Started building some cargo racks for my daily driver/bov suv.

[Guest alloyguitar]

I posted this on IndianaGunOwners out of habit, but, seeing as how I just relocated to Tennessee on new years, I thought maybe you guys would be interested in this.

So I carry quite a bit of gear in my car. Stuff like my rappelling gear, tow straps, first aid stuff, camera gear, and so on flaps around in my car and the sound of it has been pissing me off, so I'm building a small cage like thing to hang stuff on.

Cleaning out the car. Here you can see the amount of crap I carry around. Lol

Ropes, towels, harnesses, gloves, yadda yadda yadda.

More gear. The ammo can has tools in it.

This was my old setup. Bungee cords with knots tied in it where I had carabiners hooked to. Fancy, I know.

Other side.

Pulled the upper side panel to make a template off of.

Priority Mail boxes make the best templates. You can peel the folding things and stick 'em to the table, and they don't move. Try it. Works great.

This is what I'm building the thing out of. Old, rusty, HUGE nails. We have a bucket of them in the garage. Why? I have no idea, but I'm using 'em because they're here and I'm broke.

I was surprised how easy they were to bend.

Working my way around the outside. I marked a grid every 2", give or take, for the center bars. They probably won't come out perfectly, but I'm fine with that.

...to be continued.

[Guest alloyguitar]

Continued...

I'm wire brushing all the rusty nails prior to welding. Here's a before and after.

Working my way around the outline, wirebrushing as I go. Takes a while, but oh well.

Tacked the frame together and started working on the vertical bars.

And so on...

The longer spans I'm having to make out of two pieces.

The square will be cut out so my cargo cover thing will be able to be installed/removed.

Getting further.

FINALLY made it all the way across with the vertical bars.

[Guest alloyguitar]

Started on the horizontal bars. I'm just tacking them on the back. Nothing fancy.

This is what it'll look like from the front.

Moving on.

Made it all the way up with the horizontal bars.

Should look something like this.

Made little brackets to tie into existing threaded inserts on the body of the assfinder.

I'm not seam welding the pieces together. Only tacking them. After all, it's made to hold gear, not protect from zombie attacks or anything.

It's cool and all, but I needed some way to hold my first aid stuff. This first aid box has been kicking around the garage for a bit, so I'm using it.

Wire brushed spots in the back to weld brackets onto.

Bent a piece of stainless (because it's what I had) to make hangers to go over the bars on the "cage."

Made a single hook, and cut it in half to make two.

And welded the bastards on.

Works like so. Note the bottom hook to keep it from swinging around.

Holds firm. I can shake the hell out of the cage and it stays firm.

Example of how stuff will hang on it.

Satisfied with that, I started painting it with rubberized undercoating, which had been in my garage for 24058u230942384 years and never dried, so I wirebrushed it off and hit it with black krylon fusion. I would have bedlinered it, but I'm currently broke and this was a 0 dollar project.

I also painted the back of the first aid kit in red (didn't have white) so nothing rusts.

[Guest alloyguitar]

Horrible phone photo, but you get the idea. That's a rappelling rope, harness, two belay devices, first aid kit, folding chair, folding shovel, bayonet knife, small camp hammer, jumper cables, 3/8" drive socket set, fire extinguisher, gas can, ammo can filled with tools, a quart of oil, roll of duct tape, 4x6" tarp, and the two bags at the bottom have a change of clothes, funnel and rag for oil, mechanics gloves, and a beach towel all on that one side of the vehicle.

All of it is secured, so it won't swing around and make a lot of noise, so I'm pretty excited about how much room it frees up.

Most of this stuff I use frequently, so I'm happy that it's all easily removable in a situation where I'd need them, rather than packed away to where I'd have to dig through a bunch of totes to get to it.

I'm still working on the other side, so I'll post photos of it when i get it finished.

I should add that none of that is my bug out gear. That's just the stuff that's always kept in my car.

[Guest Shootermcgavin]

Looks great! I'd put your rope in a bag along with any slings to keep them out of the sun. UV damage would suck midway down a cliff.

[BrasilNuts]

I see one thing you could get rid of.....

...this is all you'll need in Knoxville.

