· #23 · Dec 23, 2006

What are the thread count for the screws used. 6mm was mention but doesn't thread count matter too? heck if any knows the part number that would help a lot too. I want to make my own roof rack too

ApriliaGuy

· #24 · Dec 23, 2006

eversavage said:
What are the thread count for the screws used. 6mm was mention but doesn't thread count matter too?

M6 x 1.0 pitch. (The common-normal one)

Will

Clarkm

Discussion Starter · #25 · Dec 24, 2006

I was in a hurry to build that rack to haul a deer from SouthWestern Oregon to Seattle.

For 5 hours I parked my Element with wooden rack at the intersection of 2308 and NF-23 and on Oct 2, 2007 in Oregon.

Two months later, Searchers found the frozen body of James Kim at that location, or within a mile.

It was nice weather in October, but I kept thinking that if my Element broke down, I would die.

bestdogever

· #26 · Dec 24, 2006

Hey paulj,

I reread this post today and realized what a nice job you did on your roof rack. From what i can see of it in the pic, it looks great. I wonder though, how on earth did you make that with just a power drill? Can you send a complete picture so we can see all of it's glory?

I'd love to get a roof rack but affordability is a huge issue & roof rack is not a necessity right now. I want to plan ahead for when I can afford to make something....I do live in FL tho'...so I guess clarkm's design is not completely out of the question :lol:

Thanks!
Cindy

paulj said:
I bought an extra set of plastic covers, and trimmed those to fit around my brackets. Since I don't have many power tools (just an electric drill), I used a sheet metal nibbler to cut the plastic.

One thing, when cutting the plastic covers, note the difference between the right and left front ones. They appear nearly identical - but aren't.

paulj

paulj

· #27 · Dec 24, 2006

There are more photos on my pbase gallery (see the sig for the link). Note that each base consists of 2 pieces of 1 1/2" aluminum angle. That stuff is pretty easy to work using a hacksaw, file, and drill (and small vice).

The cross bars and bar clamps are from an onld Yakima set (raingutter version), attached with 3/8" bolt. Wood or aluminum would could also be used for bars, but I already had the Yakima set.

I started the design with the base pieces, and developed the rest bit by bit as I went along.

paulj

paulj

· #28 · Dec 24, 2006

Clarkm said:
For 5 hours I parked my Element with wooden rack at the intersection of 2308 and NF-23 and on Oct 2, 2007 in Oregon.

Two months later, Searchers found the frozen body of James Kim at that location, or within a mile..

As best I can tell, the Kim's car was found 5 miles to the NE of the 23/2308 junction (measured off of Google Earth). It is unclear how far they had driven up FS23, if any. At some point, though they ended up wandering along BLM34-8-36, which follows the north side of the ridge (23 is on the south and top of the ridge), eventually meandering above the Rogue River. They ended up 8 straight miles from the 23/blm junction, though a lot longer by road.

There appear to be a couple of secondary tracks heading north from 23 into this BLM maze, but I can't tell how passable any of them are. Do you know if 2308 is passable west to Agness? Also, how confusing are the roads east towards Galice? I saw on the forest service web site description of a couple of routes that bypass some slide, but none of the news reports talk about this.

I've put that area on my 'to visit' list, possibly for next summer.

paulj

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Clarkm

Discussion Starter · #29 · Dec 24, 2006

I parked at that intersection and hunted South on the ridge and back on 2308, our guide hunted West on 23, and my brother went NothEast into the valley where they found Kim.

I never actually crossed the 23 road to where they found Kim.

That area where Kim died is just average alpine, but the area just to the East on the Rogue is world famous, and for good reason. They will take you on a river boat and feed you breakfast in Hell's Canyon, or something like that.

Take the family or girl friend to the Rogue River.

Hunting the higher up is a big challange for the feet and for the Element. I was on dirt roads, one lane wide, 15% grade, too steep to climb with hands and feet on both sides, and days by foot from the nearest human. There are rocks and logs in the way. There is no cell phone coverage for T Mobile until you get back down to Grants Pass.

We had lots of gas and water, and much of the time two vehicles.

Here is a picture from 20 miles South of there.
That is case of drinking water on the rack in the Element.

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bestdogever

· #30 · Dec 24, 2006

What were you hunting Clark?

Cindy

Clarkm

Discussion Starter · #31 · Jan 18, 2007

Male deer, but we found only females stupidly staring at us stupidly staring at them.

The locals made a joke that the only way I could find a buck is to be inside the city limits at midnight, but don't get caught.

Then I traveled 1,000 miles and heard the same joke in Republic WA

Clarkm

Discussion Starter · #32 · Apr 18, 2007

I made the rack bigger with some scrap wood in one day, and put a 360 degree rotating bench rest on it.

I drove 50 mph between ranches with the whole bench, but the 1,000 miles I drove with just the tri pod section on top.

The shooting rest is from Varmint Masters
http://www.varmintmasters.net/

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Edpsx

· #33 · Apr 27, 2007

Nice! Does it hold the weight ok? or does it bend some under the added pressure?

Clarkm

Discussion Starter · #34 · Apr 27, 2007

It hold the weight just fine.
There are two problems:
1) No access to rack via sun roof, when Element is full of cargo.
I had to climb with passenger door arm rest as a step.
2) When the wind is blowing snow, the roof is the coldest place to be.

RobfromLI

· #35 · Apr 28, 2007

nice job.
i have never shot from atop a civilian vehicle.

i may pick up one of those benches. the ones we use are really ratty.

here's my little girl with her Ruger 10/22 on a cold April afternoon.
she was zeroing the optics that day.

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Clarkm

Discussion Starter · #36 · Apr 28, 2007

What?
A teen ager shooting a real gun, and not one in a video game?

jrt

· #37 · Apr 28, 2007

paulj said:
I bought an extra set of plastic covers, and trimmed those to fit around my brackets. Since I don't have many power tools (just an electric drill), I used a sheet metal nibbler to cut the plastic.

One thing, when cutting the plastic covers, note the difference between the right and left front ones. They appear nearly identical - but aren't.

paulj

You can use a drill to trim the plastic- one of those step drillbits works very nicely- almost as good as a side mill.

I had angst over the differences in the cover sides- after looking at them, I decided the only real difference is a small tab on the (aft?) end. Take that tab off, and the covers should be interchangable.

zimbop

· #38 · May 15, 2007

paulj said:
Just to clarify, you drilled the holes for the 6 mm bolts in the angle steel, matching the threaded holes in the Element's brackets, right?

Here's an early version of my roof rack bracket, made from 1 1/2 aluminum angle

and a more finished version:

[

Great ideal. What are you using to attach the yakima bars to your aluminum angle? Also, it looks like you have a lot of racking built onto the bars, for my own curiosity can you provide a pic of your whole rack system? Thanks.

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