Crossbar idea help

JMLoughrey · **Posted:** Sun Jul 23, 2006 1:07 am

I've read all the threads on homemade crossbars and such and none of them were very informative.

I've got the next 3 days off from work and i'd like a project to do, i'd like to make some custom crossbars for my 03 freedom edition kj to mount lights to in the front and rear.

I went looking for pre-made crossbars earlier today and that went...well lets just say it wasted my gas...

I dont have the ability/tools to make one from steel and weld it all together and such so thats not an option.

I basically need stuff thats available at the hardware store (lowes), wont break my bank as i'd like to put some desent lights up there, as well as items i wont need to modify too much to get it to come together nicely.

Thanks for the help guys

pixeldzn · **Posted:** Sun Jul 23, 2006 1:09 am

That's quite the loaded request. not sure if anyone has done what you want to do, so you might just be the pioneer on this one. get creative, and post up some pics!

4wdParakeet · **Posted:** Sun Jul 23, 2006 1:45 am

I'm working on a cross bar as we speak I'm not saying too much right now but it is simple design and hopefully durable and easy to make with basic hand tools. Give me a week or so and I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Parakeet

jason thompson · **Posted:** Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:40 am

what about some alum. angle that would span between the 2 roof bars
cut off the ends to make it flat and bolt it upside down

a side view would be an upside down L with a tab to bolt to the roof bars
that should be fine to hold some lights maby not 4 6" KC daylighters
but some smaller lights it would work fine

JMLoughrey · **Posted:** Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:48 am

jason thompson wrote:

what about some alum. angle that would span between the 2 roof bars
cut off the ends to make it flat and bolt it upside down

a side view would be an upside down L with a tab to bolt to the roof bars
that should be fine to hold some lights maby not 4 6" KC daylighters
but some smaller lights it would work fine

Thats actually an amazing idea! I would've never thought of that, i just so happen to have some old alum angle iron from a skateboard ramp from back in the day that i could fab up to see how that works.

My only concern is that alum wont have enough strength to hold itself and it'd sag with the weight of lights as well as flex alot from wind. Maybe not though as it is a fairly short distance that i'm trying to span.

With that being said, what about just a straight peice of flat steal heated and bent to make an entremly e-longated "U" bolted to the crossbars. I think a nice steal would add have the strength i need to hold a couple lights and not flex too bad at highway speeds as i travel the highway quite a bit.

4wdParakeet · **Posted:** Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:09 am

LOL that's what I was going to do. Since the cat is out of the bag, I'm going to take the angle iron in the upside down L position. Then I was going to cut the vertical part of angle iron and bend it so it sits agains the inside face of the roof rack. Once that is done I'm going to drill through the roof rack and angle iron. One hole through the inside face of the roof rack and one throught the top face of the roof rack. The angle iron cost me about 30 bucks for the 2 six ft 1x1 peices of steel angle iron. I looked at the al. angle iron and it don't think it would be sturdy enough for what I want. My spare tire is going to the basket once it's on and I don't want the cross rails collapsing onto my roof. I know I probally didn't explain this as well as I could but I just woke up. Give me about a week or so and I will get a write up w/ pics.

Parakeet

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:48 pm

You can do some amazing stuff with EMT. That is standard galvanized steel, bendable electical conduit. It is pretty strong yet light weight. It starts at 1/2" OD and goes up in 1/4" jumps. Generally polly black plastic pipe has a similar ID so you can slip 3/4 polly over 3/4 EMT to make something similar to a Yakima cross bar although not as strong since the Yakima is heavier. Plenty heavy for lights though.

I already had the Yakimas from a previous rig so all I needed was the "Low Riders. I may replace the bars for longer ones in the future if I decide I need more width but the 48" makes a cleaner look than ones that would stick out.

Speaking of lights on top, do you guys that have them give up on drive through car washes?

Waldn · **Posted:** Sun Jul 23, 2006 2:55 pm

What I did is get some 3/4" square tubing and pounded the ends flat which also widens them. I then rounded the ends down (i have a small anvil) to conform with the roof rails. I then drilled a hole through them behind the roof rails. I used 3/8 u-Bolts and cut off one leg to make a J hook to clamp them on to the roof rails.
as a result I ended up with cross rails that sit almost flush with the roof rails.

FreedomKJ · **Posted:** Sun Jul 23, 2006 3:23 pm

I actually made a lightbar back in '04 using aluminum angle from Home Depot. Anyone that attended L.O.S.T. Moab '05 has seen it. Here's a pic:

kolesy · **Posted:** Sun Jul 23, 2006 6:17 pm

Quote:

I actually made a lightbar back in '04 using aluminum angle from Home Depot. Anyone that attended L.O.S.T. Moab '05 has seen it. Here's a pic:

That had to bright as ever coming through the sun roof when you had them on!

FreedomKJ · **Posted:** Thu Jul 27, 2006 11:41 pm

kolesy wrote:

Quote:

I actually made a lightbar back in '04 using aluminum angle from Home Depot. Anyone that attended L.O.S.T. Moab '05 has seen it. Here's a pic:

That had to bright as ever coming through the sun roof when you had them on!

Actually, I barely noticed them through the sunroof at all. They did wobble all over the place though, but what can you expect from $15 a pair lights from Harbor Freight.

Kugellager · **Posted:** Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:56 am

The custom light bar and CB antenna mount I made cost me about 25$ in parts and $30 bucks to have it welded at the motorcycle shop around the corner. (cost does not include lights and CB mount parts)

Parts consisted of 4 ft long 1" steel tubing, 2 ft of 3" wide 3/16 mild steel flat for the mounting brackets and 4 bolts/nuts/rubber washers to mount the bar on the roof rack rails. If I knew how to weld I could have made it for the parts.

John
];')

06BlueLimited · **Posted:** Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:23 am

I used a piece of 1in. square tubing and some steel L brackets. It was all bolt together and is really strong. I cut the bar to the exact distance between the rails and used the L brackets to bolt it to the factory rails.... I just went straight through the rails with two bolts and into the L brackets. I don't have any pics but I could get some and email them to you. I don't know how to post pics on here. If you want them let me know guys. The whole thing cost me about 15 dollars to make and it doesn't look bad.

Crossbar idea help

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