Custom Roof Platform (final design using Rhino HD bars)

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Hi PP'ers

I am considering building my own roof platform to extend the storage space of the Prado. I have the 3-bar heavy duty roof racks from Toyota which is identical to the commercial roof racks from Rhino-Rack. Currently I have a home made roof platform that is 1850x900mm. It is basically the base of a steel bed with mesh. It will make do for now but it is not exactly heavy duty.

The Rhino-Rack Platform Basket (http://www.rhinorack.com.au/AccSubCa...ge_328_50.aspx) would suit me to a tea but the longest is 1600mm long. I have 2 roof bags measuring 900x900mm each.

I find that a 2m long platform would be quite ideal so I went off to design several versions. Below is the latest version.

• The green bar is the nut rail that slides into the channel of the roof rack. Made from 32x10 ally
  
  The pink planks are 100x25x2.5 ally RHS and are spaced 100mm apart. I'm using M10 SHCS to bolt the bottom of the planks to the nut rail. The top surface of the RHS is a dia. 20mm clearance hole. So I'm not crushing the RHS.
  
  In between the planks are M10 tapped holes to receive M10 eyebolts (red coloured part).
  
  On the driver's side, I have added 2 Quick Fists as shovel holders.

ISO view


Top view


Front view


I would have gone with a mesh basket or alloy tray but every fortnight, I have to carry band equipment, so I need something without sides for easy loading/unloading. Rhino-Rack also has the alloy platform racks (http://www.rhinorack.com.au/AccSubCa...ack_318_6.aspx) but I find that the planks aren't as solid as I think it is and there are no tie down points between the planks.

I also noticed that a few PP'ers have the Wind Cheetah platform where each plank has a slot in the middle to take an eyebolt and place it anywhere on the plank. This is very versatile but at $1350, is a bit pricey. The lateral planks also would lead to more wind noise compared to the longitudinal planks.

I would like to get your opinion on the design to see what you guys think:
1. For those with the Rhino-Rack alloy tray, how do you find the versatility of the eyebolts in tying down things like milk crates?
2. How do you find the noise level with roof platforms and trays?
3. My planks are currently open ended. Should I close it up?
4. My planks are currently not tied to other planks at either ends. Should I put another flat bar to tie the ends together?
5. Is it necessary to put a wind deflector on? If the planks are open ended, this might not be necessary. With the platform being used every fortnight, it might stay on the car permanently, so I would like to optimise fuel consumption as much as possible.

Any other comments and suggestions?

[samo Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close samo]

Re: Custom Roof Platform

looks like a good design, i have the rhino tray and you do get a bit of wind noise, it does add a little drag, probably get 150km knocked off overall range with it on, i would probably cap the ends off or it will whistle like a kettle, as for the deflector it will only create further drag and if you want to get into carparks it will add further height, the eyebolts i find r good for tying down items, i can get a 250 litre freezer on mine ( you get some funny looks). if you r after some more info pm Yota he has a similar rack but its the rhino rack you described, its been all over the shop and he is really happy. cheers samo

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Re: Custom Roof Platform

I have created another version of the roof platform. This is because I wanted more flexibility in placing the tiedown points.

Here is a pic


The pink channels are a representation of the Rhino Rack heavy duty cross bars. The green channels are the half height Unistrut channels (part number P3300). The reason for using the half height channels is to keep things slightly lower and to also keep the weight down a bit. the 6 unistrut channels (@ 2m long) will weigh under 23kg. The Rhino Rack bars weigh about 7kg. So I'm up to 30kg without fasteners or eyebolts.

The method of attachment of the Unistrut to the cross bars is via M10 screws and channel nuts. 3 holes will be drilled through each Unistrut channell to correspond with the spacing of the cross bars.

This design allows me to slide the Unistrut anywhere along the cross bars and I can attach eyebolts anywhere along the Unistrut as well as the cross bar.

I have added a dust deflector at the end to reduce dust on the windscreen.

In terms of cost:
$150 Unistrut
$40 channel nuts (for 24)
$40 M10 eyebolts (for eight)
$10 M10 bolts and washers
$?? dust deflector
$?? Unistrut end caps

So roughly $250 total with some unknowns. This works out to be half the price of off the shelf platforms on the market.

The negative for using Unistrut, as opposed to planks in the 1st design, is the gaps in between.

Once I've got this platform up, I will get some marine ply and bolt it to the Unistrut as a photography platform.
I might also mount a plate to the front to mount some spotties as I currently don't have a nudge bar or bull bar to mount any lights.

While googling, I also found an Overlander member who used Unistrut for his roof platform
http://forums.overlander.com.au/viewtopic.php?p=723430

[photoprado Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close photoprado]

Re: Custom Roof Platform

This is looking really good.

I'm a bit surprised at the weight though, it must be pretty close to the ARB Alloy rack and heavier than the WindCheetah. Can't argue about the price!

A sheet of ply is in my plans too, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Michael

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Re: Custom Roof Platform

I'm a bit surprised at the weight though, it must be pretty close to the ARB Alloy rack and heavier than the WindCheetah. Can't argue about the price!

