DIY roof rack made from extruded aluminum

clemenshess97 · May 7, 2023

Hi everyone,

I plan on building a roof rack from extruded aluminum for my 2003 Tahoe LT.
I already know how the roof rack itself will be build (lenght, height, etc.) but I don't know yet how I should mount the roof rack to the roof.
My first idea was to remove the original crossbars and mount the roof rack to the roof rails with some U shaped clamps.
My second idea was to remove the original crossbars AND roof rails and mount some sort of mounting brackets to the threaded rivnuts in the roof.
Has anyone ever made some sort of these brackets for this purpose and could help me with some design ideas ? I'm thinking of a steel or aluminum angle profile, but then the question arises: what angle ? I think the roof is not perfectly horizontal where the mounts would be, so the mounts would have to be a different angle than 90 degrees in order for the roof rack to be horizontal and fit perfectly.

S33k3r · May 7, 2023

Would you mind marking up some visuals of what you are trying to accomplish? I'm not a builder by any means, but a visual representation might help others help you. Also, why wouldn't you go with a Z71 or Escalade rack instead? I figure you already have the answer to that question, but its answer might help others help you as well. Good luck -- your project sounds interesting!

clemenshess97 · May 7, 2023

The rack will look like this, it will be made from 60x30 (mm) extruded black anodized aluminum. It allows for a ton of different things to be easily mounted on it. It is fairly cheap as well.
I will mount a 133L aluminum cargo box, two bike axle fork mounts for my two bikes, 2x 500mm OSRAM light bars, 2 work lights on the left, right and rear (rear will also turn on as backup light).

Just the roof rack (without lightbars, etc.) will be about 250-300€ (280-330$).

EDIT: scan the QR code on the first image and when forwarded to the website (which is in German) click on
"Als Gast fortfahren". You can then check out the plans in a 3D program.

Bildschirmfoto 2023-05-07 um 12.18.28.png

Bildschirmfoto 2023-05-07 um 12.18.50.png

Bildschirmfoto 2023-05-07 um 12.19.08.png

S33k3r · May 11, 2023

I guess none of the active members have made custom roof racks.

Sparksalot · May 23, 2023

clemenshess97 said:
Hi everyone,

I plan on building a roof rack from extruded aluminum for my 2003 Tahoe LT.
I already know how the roof rack itself will be build (lenght, height, etc.) but I don't know yet how I should mount the roof rack to the roof.
My first idea was to remove the original crossbars and mount the roof rack to the roof rails with some U shaped clamps.
My second idea was to remove the original crossbars AND roof rails and mount some sort of mounting brackets to the threaded rivnuts in the roof.
Has anyone ever made some sort of these brackets for this purpose and could help me with some design ideas ? I'm thinking of a steel or aluminum angle profile, but then the question arises: what angle ? I think the roof is not perfectly horizontal where the mounts would be, so the mounts would have to be a different angle than 90 degrees in order for the roof rack to be horizontal and fit perfectly.

Here are the brackets my rack uses to attach the rails in place of the stock rails.

here’s the whole rack. It’s from Baseline Overland. @mrpeterclark

DIY roof rack made from extruded aluminum

clemenshess97

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S33k3r

Full Access Member

clemenshess97

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S33k3r

Full Access Member

Sparksalot

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