I've been wanting to build a roof rack for my 97 crew cab for awhile now. I've searched the web high and low and just having found a lot of info or photos of OBS crew cabs with a roof racks. So a few weeks back I found a guy that was selling a used rack that seemed like it was the right size. He told me this rack came off a 70s or 80s land cruiser and it's size was 60"x67". I ordered a set of Smittybilt HDS-4 Rain Gutter Clamps for $105. So this week I put things together and started mocking things up. I had the help of my uncle but it would have been nice to have another set of hands for sure. I also had a set of 21" LED lights sitting around so they got put on there as well. Nothing is wired up yet I just wanted to see how thing fit and looked first. Now that I've seen it on the truck It's going to come back off and I'm going to cut and reweld a few things. I'd like the lights to set farther apart and the metal floor that someone welded into the rack needs some help. I'll post things up in here as I figure things out.

This is what I have as of now.

 

 

Drove it down the highway about 30 miles today and you can tell there is something on the roof for sure. lol

 

Wait until you actually put something in it.....I bet you really notice it then........I would really have reservations about putting much weight up there......not sure that the drip rails are really all that strong on these trucks........Then there is the whole aerodynamic thing.....if what you put up there sticks up much, you will notice a drop in MPG.....I really noticed when I mounted a welder up on top of my utility bed.......it sticks up maybe 10" above the cab........

 

Looks good... needs some side lights though...

 

hahaa... yeah I'm not planning on putting anything of any weight up there. I don't trust those drip rails. This little project was more of way for me to put lights on the truck without cutting the bumper. Also like you said going to down the highway you can feel/hear that thing singing up there so I know it's not help my mpgs but I didn't buy this truck for that... lol

For sure. I'll have lights on all for sides.

 

I bought my truck a few years ago and a year after that I bought my ladder rack. I HATE the wind going through the rack so I put a spoiler of sort to stop the wind noise.


It's just a piece of Corrugated plastic zip tied to the bar

 

Lol! That's awesome! How long does it last?

 

Ok so I bought the truck in 2012 and the rack in 2013 I think. So roughly going on 4 years. The only down fall is the plastic is rubbing the paint off but that's not the factory paint. If you look closer at the plastic to roof contact you can see. I think I'm going to run a piece of rubber along the bottom.

 

I thought it was cardboard... lol

 

Ok so I'm rethinking this roof rack idea. It's just not looking the way I want it to. It stands a bit to tall for my taste and it's sssoo loud going down the highway. I started to do some photoshopping to think about cutting things down a bit. What are you thoughts on doing something like this?

As it is.


photoshop of it cut off.

 

I like the look in the photoshopped pic. It looks visually lighter and also appears to still have the strength to carry a reasonable amount of weight.

 

Is it just going to be a light bar? Or do you plan on putting something up there?

To me either one looks out of place

 

I think you are still going to have noise issues.


I also think it look out of place like that.

 

Yep just not having any luck with the look of this roof rack. I might have to abandon ship.