Building an overland rack

[purple94]

I have an aluminum ARE topper on my 1994 6ft box ranger, I want to either reinforce it or somehow build a rack around it to put my smitty overland tent on top of it. Not sure if anyone has done this, any ideas/advice?

 

[Curious Hound]

If you build a rack around it, then, you could still remove the topper if you ever wanted to. Probably the easier option anyway. I know this has been discussed around here in the past. But I don't recall anyone, specifically, who has done either one recently.

 

[sgtsandman]

It would be better to have the rack wrap around the cap, and probably easier.

A solid flat bar sandwiched between the bed and the cap with uprights welded to it going up to the cross rails.

Since you are talking about overlanding, the rack needs to beefed up compared to a standard on the road rack.

For a point of reference, the reenforced caps I have with mounts for roof rails call for the weight it can carry being reduced by 1/3, for the one with rails that run the length of the cap to mount the cross rails, to 1/2 for the one that just has landing pads to mount the rails.

Also, part of the reason I suggest a wrap around rather than reenforcing the cap is that a cap not designed to hold a load, with crack at the corners of the hatch opening. It might not happen immediately, but it will eventually. So, unless you build and entire cage in the interior of the cap to hold the load, the cap won't support it long term. Plus, it will be more difficult to build a cage inside compared to one that wraps around the outside. And you can add panels to hold other gear on an external rack that you can't on an interior one.

EDIT: To Curious Hound's point, make at least some of it bolt together so it is easier to get it mounted around the cap. And it will make it easier to to remove the capthan trying to slide it out from under the rack.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I've done similar to my f150 to put ladder racks around my topper. The aluminum sides were originally built so I could out a full width topper on my flair side bed and still use a ladder rack for my siding business. My ladder rack has been braced by welding in metal. I'm sure similar could be done for your use case.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I found this one at a gas station in Missouri a few years ago:



I have mulled something similar for hauling a canoe... but the rear half of my topper is shaped like a F-117

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Yeah, I’d build a separate rack like suggested. My first Ranger I bought a new aluminum Leer branded cap with ladder racks and was a little disappointed when they said it was only rated for like 200#. I’ve had closer to 500# on it before (a pile of 3/4” plywood and I got up there to make a bunch of cuts as the plywood got removed).

My F-150 I bought a rack that went in the stake pockets and that was one of the first things I changed. Cut off the bottoms and fitted some 1/4” thick angle iron on the bed rails. That let me bolt through the side of the bed rails rather than the top. I was considering doing the same kind of deal to make a ladder rack that would work with a soft tonneau cover for my Ranger but never did yet.