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Roof drain rail


pflaming

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I want to put a roof rack on my suburban.  How do I secure it to the drip rail or is it ok to mount through the roof. I hate to drill those holes.  My age caught up with me, so my wrenching is in very slow motion. But nearly finished with the suburban.

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My biggest concern about drilling holes for a roof rack are destroying the headliner. They are expensive and hard to install. Go for the ones that strap/clamp to the rain gutters.

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1 hour ago, pflaming said:

I want to put a roof rack on my suburban.  How do I secure it to the drip rail or is it ok to mount through the roof. I hate to drill those holes.  My age caught up with me, so my wrenching is in very slow motion. But nearly finished with the suburban.

Temporary, or permanent? 

When I was in JR High or HS. my dad got a used roof-top carrier that was a canvas affair, with a plywood base.  It had rubber feet, somewhat like suction cups.  Then it had straps that you tied down to the rain gutters on each side.  (It was missing the strap hooks, but I found some strap hooks at the army surplus store, and just had to open them up a bit so they would fit on the rain gutters.)  I was thinking of keeping it when we were cleaning out the attic at home after my parents moved to a retirement center, but my brother saved me the trouble of knowing where to put it (and how to explain to my wife why I wanted it) by taking it himself.  It had steel rods on the inside, and you "pitched it" like a tent.  Anyway, I'd think that you could make something like that, maybe starting with one of those strap-on bicycle carriers that have rubber covered flat steel hooks to catch around the rear hatch.  (At least you could get the straps form one of those - I bought one in a used store for around 8 or 10 bucks.

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You could get some good oak or maple make the cross members and then  make the two end pieces tobe about two-three inches high and then brass screw this to each cross member them find the suction cups and attach to the legs you would need four then make your own tie down straps with the  curved hook around th rain gutter.

 

If done right this would even look period correct for your car which a nice marine shellac to preserve the wood or even redwood.  This would be a great winter project.

 

 

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

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I remember my dad borrowing a set of those wooden roof racks a couple times - I've thought it would be cool to find a set for my P12 and strap a long board to them for shows.  That would look even cooler on your Suburban.  I wouldn't worry about the rain gutters not holding unless you know you have roof rust issues.  My dad moved on from the racks to a Sears fiberglass roof carrier that attached the same way - he used it on our '69 Polara to move me into school and I still have it.  Only stopped using it when we no longer had a daily driver with gutters.  

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8 hours ago, desoto1939 said:

This is what you were trying to describe. My dad had a pair but the were allmetal. Do a search on ebay

 

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

 

 

See the source image

 

Frankly,I am more than a little surprised those things are still easy to find. I have never thought they would be very secure,and there are better ways of transporting things than trusting a suction cup system that still exposes your cargo to wind and rain .

Edited by knuckleharley
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Think classic Volkswagen Beetle if you're looking for a more vintage appearance.  The roof racks you can still get for those will hold something like 150 lbs, and they attach (clamp onto) the drip rails.  Only issues anyone has with them that I know of is the wind noise they create going down the highway.  I know folks that have them on hot-rodded (such as they are, for Beetles), as well as stock, cars that have no issues with them at highway speeds.  Knowing how handy you are, you could look them up and replicate how they attach on your project.  These MoPar drip rails are a bit stouter than those on Beetles.  JBugs/California Pacific, and Wolfsburg West are a couple of west coast VW parts houses that sell them.

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