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How
to Build a Roof Rack for Your Manx
By
David Helland - Club Member #50
Loaded up and on my way!
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Traveling
to Baja in a buggy and camping along the way is an adventure that
everyone should experience. However, you will quickly find that
there is a very limited amount of space in a buggy for camping gear.
This problem is also compounded by fact that it is necessary to
carry extra fuel and water in Baja. If you are not carrying a passenger,
you can take out the right seat and fill the space with camping
gear. If your better half is coming along, the only solution to
handle the space problem is to add a roof rack.
I
wanted a roof rack that would be strong and not too heavy. When
you pile on 5 extra gallons of gasoline, 5 gallons of water, an
ice chest, food and miscellaneous camping gear the weight on top
can approach 250 lbs. When the going gets rough, you don't want
any movement in the rack or it will cause problems at the mounting
points. I also wanted a rack that looked nice, was easy to install
and remove, and did not require any holes to be drilled in my recently
restored buggy.
The
rack I designed is made of aluminum diamond plate that is light
and strong. The polished surface on the diamond plate is attractive
and will take a lot of abuse. The diamond plate is formed into a
1-1/2 inch deep pan and steel tubing is bent and welded together
to from the rest of the rack structure. Another piece of diamond
plate is used support the rack above the buggy windshield.
The
diamond plate pan is made from a 1/8" thick sheet of aluminum that
is 39" wide by 45" long (or whatever the distance is from the front
of your windshield to the back of the roll bar). A 1-1/2" square
piece is cut from each corner so that the 1-1/2" sides can be bent
up to form the pan. The aluminum will flex easily while in a sheet;
however, after the sides are bent up; the resulting pan becomes
very rigid. The aluminum must be bent in a metal fabrication shop
with a tool called a "break". A bit of warning here: you can not
do this in a manual break because the aluminum is too thick. The
shop must have a hydraulic break. The shop I found charged me about
$75 to cut the aluminum, bend it, and weld the resulting seams in
the corners.
Aluminum Pan, Support Rail, and Steel Top Rack Frame
To
support the pan above the windshield, a second piece of aluminum
must be fabricated. This front support rail is also made from diamond
plate and bent in a hydraulic break. The support rail fits snuggly
into the groove that runs around the front edge of the windshield
frame. The rail extends across the entire top edge of the windshield
frame so that there is a wide area to support the weight. If the
weight were supported at just one or two points, there would be
a high probability of breaking the windshield glass. The support
rail is made from a 6" wide by 36" long piece of aluminum. Two bends
are then required. A one-inch wide lip is bent up 90 degrees on
one side of the rail to fit into the lip of the windshield frame.
A three-inch wide lip is bent up 60 degrees on the other side of
the rail to support the rack that fits on top.
The
attachment hardware is made from steel. The aluminum support rail
is kept in the windshield groove by two small brackets. The brackets
are made from 1/8" thick steel strap that is 1-1/4" wide by 3-1/4"
long. The ends of the bracket are bent in opposite directions. One
end (1" inch long) is bent up 90 degrees and a hole is drilled in
the center to bolt to the front support rail. The other end (3/4"
long) is bent down 90 degrees so that it will fit behind the windshield
frame. When bolted in place, the bracket does not support any weight
but will keep the support rail from coming out of the windshield
frame groove. One bracket is bolted on each side of the support
rail with a 5/16" inch bolt.
Mounting Brackets
The
rear structural mounting point for the rack is the top of the roll
bar. I did not want to drill any holes in the roll bar so I took
Bruce Meyers advice and built two saddle brackets. These brackets
are made from a piece of 2" I.D. galvanized steel pipe 5" long that
has been cut lengthwise. These half round pieces of pipe then "adjusted"
with a hammer so that they sit snugly on the roll bar. Each half
round piece of pipe must then have a piece of 1/8" x 1-1/2" steel
strap welded on the top. The steel strap is 4" long with a hole
in the center for a 5/16" bolt to connect to the aluminum pan. At
one inch from each end the strap is bent up 90 degrees to form a
"U" shape. The ends of the "U" bracket are then ground to fit on
the 2" pipe and welded in place. These steel saddles are then held
on the roll bar with hose clamps with a piece of sheet rubber in
between to prevent scratches if you have chrome. These steel saddles
are extremely strong and will not move if a hose clamp is placed
on each side of the saddle.
Rack
Construction Plans
The top
rack frame is made of 3/4" steel tubing. I used a manual tubing bender
to make two 90-degree bends in a straight length of pipe so that outside
measurement was 42" (or adjusted to your rack length). When the ends
are trimmed off, the piece should just barely fit inside the 42" long
aluminum bottom pan. Two 35" long straight pieces of tubing are cut
and the ends dished so that they can be welded to the two curved pieces.
When welding the frame it is best to clamp it together inside the
pan. That way you can be certain that it will fit when you are done.
The frame is attached to the pan by brazing flange nuts inside the
ends of the steel tubing. Place the finished frame into the pan and
mark the corners where the mounting holes must be drilled. Drill the
holes (I used 1/2" bolts) and then check that the frame can be bolted
to the pan. Remove the frame from the pan before proceeding.
Front Mounting Detail
To
assemble all the parts of the rack, first mount the front support
rail to the windshield. Then use hose clamps to loosely attach the
saddles to the roll bar. Next, set the front of the pan on top of
the support rail and set the rear of the pan on the saddle brackets.
The two holes in the front of the pan that are used to mount the
rack frame will also be used to connect to the front support rail.
Center the pan on the mounts and then mark the front rail where
the holes must be drilled. Drill two holes in the rear of the pan
to bolt the pan to the saddle brackets. The rack frame can now be
bolted to the pan and front rail. The saddles can be bolted to the
rear of the pan and the hose clamps tightened securely.
Bolting to Rear Saddle Mount
The finished
rack actually makes the buggy stronger by stiffening the windshield
frame. The dash and hood are held tightly in position and no longer
flex. I regularly carry over 200 lbs. on my rack to Baja and back
without causing any problems. I have had 500 lbs. on the rack to carry
the Manx Dune Buggy Club's lunch and drinks to remote picnic spots.
The rack also functions as a roof and sunshade which can be easily
removed in less than 10 minutes.
Dune
Buggy Rack Assembly Photos
Click to enlarge
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