I’ve just gotten in to overlanding and would like to build a gear rack for my truck.
I can’t find anything in the after market that meets my needs and building my own suits me better anyway.
What I want to do is combine a rack like this:
with this:
My truck has a light bar so the front end of the rack needs to be made more narrow.
I also want to add another cross-bar in the middle to better support the load.
I want to learn to weld, but I’m not sure this project requires welding. Looking at 589’s rack it looks like I could get away with cutting and bending metal and then bolting the parts together. This would have the benefit of making the rack easy to remove when its not needed.
Do we have the stuff I’d need to cut and bend 3/16" steel? What would I get for this? Would mild steel work? Max weight would be 500lbs total on the rack (2 spare wheels, and some pelican cases and trail gear).
BTW - I’m Jake. I just joined DMS. I’m a software developer, dog rescuer, motorcycle rider, occasional shooter and new offroader/overlander/hiker/camper/whatever.