Diy roof rack for soft top build

[Beaucoupbrew]

Updated 2023-01-17

So far. 10 gauge steel shaped. And prototyped for rear mount support. A goal is to see if front soft top is still able to fold or operate as an escape hatch at the least. Also to allow the back of soft top to still operate its trunk opening mobility still.

Made the landing plates and cleaned them up.

I like that the plastic bracket is adjustable, so the tension on the clip for holding soft top back down, can be dialed in. Because with the 10 gauge steel bracket, the clip becomes harder to fix in place.


Prototyped rack dimensions out of wood. Prototyped it out of steel and testing structural integrity. Getting thicker walled steel and then proceeding with build.

Painted and mounted.

Removable basket next.

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[2020FordRaptor]

Excited to see where this goes! Looks great so far.

 

[BlueBronco]

Hmm, where have I seen this before.

Granted, there are only so many ways to mount a roof rack to a soft top. Interested to see how your final product turns out! We could use some more diy here.

 

[Beaucoupbrew]

Hmm, where have I seen this before.

Granted, there are only so many ways to mount a roof rack to a soft top. Interested to see how your final product turns out! We could use some more diy here.

Nice. Now when i put a roof rack on my soft top, dont come back saying i am copying you

But, I hadnt seen that pic before. Loving all those bends you pulled off on it to hug the body of bronco, very clean. Cheers.

 

[Beaucoupbrew]

Built. Onto finishing welds and paint.

Front roof mounts

Note in the current design there is 1 more parallel supporting beam. Look at 1st pic in this post.

Soft top opens only to like a 45 degree angle. So it is more or less is an escape hatch, unless the middle support bar is made as a removable one, which im leaning towards doing.

 

[Beaucoupbrew]

Finishing touches.

Rounded corners in front.
Added cleats to front and rear
Added tie down spots down rails

Next - complete a removable basket.
And paint it black.

 

[Meraki Hammocks]

Lookin good. How is the airflow at the bottom of your soft top? Does the 10ga cause any space, or is it a tight seal?

 

[Beaucoupbrew]

As for the bottom of the soft top where the rack bolts onto the rear frame, 10 gauge does cause a slight kick up of the soft top. But 12 gauge is just slightly slimmer but didnt think it was sturdy enough for support. Really its pretty minimal and soft top still functions as id expect on that bottom seal. I did have to adjust the plastic rear hood latches to reduce the stress on the plastic locking mechanism of the rear trunk of soft top.

Gave it plenty of space off of the soft top at the top - when trying to consider air flow, whistling noises, and soft top flapping/slapping roof rack (which is not wanted).

Will take pics and report back once i have it remounted and driving it around.

 

[Beaucoupbrew]

Painted and mounted. Removable basket next to complete the rack.

And front of soft top rolls back almost all the way.

 

[Badsquatchman]

I like it. What’s the weight?
If you put a hinge system on the front , you could tilt the whole thing forward and take the top all the way down. I’m surprised no one has tried that yet

 

[Beaucoupbrew]

About 70 lbs in metal.

and I can walk on it, so it holds up to 200 lbs.

Yea not wanting to make it to complicated by incorporating a hinge myself, but i saw one commerciap rear rack that had a hinge allowing it to fold to the back.

 

[Tex]

Saddle blanket seat covers straight out of 1984, nice

 

[Beaucoupbrew]

And now a removable basket

 

[Beaucoupbrew]

 

[Rudy518]

That rack came out great. Nice job

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