Weight limit of 80's suburban roof

[down4thakrown]

Thinking about building a roof rack for my 84 k20 suburban. Anybody know how much weight the roof can hold? Looking to hold a 37" spare tire, maybe some fluids like gallon of oil,trans fluid and coolant and some random tools and Jack, 5 gallons of water and gas. Maybe 10 gallons. But thinking might be to much weight including the rack which in all will probably be pretty heavy.

 

[HankScorpio]

The steel roof would certainly support your spare. Don't forget that it will get tippy with all that weight up there.

 

[rampage]

And don’t forget that it’s not just a static load. When you hit a dip in the road everything on the roof will want to move up (Newton’s first law - law of inertia) and then come slamming down on the roof when gravity and the rebound of the truck take effect. Opposite happens when you hit a bump.

 

[kgblazerfive]

There are so many open unused areas in a Suburban that I would use first for all the little stuff.

 

[shrineboy]

Thinking about building a roof rack for my 84 k20 suburban. Anybody know how much weight the roof can hold? Looking to hold a 37" spare tire, maybe some fluids like gallon of oil,trans fluid and coolant and some random tools and Jack, 5 gallons of water and gas. Maybe 10 gallons. But thinking might be to much weight including the rack which in all will probably be pretty heavy.

If you’re building a rack with a floor and more than 4 points of support, you should be ok. If you’re going flat on the roof, I think the weight rating is 200 lbs. That what my 87 sub is.

 

[down4thakrown]

Basically just stuff listed above. Not goin to be used as a trail rig as much but, more camping rig, and to be able to put stuff on it that will most likely never or hardly be used and its already pretty full with rear seats folded down for 2 large dogs and air mattress, bedding, food, cooking wear, rideing gear, clothes, ez up shade and chairs, wanted to mount light bar faceing fwd and pod lights all around to light up camping area. The truck is only goin to have a 2-3" lift and 37's. And usually towing a trailer. Ya the rack will have a floor. And tire will be on basically a "T" and bolted to it. And jack will be small bottle jack. Maybe I will just run tubeing from floor straight up to roof for support..

 

[down4thakrown]

Probably won't have the extra gas up there but 5 gallons of water

 

[diesel4me]

I've seen Suburbans at junkyards with other cars stacked on top of them..but they aren't being driven on bumpy roads either..
200 lbs doesn't sound like much,some racks might weight half that much,I'd be more worried about it getting too top heavy and encouraging a roll over more than the roof caving in,especially if the truck is lifted..

 

[Big Ray]

I'd put the mounts over the rooftop cross ribs for strength.

 

[yellowK20]

I have had 4-500lbs on my rack over some Knarly terrain . And street driven no issues.