Cargo Space solutions. ***PICS*** Update on Page 4

[fireplug]

Thanks. I found only one article on it. I wonder how many others have used their tanks.

It seems im back to the drawing board for my gear situation. lol. Oh well.

I don't think it's back to the drawing board, just make sure you finish the job appropriately.

 

[bear76]

I need to call them and ask if you can uses it for diesel applications. If so, I'll do another write up this winter.

 

[Brians89K5]

Im building a roof rack to solve this delema for mysels on accounts that I can't get rid of the rear seat. Looks good though, Very inovative.

~Brian

 

[badmix]

Im building a roof rack to solve this delema for mysels on accounts that I can't get rid of the rear seat. Looks good though, Very inovative.

~Brian

One thing ive wondered about was a short basket over the cab. Me personally, id rather not drill into the fiberglass top and all that. I realize many ppl have done it with success, but I eventually wanna lose the top and go with soft top. But I havent seen any basket type racks jus over the cab portion. I know it wouldnt be all that big, but enuff for a spare in the middle and a few small bags or luggage on the sides. Be a good place to mount some off road lights as well.

 

[Brians89K5]

I think safari rack makes something like that. Its designed for a pick up truck so Its smaller then the SUV one. Sorry for the hijack.


~Brian

One thing ive wondered about was a short basket over the cab. Me personally, id rather not drill into the fiberglass top and all that. I realize many ppl have done it with success, but I eventually wanna lose the top and go with soft top. But I havent seen any basket type racks jus over the cab portion. I know it wouldnt be all that big, but enuff for a spare in the middle and a few small bags or luggage on the sides. Be a good place to mount some off road lights as well.

 

[fireplug]

One thing ive wondered about was a short basket over the cab. Me personally, id rather not drill into the fiberglass top and all that. I realize many ppl have done it with success, but I eventually wanna lose the top and go with soft top. But I havent seen any basket type racks jus over the cab portion. I know it wouldnt be all that big, but enuff for a spare in the middle and a few small bags or luggage on the sides. Be a good place to mount some off road lights as well.

For some reason it's not on their website right now, which is strange because they've offered it for a while now but check these guys out for a small basket over the cab http://topfiveracks.com/

Here is what I went with

 

[badmix]

Cant see pics, not a member.

Not a hi-jack about the roof racks, its all part of the spirit of this post.

 

[Brians89K5]

Oh well in that case.... Im using an old Confer roof rack I bough off of a guy who was using it on his suburban. First thing I did was remove the heavy solid aluminum flore and recycle it. THen I took my money down to the steel yard and bought som pieces of scrap and Misc half inch square tubing. I took a two by two piece of square tubing and built a light rack off of the front of it and I am in the process of putting the half inch square tubing floor in it. Its going to hold my spare tire, my high lift jack and whatever else I can fit up there. I am going to build something on the rear tailgate to hold some Jerry cans for fuel eventually. Its going to hurt to drill into a perfectly good fiberglass top but I think the benifits will outweigh the carnage. Ill post some pics up later this week as I should have it done round wednesday.

~Brian

 

[beater_k20]

with all that steel, i wouldnt be so sure of the fiberglass top holding it up. there's a reason the original floor was made of aluminum... WEIGHT.

 

[ntsqd]

snip....
ie use ratchet straps, and forget any plastic buckles! You can get 10 000 lb and up loops that bolt (use proper grade hardware) for only a few bucks.

First, I assumed that the fuel cans would be 86'd from the passenger compartment so their weight is a non-issue. Second, I've had my tool box held down in the rear of the bed of my desert racer chase truck (tell me that doesn't generate some inertia!) for ~5 years w/o any issue with either the buckle holding up or the box coming loose. A 10k lbs rachet strap used there would be so much hugely unnecessary overkill. I do use a 1" rachet strap where appropriate or most convenient, like strapping the racer's spare to my spare.
As previously mentioned, I do put fender washers on the backside of the sheetmetal that the Footmans loops hold-down screws go thru.

At the very most you can expect a roughly 5G acceleration in anything the truck (& possibly you) will live thru. So if you plan for what ever it is being suddenly 5 times heavier than it is right now you're going to be pretty safe. So while I wouldn't use those Fastex buckles for holding the fuel cans they are more than plenty strong enough for lots of stuff you are likely to want to strap down in the rear of a K5.

 

[fireplug]

First, I assumed that the fuel cans would be 86'd from the passenger compartment so their weight is a non-issue. Second, I've had my tool box held down in the rear of the bed of my desert racer chase truck (tell me that doesn't generate some inertia!) for ~5 years w/o any issue with either the buckle holding up or the box coming loose. A 10k lbs rachet strap used there would be so much hugely unnecessary overkill.

No insult intended, but I've had plastic buckles break over and again on tents, kayaking gear, backpacks...but I'm no engineer either.

We as a group have debated safety margins (remember the... dare I mention it...air tank bumper...ahhhh I did it!) over and again. Personally I figure when it is sooo easy to over build our trucks and we all do it all the time (D60's over D44's, 37's over 35's, 454 over 350, et. al.) why not? Especially in the name of safety.

By the way, it wasn't the ratchet strap I was referring to (that certainly would be some serious overkill) it was the gear loops. I got mine for $3 or so, and they are only maybe an 1 1/2", rated at 10 000lb. Why not?

