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Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:39 am

Anybody have them? Have any pictures?
I'm thinking about having some tabs on the roll bar or some other means of bolting a roof rack on when going on lengthy trips with the buggy.
Spare tire, maybe some gas, cooler, small tool box etc. Make the rack nice and lite, not too obtrusive looking and can easily be removed when bombing around locally.

I'm so looking forward to hooking up the fifth wheel with buggy trailer behind (We can tow two trailers here) Get to our destination and exploring the local area where ever we are with the buggies (My neighbor has the same set up as I do). Now if I could just convince my wife to drive the truck with fifth wheel I could drive the buggy.... but that ain't going to happen.

Wed Nov 28, 2007 12:05 pm

Check out the manxclub site. They have a section
called the garage. They have a "how to" on building
a roof rack. I'm going to use theirs as a starting point
and design my own.

Thu Nov 29, 2007 12:48 am

I've got a fiberglass hard top that has a set of yakima bars with a basket on top, then I just remove the top if I want it off
pics maybe tommorrow

Thu Nov 29, 2007 1:52 pm

"Make the rack nice and lite, not too obtrusive looking and can easily be removed when bombing around locally."

Those were my goals too.

I ran a hard top at first, so we made a roof rack that would work with it. The rear legs of the rack were secured by U-bolts which sandwiched the top between the roll bar and the feet of the rack. Rubber shock reservoir standoffs went between the roll bar and the hard top. The front legs of the rack were secured to special mounts on the windshield. I even had a rear window made to help keep the dust out.

When we built the cage, we modified the rack so it would mount to it instead of the windshield. I did away with the hard top, deeming it to be unnecessary weight. I also never liked the way the buggy looked with it!

One thing I discovered is that a massive amount of air would push in through the gap between the top of the windshield and the bottom of the rack whenever I had a lot of stuff on the rack. We used a piece of door threshold and duct tape to conjure up something last minute for a trip. It was later replaced with a proper piece of aluminum.

I thought I could leave out the rear window, but I was wrong. The dust would still get sucked in whenever I had a lot of stuff on the roof. The solution was to have the rear window modified so it would work with the rack instead of the hard top. Note the amount of dust on the window after just a day and a half of desert exploration!

I only have the roof rack on for trips. I like to run with an open top the rest of the time.

For the summer, I also have a bimini top to keep the sun from cooking everyone and everything in the car!

Lee

Thu Nov 29, 2007 3:34 pm

To do my rack I took a mold from a genuine Manx roof and then just turned it into a surrey roof (no sides). I had to do a few mods because genuine manx hardtops never stayed on too good plus I wanted to get rid of the squealing noise they make when the air is forced into the windscreen area.

Then I made a light tube steel frame and secured 2 X 2 mesh to it hold everything, took it for a test drive and found I had the exact same problem as Lee when I tried it out. I was getting engine fumes into the car which meant I would also get dust on a real trip.

I guessed that air may have been getting compressed between the underside of the load and the roof and when it exits at the rear of the load, it was creating a low pressure area as it expanded.

I must have guessed right because when I got rid of the mesh and put the load directly onto the roof with the frame acting as the boundary and a securing point, the fumes disappeared.

Wed Dec 26, 2007 7:58 am

Have you thought of using muffler clamps or U bolts instead of welding tabs..... Seems like welding makes things so permanent and if you like me your needs and wants are always changing.

Wed Dec 26, 2007 9:12 am

I didn't use tabs for my roof rack. We used black water pipe, the type that is used for fire sprinklers in buildings, to make clamps that go around the cage. The ID of the water pipe is slightly larger than the OD of the roll cage tubing. The fit is perfect when a thin piece of rubber is used between the two. I will get some pictures up as soon as I can.

Lee

Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:37 pm

Thanks guys. 8)
After some thought and seeing what can be done I think I will go with the clamp option. Just seems to make more sense.

Wed Jan 02, 2008 12:49 pm

here is a pic of one on a Manx.....