I bought a Shelf-It overhead shelf for my truck. I ordered it from Northern Tool and it shipped from the factory. Took about two and a half weeks. Cost was about $87 bucks.

I am a bit disappointed. The shelf doesn't go all the way to the windshield, like I had expected.

I am even more disappointed that my visors will not remount properly. Sure, they will screw on, but they end up being all crooked and the ends hang way down. I'll have to look for some generic ones I can screw up there.

My intention of buying this shelf was for a way to store an AR15 in my truck (behind my rear seat is already occupied). Because the shelf doesn't go all the way to the windshield, it leaves my rifle easily visible if you stand outside the truck. Something more slender, like a lever action, would probably conceal on the shelf a lot better. I wanted an AR in the truck, but I can settle for a Marlin lever action.

The shelf should have came with built in visors... would have made this 100x easier. Are there any generic visors out there I can rig up and not look half assed? I thought about just forgetting about visors all together, but then it leaves an ugly hole in the shelf. Also my GF is short and needs the visor (and mirror).

Ideas?

 

That kinda stinks. How much head room do you loose? Pics?

I will say this: A .44 Mag fits very nicely tucked between the driver's/middle seat.

 

Where do you live that you feel the need to carry an AR-15?

I would love to see the pics of your install. Both an inside view and from the outside. I'm guessing there are better options out there that cost more money that would have performed better, but give us some pics and maybe we can come up with a way to make this work.

Does the shelf screw into the metal ceiling? How much weight can it hold? Can you fabricate some sort of shield to hid the view from the front of the truck looking in, or maybe just run a strip of window tint across the top edge of the windshield to hide the view?

 

You actually lose practically no head room and very very little visibility from the top of the windshield. I don't think I will be bothered with that at all. I thought the shelf was going to be about double the size it actually is.

I already have the handgun covered, this project is for a rifle...

Just need to figure out the sun visor situation... not much luck googling.

 

I didn't think about running a strip of window tent, that would probably work very very well. I was thinking about rigging up some kind of canvas back drop and fastening it to the headliner but that is a PINA probably.

The shelf mounts by screwing into the sun visor mounts. I wouldn't put much more than 25lbs on it, evenly distributed.

I'll go take a pic...

 

Here are some crappy pics..

On the first picture you can see the hole on the bottom of the shelf where the factory sun visor is "supposed" to mount... that's a big no go. Really need ideas on how to get some visors back up there...



and

 

Why doesn't that hole work? It's been a while since I've pulled a visor, but isn't there a center spring looking support that should slide up into that big hole and then you would just screw the visor mount into the part around the hole?

 

why would you not wont a ar-15 with you? i think the 12ga is the way to go.

 

Like I said before, the visor will screw up no problem. But it's wayyyy crooked and the end of it hangs down about 3 inches. Looks real bad and gets in the way....

 

I guess I'm just having trouble picturing how crooked it is. Crooked in just one direction, or more than one? Can you put the mounting bracket in a vise and bend the shaft to get it to straighten up?

If it's just drooping down toward the middle, bend the shaft and level it out.

 

Did you relocate the retainers that the inboard end of the visor rods snap into? Should be able to screw them out of original location and screw them into the self.

 

I unscrewed the retainers from my headliner but there are not any holes on the shelf for them to screw into. Even so, the way the visor mounts it's still too crooked for them to fit.

 

Try mounting the base of the visors the other way. I think the base plate has an angle built into it that's different depending on which way it's facing.

 

I thought about getting one of these. Do you have the link

 

I just read the reviews and some of them had the same complaints as the OP

I do like the concept but based on the reviews I would not buy one..... Just my opinion......

Here is the link though Vertically Driven Products Shelf-It Overhead Storage Shelf - JCWhitney