Actually, Troy, it was the day before (Feb 27) that he was asking about the mounting, and he did say it was not meant to be particular to my rack, just how the mounting of the roof is in general. And yes, because of this, and then seeing a dang near spitting image of my rack threw me for a loop and maybe I was a little harsh. So, if it came off strong, I'm sorry and let me start over.
For one, I have been around a long time, there have been several attempts in the XJ and KJ world to make and sell dang near identical copies of my products. I am not concerned about losing business to a copy cat, because they have never gotten anywhere and most people will not respect their business, whether they are intentionally trying to mimic a design or not.
Just take this as sincere and constructive criticism. I don't care about competition. Never have, infact I invite it, because it does give everyone more choices, and they get to really critique and make a real decision, instead of buying something because they don't have any other choice. If it is a quality product, I will even attempt to be a distributor for it, even if it is in direct competition of my own products. Why argue and talk smack when I could even make money off other company products. That's just business. Compare it to WalMart, they sell their own versions of stuff (Great Value or Sams Choice), and they sell the competitor stuff too, and the competitor's competitor's stuff. Give people a choice, and sell all of it, who wins...everyone. Why do people buy stuff from me or send me tons of emails and phone calls with questions about what products would be best for their application, even if it isn't my product, because I have a reputation of knowing from experience what works and what doesn't.
Think of this as big brother advise. if you make it very similar, people will go for reputation almost everytime, even if it is more expensive. Just looking at that rack design, I have a dang good idea of the dimensions, and even though the straight up or even inboarded outer rails may look better/cooler than mine, like troy said, mine have function, keeping branches off the roof better and my rack has several hundred extra square inches of cargo capacity just because my rails are angled out. And that is even if your outer rails were only angled in by only 2" per side than my design. Function over form, and my form isn't too shabby either from what I have heard.
When I read the first page and saw the first picture of the 2am nightmare, I was seriously impressed. I make racks and I would even buy that over my own, but once I saw that you tried to make it easy then I lost it a little. The "nightmare" rack (which is a pretty catchy name for it I think) may not be cheap, might be a great big pain to make, but you gain lost cargo capacity by stretching the floor forward of the front mounting feet, and it is dang sexy. Figure out a way to make it unique is all I am saying. Don't poll the public, it isn't accurate. They will talk, but it is when they lay the money on the table that will give you the answer you seek.
I'm not telling you to not copy and slightly alter my product designs because I'm afraid you will steal my business, like I said, you won't last doing it. I'm telling you to make it unique so you will be recognized for being different, make a good solid business, and live happily ever after, and since I am starting to become the Wally World of Jeep Liberty stuff, why not sell yours too and we can both profit. You're pretty good with the cad and from just the first couple of rack designs you posted, you can do something unique and I'm sure you are smart enough to redesign your own designs to make them even better while actually making the build easier and cost cheaper. That is what I do with my products, design and redesign until it is better than original but easier and cheaper to make. You have an advantage being able to use cad. I suck at computers, all my products were drawn on scrap paper or IHOP napkins, then copied onto grid paper with a ruler and a pencil. All my angles and designs were done with 9th grade geometry equations and a 10 key calculator, so it costs me a lot of time, although I am pretty dang good at it and my calculations are very rarely off when put to actual prototype, so I have to brag a little there.
Asking about consistency in jeeps over the internet, well, can be pretty inconsistant. Do you have an idea and want to know if it will work on all KJ's or if you need to figure in X amount of tolerance for manufacturing differences between jeeps? Measure the area in question on your own jeep, pick the reference points, get a piece of paper, a pencil, a ruler/angle finder/protractor/measuring tape/etc., hit up the local WalMart, Home Depot, even the Jeep dealership and start crawling under/around and getting measurements and comparing differences to get the real inconsistencies. The dealership is a little easier so no one calls the cops and you can tell them you can't decide which one you want to buy so you are getting real specific with the measuring tools
, but I have been known to just walk up to someone and ask, hey, I make stuff for Jeep Liberties, and would you mind if I take a couple quick measurements for my design plans, and even hand them a business card, they usually don't care and maybe you will get a phone call for an order out of it.
I have been about the only one making stuff for the KJ for sometime, with a few companies making something here and their and they are starting to drop off. This is not an easy business even though I am about all there is left, so please take all this with the best intentions, make something worth selling, otherwise it isn't worth it.
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