From the posts here, the ARB alloy rack is 22.2kg. Unistrut is 2.5mm thick. The other difference is that my rack is 2m long. The ARB alloy rack is 1.8m with side rails. I haven't added the weight of the bolts and channel nuts yet so it's going to be heavier. I could go with 5 rails instead of 6 but I think 65-70kg carrying capacity is about right. If I need to carry more and the shape of the item(s) means that I can make do with just 2 longitudinal rails, than all I have to do is remove 4 rails. So the carrying capacity could increase to 85kg. Or even as high as 93kg if I just used the 3 cross bars.

Capral Aluminium have their version of alloy Unistrut but the shape of the section is not as practical as the original Unistrut. I still haven't found a source of the aluminium Unistrut that the Overlander member used.

I'm going to get pricing on SS316 Unistrut and see how bad the damage to the wallet is going to be. the reason for going this way is because my plan is to buy the last of the 2009 D4D in about 4 to 5 years time and then transfer some of the fruit across. I've seen some steel baskets that are Rhino brand selling on ebay and the description says that there are some rust. So it looks like zinc plating and then powder coating is still susceptible to rust. Hopefully the SS316 rack will last as long as the D4D.

[longdog Member Find all posts View Profile Close longdog]

Re: Custom Roof Platform

Whilst it appears that you are definitely embarked on the diy plan, if I can offer something about the rhino platform rack:

I have a short one (1.5m I think) and it is mounted on thule aero bars (only 2 bars). I have used the rhino sportz fitting kit which fits the thule aeros. Difference is that it uses plastic clamps between the slats, although good solid metal clamps with tie down rings on the sides.

I believe the rhino HD fitting kit differs in that the clamps between the slats are actually heavy duty metal ones. If this is indeed true, they could possibly be fitted with tie-down ring t-bolts where desired (but only guessing here). I think you suggest there are no clamps between the slats, that's not the case.

The disadvantage of the plastic clamps I have found is when fitting a rhino spare wheel holder which puts upwards pressure on the slats and the plastic clamps bend upwards as a result. Hasn't caused any problem so far other than that I have noticed the plastic clamp under stress at the spare wheel holder and some vibration of the slats due to the plastic clamps when bouncing over rough terrain with a heavy load on the rack!

In conclusion, if I started again I'd stick with the rhino platform rack, ditch the roof rails, and install heavy duty rhino or toyota bars under it. But so far, the current setup is hanging together so will stick with it. I might try to replace the clamp under the spare wheel holder with a metal one if my roof rack store can source the part however.

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Re: Custom Roof Platform

Hi longdog

I have gone through the fitting instructions of the alloy tray and alloy platform for Rhino many, many times trying to decide what is suitable. Those plastic clamps in between the slats for the Sportz bars do look to be a bit weak.

The clamp for the HD bars is a V shape tab, M6 channel nut and M6 screw. The M6 hardware could be replaced with M10 channel nuts and then, an M10 eyebolt could be fitted. This arrangement could work but you'd need to check all dimensions before proceeding to ensure that the tiedown is solid.

I basically started off with your exact setup by buying Thule aerobars and fitting them onto the north-south roof rails.

If I had my way again, I would just get the Rhino foot pads as the foundation and then build something using Unistrut, but closer to the roof (just have to remember not to tilt the sunroof). For the crossbars, I would use alloy unistrut from Capral ($60 for a 6m length) and then retain the half height unistrut design for the north-south rails.

Having pondered this over and over, I have found that the space under my platform allows me to store say the Maxtrax (if I had a set). So sometimes going too close to the roof can limit the storage capacity in some ways.

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Re: Custom Roof Platform

This is what the aluminium Unistrut from Capral Aluminium looks like. The extrusion number is E73601.




As for SS unistrut, would you guys spend $700 to have it in stainless or $150 for Galvabond + $60 to powdercoat over galvabond??

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Re: Custom Roof Platform

The price for stainless steel Unistrut is in. It's $570 for 2x 6m lengths.

I enquired with Rhino Rack and they sell 2m lengths of the heavy duty bars for $98rrp. Roof rack SA are selling it to me for $85 (after a bit of negotiation), totalling $510. The bars come with the rubber strips.

I've decided to go with the Rhino Rack HD bars as stainless steel is going to be hard to work with. Plus SS was slightly more expensive and heavier than the aluminium HD bars.

The weight of the 6x 2m lengths of just the HD bars is 12.1kg (from CAD model). Add the 7kg from the existing 3 cross bars and I'm up to 19kg. Add another 2kg of hardware and it'll be roughly 21kg.

I'll be ordering the channel nuts from MM Electrical (actually got them from Roof Rack SA as well while I was there to match the pricing from MM/Unistrut) and the rest of the SS fasteners from Coventry.

Stay tuned for actual photos over the coming weeks.

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Re: Custom Roof Platform

The roof platform is now done. I got a few looks when I drove into work the first day.
The endcaps for the front and sides were from Unistrut. I rocked up to their warehouse in Wingfield and the kind salesman gave them to me for free. The Rhino endcaps were then transferred to the rear.

Here are some photos.






View through the sunroof


Storage of MaxTrax

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Re: Custom Roof Platform (final design using Rhino HD bars)

interesting way of doing it... i have made something similar, i used rhino sports bars, allunium mesh and tube, all up (minus the bars) it owes me about 80 bucks..
This is before we finished it but you get the idea...