Cross bars - New Question...

Ron · **Posted:** Fri Feb 17, 2006 11:58 am

Cool , that gives me a atarting point to deal with. Do you get any wind noise? I broke down and purchased the Thule bars (I didn't want to wait a week for the bars to come in the mail and man are they proud of the system they put out... :shock:

) A little overtime will pay for them.
Ron

dog_party · **Posted:** Fri Feb 17, 2006 1:00 pm

Yeah, there's increased wind noise. Even more noise after I put the canoe/kayak pads on the bars. I kinda like it. The way I look at it, if I wanted a vehicle that tuned out the sounds of life as it passed me by, I wouldn't have bought a Jeep. I love that I can strap anything and everything to this truck and still push a big horribly high Cd (coefficient of drag) pile of stuff through the air. You should hear it when I hit 70 with two kayaks and a rain-proof bag on the roof, and two mountain bikes hanging off the spare.

WWHHOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!!!

When I go whippin' past...18-wheelers veer to the side from the displaced air!

Okay, THAT might be an exaggeration. But I did see an Escort have a tough time with the wheel when I blew by him.

Anyway, yep, more wind noise, worse Cd, worse fuel mileage.

Thule stuff is great. All my gear except my rails/feet are Thule. I only got Yak rails/feet 'cause the place I went to gave me a better deal on them. I have since heard rumor that the Thule rails are square. The Yak rails are round. A lot of people like the square bars because the edges hold items more securely. I like the round (personlly) becaue I can rotate my Kayak Stacker bars down so they're not sticking 2.5 feet in the air all the time. I mean, I like making wind noise...but that would just look stupid.

Anyway, good luck and I hope you love your new rails as much as I love mine. Post any questions.

Ron · **Posted:** Fri Feb 17, 2006 1:39 pm

Too funny. I can picture it loaded for bear, hauling stupid and blowing a KW off the road. I'm thinking the wife won't load hers as much...and I guess if I was really worried about wind noise I wouldn't of got her one with the sun roof in it

.

The Thule bars are square so I'm expecting a loss of milage due to the blunt leading edge. Anyway I went ahead and grabbed one of the $65 baskets and it's supposed to be delivered today. That's why I'm in the 20 question mode.

Thanks
Ron

TnRebel · **Posted:** Fri Feb 17, 2006 1:59 pm

Mine is the 06 - and that is the same rails --matter of fact cant tell them apart better check my # LOL

dog_party · **Posted:** Fri Feb 17, 2006 2:40 pm

Keep the 20 Qs coming Ron. Glad to help. I'll probably be asking you a bunch of PowerStroke questions when my finacee's Nissan dies. She's going to get the KJ and I'll get a different diesel, perhaps an FX4 F250.

Don't worry about the squared leading edge of those Thule bars too much. The crossed wind vortex caused by all the bars of the roofrack will do more to decrease your mileage than those two bars. If you're really worried about it, get a roof rack fairing from Mopar, Thule, Yakima, or almost any other rack supply company. Most of them are around $50 or so. Does a good job of kicking the air up and over most of your load. Some say they decrease noise (shrug), some say they scratch paint (shrug). I don't know if they fit behind the sunroof or how well they perform because I've never had one. But they look kinda cool.

Or you can get some Yakima Windjammers.

I haven't ordered from SportsRack.com before, but they seem to have some pretty decent prices.

Good luck and post some picts when you get it all installed.

TNRebel, if you're saying you have the same rails as me, I hope you like them as much as I do. Those things are AWESOME! I've put so much junk on those rails it's insane! Talk about an investment paying for itself! Priceless! And I haven't had a single problem with them other than an endcap falling off once.

LibertyCRD · **Posted:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 9:29 am

Can somebody post more details on making home made crossbars?? I'd like to get this overstock.com basket because 60 bucks is a steal...but I don't have any crossbars.

pixeldzn · **Posted:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 10:14 am

LibertyCRD wrote:

Can somebody post more details on making home made crossbars?? I'd like to get this overstock.com basket because 60 bucks is a steal...but I don't have any crossbars.

Here's how I'm thinking of doing it:

Ubolts that fit around my renny rails coated with plastic tool dip or shrink tubing.

Aluminum Square Tubing with the endcaps they sell at Home Depot, primed and painted black.

Drill the ubolts up thru the square tubing and fasten so that the "U" is under the rail and its two ends come up to the top of the square tubing and fasten with nuts.

Then use the $60 rack's included cross-bar mounting hardware.

Should cost under $25.

Cacher123 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 1:59 pm

I 2nd pix's design!

