1. Anyone have any ideas to mount a roof rack without the cross-bars? I have the rack in position with the brackets directly over the plastic rails. Even though the plastic and rubber gasket are mounted to the roof skin with only the countersunk treaded nuts, it seams that a 90 degree piece of metal that sits in the gap will distribute the weight. I was then thinking of adding a strap piece that would mount to the 90 degree piece and then bolt into the roof mounting points.
2. The distance between the end of the 2 brackets is 45", and the mounting holes are at 3, 15, 27, and 39". Not sure if each side should have 1 continious transition bracket to mount to all 4 bolts or just a front and rear. Bad part about 1 bracket is the slope of the roof making it mandatory to shape the bracket to the roof line. I've already done this with a piece of thin wood, so it can be transferred.
3. In addition to sloping front to rear, the plastic piece that allows the cross-bar to mount to also tapers off with the roof line from center out.

Any ideas?

 

When I built mine I used one strip of a thinner metal I didn't taper it at the front and I drilled the holes bolted them down to curve it to the roof then I put my rack up and shimmed it to the height off the roof I wanted and cut plate about 3-4 inches wide and whatever length looked good and welded it on so that way the thin metal that bolted to the roof would hold the slight arch the roof has. I can take some pics of the setup I have if you want to see how I did it. it isint perfect but it works. my rack is probably 200+ lbs with nothing on it cause all I had to work with was thick square tubing

 

If you can post or send pics that would be great. I have a guy that does welding coming over next weekend and it would be great to show him what some one else had done.

Did you experience any flex in what was bolted to the roof? Also, did you leave the plastic on or remove it?

 

I completely removed all of the factory stuff and just used the threaded holes and screws and no I didn't have any flex but even my thinest metal I used was still like 1/8 inch for the bolt strip. its not a wimpy rack I would be willing to bet I could roll the vehicle and not see any damage to the rack. I'll take a few pics and try to get them on here tonight and u can probably find a way to go off of that to make something you like

 

U can kinda see how I did it in this one

 

Cut plastic piece (currently patio door blind slat) to fit in stock rubber gasket. Gasket "nipples" removed so piece sits flat. White piece will be 1/8" thick and mount to roof.

L-Bracket (currently some kind of roofing channel) will weld to piece mounted to truck. L-Bracket looks like J now, but final piece will be true L 1" x 2-1/2". Plan is to extend it a little longer each direction to finish off at about 55". Piece is contoured along the whole 55".

Roof rack now sits 1" from roof and no need for cross-bars. Alignment is 4" from rear hatch and 2" back from 1st/2nd door seam.

Not sure how to use photobucket - just created account and don't know how to link.

Search by ProjectE1, Dodge Durango with Baja Rack, or Roof Rack 5-13-12.

 

Got roof rack bracket from fab shop today. Just need to powder coat and we're good to go.

 

I have to ask why. I Fab a lot that I can. Need new welder. The tire gate I run is from Wilco. Cheaper to buy cost wise. Racks are engineered for weight and strength. After material, powdercoat its cheaper to find one done. Not to say one off is bad. Most trucks here are stock. Carry a 35" tire around hunting and fishing and let me know that the 200 pound. Roof capacity works.

 

The rack and bracket will end up at about a grand. Wow! Price a high qualiy rack like ARB and you're almost there. The roof from Baja Rack is half the cost and just as good, but the size fit the truck perfectly.

Why put this much effort into a rack that's way strong? The truck is reliable, paid off, perfect for what I am using it for and what I have up there if now lower to the roof and not sitting on a flimsy stock spring clip holding the cross-bars to the roof. The rack's rated way past the factory weight rating, and with the bracket bolted to the roof I could probably double or tripple the factory's rating. For one I don't have that much stuff, and weight distribution, proper driving off-road as well as on-road is going to dictate a lot. 32" Spare tire's going onto a rear tire carrier bumper and the rack is going to be a platform for a front LED bar, side awnings, and the middle will hold an inflatable boat. Plus, it made me happy and to me that's all that matters.

 

Finally - a project completed. Its been almost a year to date (kids/work/life) since I bought the rack, but I'm glad I put the time into thinking it out because the end result is exactly what I was trying to achieve.

I decided to use bedliner w/UV protection as opposed to powder coat.

Thanks 02dingo for the help/pics!