jsharr ★ Posted July 30, 2014 Share #1 Posted July 30, 2014 My wife, our two sones, her best friend and her son and another friend of all the boys will be leaving to head to the Texas Hill Country to hit some old fashioned swimming holes tomorrow. They will be taking my car, as it seats 7. Monday, she informed me she had borrowed a car top carrier. My car does not have cross rails, just side rails, so I informed her that this was a BIT of an issue with her plan. So, I did a bit of googling and found plans for DIY cross bars. A quick trip to Home Depot yielded me two 48" sections of square profile aluminum tubing, 8 u bolts, some self adhesive felt padding, and some 3/8" tubing. Got home, whipped out the hack saw and drill press, did a bit of mock up and then cut, drilled and installed. Mine look similar to this, but I used a heavier u bolt and clear tubing to protect the finish on my side rails and I isolated the cross bars from the side rails with heavy felt padding to protect the finish and minimize noise. Used duct tape to fashion nice end plugs for the cross bars as well. Best part was my youngest son was involved in the project from start to finish. He loves to do this sort of thing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Square Wheels Posted July 30, 2014 Share #2 Posted July 30, 2014 Make sure she loads it up outside of the garage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gump Posted July 30, 2014 Share #3 Posted July 30, 2014 Is that where you're riding? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr ★ Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share #4 Posted July 30, 2014 Is that where you're riding? What? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Runner Posted July 30, 2014 Share #5 Posted July 30, 2014 I think you need a couple more rakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr ★ Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share #6 Posted July 30, 2014 That picture is from the plans, not my garage. My garage is a filthy hovel crammed to the brim with scouting equipment, bikes and stuff from my inlaws that the wife still is not ready to part with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zealot Posted July 30, 2014 Share #7 Posted July 30, 2014 Excellent! Love it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Posted July 30, 2014 Share #8 Posted July 30, 2014 a fella sure will go through a lot to get everybody out of the house for a weekend 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Runner Posted July 30, 2014 Share #9 Posted July 30, 2014 That picture is from the plans, not my garage. My garage is a filthy hovel crammed to the brim with scouting equipment, bikes and stuff from my inlaws that the wife still is not ready to part with. Oh. thank goodness! I was wondering how your persona here and the neat arrangement of the garage was at all reasonable. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr ★ Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share #10 Posted July 30, 2014 Also, mine are better than the ones I posted the picture of. I used a bit larger u bolt, so it fits better and I used better tubing and added the felt between the side rails and cross bars. I do want to find acorn nuts to cap off the u bolts. Right now I just have lock nuts on them. I need to cut the u bolts down to length and cap them tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gump Posted July 30, 2014 Share #11 Posted July 30, 2014 What? Are you riding on that fancy new rack instead of in the vehicle? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr ★ Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share #12 Posted July 30, 2014 Are you riding on that fancy new rack instead of in the vehicle? I am not getting to go at all. Was out of the office three days last week. Got to go to Sea Scout Base Galveston. Could not swing more vacation time so soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrAzY Posted July 30, 2014 Share #13 Posted July 30, 2014 did you earn a badge for that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road Runner Posted July 30, 2014 Share #14 Posted July 30, 2014 I don't like the way that one u-bolt seems to be touching the car's finish. I hope you avoided this to keep from damaging your vehicle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr ★ Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share #15 Posted July 30, 2014 I don't like the way that one u-bolt seems to be touching the car's finish. I hope you avoided this to keep from damaging your vehicle. Mine are far superior to this. I failed to document this fact with photographic support as it was after 10 pm when we finished and my phone was dead. I was going to take pictures this AM, but it was raining when I left and I am driving the wife's car today so she can have oil changed, tires checked, etc on mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parr8hed Posted July 30, 2014 Share #16 Posted July 30, 2014 Mine are far superior to this. I failed to document this fact with photographic support as it was after 10 pm when we finished and my phone was dead. I was going to take pictures this AM, but it was raining when I left and I am driving the wife's car today so she can have oil changed, tires checked, etc on mine. I read that as "I failed to document this fact with pornographic support". That WOULD be a fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr ★ Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share #17 Posted July 30, 2014 I read that as "I failed to document this fact with pornographic support". That WOULD be a fail. Roof rack porn = major screw up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parr8hed Posted July 30, 2014 Share #18 Posted July 30, 2014 Roof rack porn = major screw up? Rule # 34 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsharr ★ Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share #19 Posted July 31, 2014 Here are the ones we made with our improvements such as the duct tape end caps, the rubber tubing over the ubolt threads, the felt pad between side rail and cross rail and the reinforcement plate between bar and nuts. Got the carrier mounted last night. Now I just keep my fingers crossed that the wife does not call telling me the whole rig came off the car somewhere in Central Texas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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