Oh and by the way, when I'm thinking about the risk factor, I'm thinking about what happens on road, not on the trail, trail damage in general is slow, low impact, I'm thinking about the accidents I see on the highway.

 

[ntsqd]

snip....
I'm thinking about the accidents I see on the highway.

So am I. That, and those from high speed off road use, ala desert racing/chasing.
I don't have any problem with some overkill. It's a good idea when you're not sure of what the loads are. Which is why I mentioned the 5G's concept. If you choose tie-down hardware appropriate for some thing that weighs 5 times what the object actually weighs you end up with two Safety Factors. The 5x one you built in, and the working load vs. breaking strength of what ever you've chosen as the tie-down.
I use the plastic buckles to tie down stuff like sleeping bags, vehicle tool boxes, and gear bags. I wouldn't use one to hold onto a spare tire or a large tool box. It's all about choosing the appropriate fastener for the job.

All too often I see someone use parts that are so grossly overkill that now the excess weight of all of the overkilt stuff has become a breakage factor. B4 they overkilt things that front D60 was more than enough axle for the job, but now they need a Marmon-Harrington or a Rockwell just to deal with all of the extra weight. It's a classic trap, one that MISF fell into and ended up with a 6500 lbs Scout II. Ever seen a 6500 lbs. Scout with 1-1/2 feet of air under the tires? The landing's not pretty......

 

[badmix]

Welp, ive got some new ideas in the cooker. Hopefully be able to work on them today or this week. Stay tuned..........

Ill probably either post them here or start a new thread. Probably be easy to post here so I dont clog up the site.

 

[Brians89K5]

The aluminum was 1/4 inch thick and it was 4 feet by 5 feet. The five bars of half inch square tubing weigh abtou 3 pounds and the whole roof rack as a whole is around 35 now. With the aluminum flooring I couldn't move it by myself. Now I can throw it around like its nothing.

~Brian

with all that steel, i wouldnt be so sure of the fiberglass top holding it up. there's a reason the original floor was made of aluminum... WEIGHT.

 

[ntsqd]

Post them here, that way all of the info is in one thread. Always interesting to see what others come up with.

 

[badmix]

Welp, Ive revamp my gear storage. I really didnt give much thought into flying gear. Ive seen roll overs where **** went flying everywhere. So, Ive taken the advice from the fine folks on here. Im securing my gear inside. And hopefully moving the gas outside. Now come SHTF, all bets are off. , but for DD and trail riding here is what ive come up with.

I picked up a USGI gas can holder from local A/N store. I plan to pick up another one to mount outside for the gas cans. Here is my Water can secured. I plan to actually tether the top using the topper bolt somehow that is right behind it. Shouldnt be too hard to do. Ive got some big ass fender washers securing the bolts underneight and im using carriage bolts on top, with some thick foam so it doesnt rub into the Plastic water can.

So here is the overall view of the back. I picked up that Black box you see from Lowes, it replaces my metal GI ammo cans. I plan to paint the OD water can holder Blue or something like that. lol

I picked this D ring style holder up from a local trailer place. They are rated at 1200lbs each. Ive got them installed with 3 bolts each and using big ass fender washers as well. I plan to add either one more or two more somewhere to so I can trianglate the straps and secure everything in the back, jus havent figured out how im goin to do that. The very back houses gastank and surely dont wanna drill thru the floor into that. lol.

So, that is where im at. I plan to pick up another one of those black boxes, they are pretty handy and seem durable. Ill move my camping gear from the camo duffle bags to one of the boxes, this way I can set the box outside on the ground and if the ground is wet, it wont absorb like the duffle bags could.

For now the backseat is in place. Im goin to try and work around the gear and leave it in, it gives it a stock look and semi normal, plus ya jus never know when ya goin to run into a whole lotta hot chicks that need a lift somewhere. .

Soap anyways, that is where we are at, at this point in time.

 

[Brians89K5]

Heres my remedy to my lack of cargo space. It used to be a confer roof rack that I added some stuff to. I built the light bar and it has tabs for reverse lights, CB antanae, plates for my high lift jack, spare tire holder and Im building a setup to hold a whip for my Desert flag. Gotta have one for glamis. Its ready to wire and mount. Ill show you another pic once thats done. But here it is for now. Lemmie know what you think!

~Brian

 

[fireplug]

Badmix that looks great. The box fits perfectly beside the spare. So have you given up on the 'gate', or will that go in the very back?

 

[badmix]

I gave up on the "gate", it worked, but jus wasnt happy with it, I really needed the gate to be higher. I also wasnt comfy yanking the rear seat.

So, I worked on some things and think ive got it now. Goin on Fri to get a rear gas can holder mounted on the rear bumper. It gives me atleast one can outside. I ended up moving my license plate holder and light into the outside spare tire to give room to modify the swing out carrier for gas cans.

Ill post some more pics up once thats done. Hopefuly he can get it done on Fri, but may be sat.

It never ends. lol

 

[badmix]

Heres my remedy to my lack of cargo space. It used to be a confer roof rack that I added some stuff to. I built the light bar and it has tabs for reverse lights, CB antanae, plates for my high lift jack, spare tire holder and Im building a setup to hold a whip for my Desert flag. Gotta have one for glamis. Its ready to wire and mount. Ill show you another pic once thats done. But here it is for now. Lemmie know what you think!

~Brian

need to imbed the picks. Im not a paying member so cant see em. But am curious to see what ya came up with.