Here's a more detailed description that I had sent someone else using 2 u bolts per mounting location to provide an even more solid mount. It uses double the number of u bolts and a top plate. Pix's design is simpler, I tend to over-engineer as I have a tendency to break things. I also use flat stock instead of channel to keep the basket lower to the roof.:

I have the tupperware but it shouldn't matter for if u don't. The Rennie has 4 mounts that the cross bars screw down to. I simply took flat stock, cut it to fit to width so it lays on top of those mounts. Then I drilled a hole in each end and screwed it directly to those original crossbar mounting points. I then u-bolted the rack to that flat stock "cross bar".

If u dont have those mounting "pads" for whatever reason (just rails) then I suggest laying the flat stock across your factory rails to determine approx width and then getting yourself 8 u-bolts big enough to fit around your stock rails.

Use 2 at each corner or 4 per cross bar. Place 2 around each area of your rail where u want the crossbar to lay and then lay the flat stock "cross bar" in between them with the "u" part under the rail and the "nut" parts facing up. Then lay a small piece of flat stock with 4 holes drilled in it to line up with the ends of the u bolts OVER the top of the flat stock. This pad will be approx 3-4" long by about 1-2" wider than the width of your flat stock and this will be what will secure your "cross rails" to the stock front to rear rails. This is the part that the ends of the u bolts will actually go through. You can even drill a hole through the center of this part as well as through the same location on your cross rail and put a small counter sunk bolt and nut through it. This will prevent the cross rail from shifting if ure u bolts should ever loosen. Tighten this sandwich down and repeat for the other 3 mounting points.

That will give u a cheap, solid way to mount the flat stock "cross bars" to the stock roof rails. I suggest a flat piece of old inner tube or other piece of scrap rubber between the rails and flat stock and maybe between the flat stock and top plate to secure it. This will tend to keep the assy tight and prevent gouges in your rails. I also put heat shrink tubing over my u bolts to prevent rust and not damage the rails. I suggest cutting down any excess length on the U-bolts and using some nice cap nuts on the ends to look nicer and prevent rust on the u bolts and snags on anything you may put in the basket.

It sounds complicated, but if u actually look at the part agains your rails, u will see what I mean and go "Ah Hah!"

TnRebel · **Posted:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 5:46 pm

wouldnt this typ of u-bolt be better turned down through flat or channel stock ?

http://s7ondemand1.scene7.com/is/servle ... iccEmbed=0

tommudd · **Posted:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 5:53 pm

I got the overstock basket and heres how I mounted mine, wanted to keep it low as possible so...bought two 1/2 inch all threads, drilled 1/2 holes through the rails installed nut / washer on the inside and outside of each of the rails, also covered the all threads with 1/2 inch inside diameter heater hose. Put the rack on top of that with small ubolts in 3 places on each all thread, 3 in front 3 in rear. I was worried that it would not be strong enough but after I got it done, I stood on top of it and it held me so...I know it will hold 200 lbs! No it will never handle the spare, hi-lift , camping gear etc, etc, but for what I will use it for it works great. I have, with the basket about 80 dollars total tied up in it now. Plus I just love drilling into newer vehicles, I always feel like now its mine I have drilled holes in it!
Everyone may not like the idea but it works , keeps the rack low, easy to remove, does what I want Plus I am a cheap skate( got to save money for more important things) like a lift, boulder bars, Rock Lizard bumpers and the list goes on!

TnRebel · **Posted:** Wed Feb 22, 2006 6:06 pm

If you have pics I would love to see them

LibertyCRD · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 8:42 am

I agree. I need pics so I can see what you are talking about. I was following I think, until you mentioned putting nuts and washers on the inside AND outside. Now I'm lost. hehee.

tommudd · **Posted:** Thu Feb 23, 2006 8:29 pm

Well since my wife did something ( you would not believe it if I told you) to the camera I will try and explain until we get it back, standing at the rear looking at the rails imagine a bar running straight through the two rails, now imagine a nut & washer on the outside of the rail and then washer/ nut on the inside, this keeps the all thread from moving at all making it stronger. If you grab the stock rails they will move some, after I put the nuts/ washers on the inside and outside made it stronger and does not move, now pretty solid.
The one thing I wanted was to keep the rack down low so now the bottom of the rack is almost same height as the rails in front and rear, lower in the center of course. I drilled through right where the little hole is in top of the rail for the factory cross bars to be. I know! I know! not as good as a picture , kind of like trying to explain what Pamela Anderson looks like naked to my blind buddy, sort of understands but not quite RIGHT

Cross bars - New Question...

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