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[604Bronco]

Eh, I gave er a tug, slapped it, and said that ain't going anywhere.

CVSE right now:

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[j_marinelli]

Very creative OP! Also gives you a place to tan a hide as well!

 

[Toccoa]

Let me know what you think and where I should improve on!

More attachment points in the rear. Your weight in the tent will not always be in the center. That will create stress on the hitch point to that side. Enough stress back and forth and you will suddenly be sleeping on a soft hill that was your soft top.

 

[Natethegreat1979]

Hardtops are too expensive and rare. Roof racks for soft tops are weak, expensive, and only found in the states.

Made my own prototype from some scrap laying around, doesn't look the prettiest but she should take a beating.

Let me know what you think and where I should improve on!

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Kinda looks like PVC, I'm sure it isn't but it kinda looks like it

 

[BluebroncoNC]

Welder's and their creativity never cease to amaze me.

 

[mikeeshim]

Love the honesty.
I have a rigging setup in my carport to pull it off. Takes about 10 min to remove.
I plan to make the rear wider and more rounded, to open the gate.
Main reason for going with the hitch mount is strength, the dynamic load are pretty heavy for how flimsy the mounting points near the rear fenders are.

From what I understand, the hitch mount is strongest in horizontal motion, but not for vertical. My factory hitch is already sagging a little from the weight of 2 coolers on a hitch basket.

 

[Malicar]

From what I understand, the hitch mount is strongest in horizontal motion, but not for vertical. My factory hitch is already sagging a little from the weight of 2 coolers on a hitch basket.

This is true. It is strongest on the pulling.

That sag must be open space between hitch and receiver though. Maybe the rack itself sagging some.

I've done some brutal things with structural steel, and 6065 t6 aluminum.
You could hang a car off one sideways. Pretty hard to bend a solid chunk of 2" square, or a receiver.

 

[Malicar]

Kinda looks like PVC, I'm sure it isn't but it kinda looks like it

Yeahh I need to paint that aluminum

 

[Malicar]

Very creative OP! Also gives you a place to tan a hide as well!

I do need a leather spare tire cover...

 

[rustedgoat]

I think that's a lot of weight on that windshield frame. Any shift of weight goes either front or back, you do a panic stop everything goes forward. A fabricated rear bumper with mounts on the outer edges, for the front maybe something going down toward side step. You end up with an exoskeleton type cage, kind of like what you see on forest fire trucks. "A" for effort and continue with v2 or v3.

 

[indio22]

Nice work. I use to have a similar setup hauling a row boat on top of my Datsun pickup. Crossbar mounted to front above cab, and raised mount in back. Difference being in back I had the two vertical poles mount separately to the bed, not a hitch. Hauled the boat all over at high speeds no issues, worked very well.

I'm planning something very similar to your setup, but will fab a custom rear bumper with hole on each side to accept the vertical poles, rather than use the hitch. For hauling kayaks, canoe, etc.

 

[darinhouston]

I appreciate the feedback!

I like your idea of going from the extraction loops. I could make it look much more suave from there. My big challenge for that is creating 90° bends with AL structural pipe.

The windshield mounts should be tied into the rollbar, it's a matter of how much the (4) 6mm bolts mounting them can take. May run a plate or bar from the front mounts to the ditch light mounts for some extra strength. The long bars sucked up to the rtt once mounted, no bend.

I would get a hardtop, but I live in Canada. It would be close to 15k CAD to get it to my house

Powder coat black would definitely help it blend in. If I can make it look nice, would be cool to polish the aluminum.

I think it depends a lot on how the front brackets are secured - if resting on the brackets and relying on the shear value of the bolts alone, it could be problematic, but if it's engaged with the bracket laterally and you get good clamping force against those brackets, it should be ok.

 

[seanoj]

I have been thinking about doing just this kind of project (with steel, however, as I don't have a TIG welder -yet).

I am not a huge fan of the hitch mount as only rear support. Front lightbar mount is probably okay for a couple hundred pounds of load?

Getting ideas from the options below:

Gobi has some interesting attachment points both front and rear-and an interesting tilt function (300lb max load) :
https://gobiracks.com/product/ford-bronco-4door-stealth-rack-soft-top/

zRoadz is using the lightbar mounts (265lb max load):
https://zroadz.com/i-23915845-2021-...olle-panels-for-4-door-models-pn-z845481.html

JCR is using flat bar/sheet instead of tube. (200bl max load) - Lightbar and rear quarter panel mounts have this shifted forward enough to allow cargo access (flip up of back of top):
https://www.jcroffroad.com/product/BR6RK-ST-F-4D.html

DV8 is doing something similar to JCR, but longer (no flip up of back of top) 200lbs:
https://dv8offroad.com/collections/ford-bronco-roof-racks/products/6th-gen-bronco-roof-rack-soft-top

 

[mikeeshim]

You could hang a car off one sideways. Pretty hard to bend a solid chunk of 2" square, or a receiver.

How about 200-300 lbs hanging off the back but on pretty bumpy off road terrain?

 

[BlueBronco]

Improvements needed:
-wider at top and rear so soft top and can be stowed and rear gate opened
-mounts or braces to rear frame to for better support on side loads
-black paint to hide the ugly

Below is my soft top roof rack. However, it is kayaks and light loads only, I wouldn't attempt a roof top tent with the current design.

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