more pics:

 

WTF, never seen that before. No likey!

 

LOL It's a desert race thing. This actually gives me a place to keep my camping gear when I'm out in the desert, the highlift and 2 fire ext. Normally I'm running a pit stop during a race so everything has to be accessible very quickly when they're needed.

That looks really good! Thought I would mention though, I had a 33x12.50 spare tire under the bed in the stock location on my 99 before I changed the exhaust and had to move it.

Thanks
Thats the problem I had as well (the exhaust). Not only was the exhaust in the way but I'm putting in an aux. fuel tank under there as well.

 

That looks really good! Thought I would mention though, I had a 33x12.50 spare tire under the bed in the stock location on my 99 before I changed the exhaust and had to move it.

 

Gotcha, yea that might get in the way lol. Its different then the normal roof racks you normally see on trucks.

 

That was the idea. Mounting a rack to the roof (with no drip rails) would force the sheet metal to handle the wieght of the rack, tire and anything else I thow up there. The flexing would most likley crack it over time especially off road. Setting it up like this allows the bed to take all the weight (it's bolted to the bed in 6 places with 1/2 inch bolts). The tricky part was getting the distance under the rack correct. To low and the rack would hit the cab when the bed flexed side to side. To high and it would make all kinds of wind noise and look way out of place. The other nice part is setting it up like this doesn't use up any bed space at all so my quad will still fit

On edit: To remove it, I just take the six bolts out and the rack comes right off.

 

wow! that's some seriously nice fab work, with some serious function!
(if you dont mind me asking)how much did something like that cost? Where in az are you?

 

Well, that's kind of a tough question to answer. What it cost me was just materials. Kevin owns Hannah Racing and he's a good friend of mine so he did this for me as a favor. I've seen racks like this cost upwards of $2k or more (depending on how crazy you get with them). Your best bet would be to call Hannah racing and see what it would set you back (I can PM you his number if you want). Obviously a rack like this for a Dak would be a "custom" part though he could just copy mine as long as your bed and cab have the same measurments (the year of the truck wouldn't make much difference). As for where I live, I live in Rialto CA, and I work in Azusa for Gale Banks Engineering

 

i like it!

 

Wait a sec here.....are you telling me my truck has a nice rack??!!! (sorry, couldn't help it)

Thanks for the reply, I thought you were from Arizona, and I've been looking for a local fab shop I can trust lol!, I absolutely love the attention to detail, the absolute perfect penetration of those welds!
Sorry for all my questions.. I'm a nosy person, it's how I learn..
That has to be the best job ever, are you you an ME? huh?

We're about 4-5 hours west of you off the 10 freeway, I wouldn't call that very local. Kevin does do great fab work (you should see what he can do for the suspension on a Trophy Truck), me, I do engines not fab.

On Edit: See my avatar for an example

 

That's awesome, sweet work.

 

Thats unusual, but cool. Like the tires

 

i like it/ great design, and its built (from what i can see) great. smaller pipe inside the main pipe at the welds for strength....great. what was the material you used? (ie. size and type)

 

It's 1.5" DOM steel tubing (not chro-mo). The sleeves were installed to both support the tubing when welding it but to also reinforce the joint. The only problem was routing the wires for the lights. We drilled holes behind the lights and ran the wiring through the rack itself, trying to get around the sleeves was a bit of a pain.

only question i have is: is there enough space between the bottom of the rack and the top of the cab? so when it is flexed out that it won't hit the roof?

There is. He spent a lot of time measuring the minimum distance needed to clear the cab when the bed flexed over. It has just enough height to clear it to the point the cab starts sloping down. It hasn't touched the cab once

On Edit: in the interest of security (I didn't want some lowlife walking off with my spare) we found a really simple but effective way of securing the tire. The spare is held in place with a 1.5" bolt going through a piece of thick aluminum plate. Basically if you didn't bring a 1.5" socket (or a big a$$ adjustable wrench) you're not getting the tire off

 

only question i have is: is there enough space between the bottom of the rack and the top of the cab? so when it is flexed out that it won't hit the roof?

 

I think the rack looks great!!

 

LOVE IT!!

I think it great that you put your mind to something and come up with an idea that is all original, looks great and serves its purpose very well.

Excellent fab work, by the way!!

 

That is Awesome work

 

bad ass fabrication work! Looks great.

 

Oh....it's not powder coated (yet) that's gloss black Rustolium from Lowes

 

Im a So Cal local desert/baja guy and when I saw this thread, I knew right off hand were you were going with it!

It looks GREAT. I have the same truck...tell your guy he needs to start making a second rack

 

PM sent

 

damn that looks awesome, kinda makes me wish i had a dak!

 

To those that are asking, as long as your measurment from the bed rails to the top of the cab, and the width on your rails (inside) are the same as my truck he can build you one without the truck there. It will be an exact duplicate of mine. It's gonna set you back about $900.

 

A little late but is this still an option and could you put me in touch with him?
I've got a 2003 quad cab and this would be great on my truck.

 

$900 Thats a Great price
What else can he make?
I am looking for a light bar to mount to my front Bumper to hold 3-4 off road lights

 

I don't see why he couldn't. Is your bumper still stock?

 

Nice fabrication there!:mullet:

 

900 is a great deal for something of that quality!

I like it (but have no use for one). How much wind noise did it create and can you tell any difference going around corners will the extra weight up so high?

 

looks very good, it would also be something of interest to those of us who 4-wheel in other parts of the country

 

I'm starting to wonder how I went 4 years desert racing without one

 

Great Job!!!!

 

nice rack!

 

:mullet::mullet::mullet::mullet::mullet:
i love it