Stronger roof rails - Unistrut?

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Fatsquatch

Rank III

Advocate II

511
Des Moines, IA, USA
First Name
John
Last Name
Thompson
So I'm just looking for some input on this. At some point I want to do a full-length roof rack and an RTT on my Ex but with the factory rail mounts being plastic I want to replace them with some beefier rails to support the weight. I don't want to pay a fabricator several hundred dollars to build rails for me so I'm thinking of using Unistrut. The plan is to have bolts running through the factory mounting holes in the roof, reinforced above the headliner with large washers and nuts. Then I'd just use more Unistrut for the crossbars. Of course the mounts would be sealed with RTV or something to keep water out. Seems like that'd be plenty strong but I've not seen it done. I've seen some Unistrut roof racks, I just haven't seen it used to actually mount a rack to the roof.

FWIW, I'm thinking about using an ATV ramp for the rack. Cheap, lightweight, low profile.
 
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Fatsquatch

Rank III

Advocate II

511
Des Moines, IA, USA
First Name
John
Last Name
Thompson
I appreciate the offer but this is a project I'll tackle sometime next spring/summer after the baby is born. Right now we're trying to get moved and such so money is kinda tight. I'm just trying to plan this out in the meantime.

FWIW, I'm looking at using about a 94" ramp to get the length I need.