[peejman]

Looks great! Excellent use of a template to keep it square and straight. So many people make stuff like this that comes out distorted because they can't be bothered with the extra 10 minutes to make the template .

[Guest alloyguitar]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I should note that the rope in that photo is actually ruined for climbing use due to abrading, so I just use it to tie things down. The harness, on the other hand, I hadn't considered uv damage, so I'll definitely put that in a bag.

And, as far as the ice scraper is concerned, you're trying to tell me that East Tennessee doesn't get the same amount of snow as knoxville?! Haha, it's probably not necessary here, but it doesn't take up much room and I have actually used it in this state (albeit not this season) so not a big deal.

On the other side, I'm doing it with bars every 4", instead of every 2" like that one because it'll mainly hold larger items, so I think that 2" centers would be a waste of material. I'm also going to try and extend it a bit down the side panel to hold a molle pack, or something similar where I can strap it down on the top and the bottom so it doesn't swing on rougher terrain. My pathfinder isn't lifted or anything, so I don't do any MAJOR offroading, but I do a bit of exploring, so I don't want it to swing around.

[Guest alloyguitar]

Anybody have any experience with the molle radio pouches that are incredibly cheap all over ebay? I'm thinking about using one of those mounted to the other side to hold tools, instead of an ammo can to get it off the floor. They seem to be something like 9x12" or so, which is bigger than an ammo can and I could probably get the girlfriend to sew a carry handle on it, or make something out of paracord.

[Guest alloyguitar]

I was talking about the ilbe ones, like this.

Just to clarify.

[Guest alloyguitar]

Alright, round two:

Started bending and laying out the nails.

Made it all the way around.

Started welding them up. The notch is for the cargo cover thing.

Working my way across on the vertical bars.

...Further.

Made it to the end, then ran out of welding wire. Luckily there's a lowes less than a mile away.

Extended the bottom down the side panel. Originally I was going to mount an ammo can on that with my tools, but I'll probably use a molle bag of some sort. Also started on the horizontal bars.

Decided to add a few more hooks off the side.

Wierd looking, but it fits.

No hook.

And we have a hook.

...to be continued.

[Guest alloyguitar]

General layout. The crooked bar at the bottom is going to be cut up, anyway.

Bracing the bottom part.

Added another hook. I'll stretch bungee cords between them or something.

Started on the brackets for it by drilling a few holes in 1/4" plate.

Cut the plate into 3 little brackets and made little arms to go between the mounting points and the cage.

Cut them to length and tacked the sucker together in the car. Used priority mail boxes and an old comforter to protect the car from the hot welds.

And now to start on the overhead rifle rack. Started by using a contour gage to make templates of each side and cut them out of a scrap of priority mail box.

Bent the nails to match the templates.

Tacked them up in the car and took it back to the garage to seam weld it.

Whipped up some hooks like a standard gun rack. The tops are shorter since the rifle will sit on the bottom ones.

Bolted it into my car (...again) and checked for fitment, then braced the rifle rack, since the nails are pretty easy to bend.

braced the other side.

And the finished product prior to paint with my sks project on the rifle rack as a demo. My windows have that black paint around the edges, so, between the paint and the roof, the gun can't be seen from the outside easily, if at all. The only time it'd be in there would be when I'm headed to the range, anyway, so not a big deal there.

I'll post photos of it bolted in tomorrow. Right now it's hanging in my garage with a coat of black paint drying on it.

[Guest Shootermcgavin]

So are you in east tn then? If so where? I live in sevierville and would be up for a climb at the obed...

[Guest alloyguitar]

I live in Jefferson City, and I'd be up for climbing. I've never been there, though, but I'd be up for it. I've spent the last year in a very, VERY flat city, though, so it'd take me a minute to get my climbing legs back. Lol

[Guest Shootermcgavin]

Pm your info to me and I'll give you a call next time I go

[Guest alloyguitar]

Annnnnd we have a rifle rack in a car.

(Disclaimer: I don't keep my AR in my car unless I'm headed to the range, so please don't break into my car looking for it. Mmkay? Great.)

I should also add that, even though it looks like the muzzle is pointed at the driver's head, it is not. it's about 5 inches or more above my head, plus I don't keep a round in the chamber, or a loaded magazine in it. That'd be stupid.

I also moved my tools around a bit. Picked up this bag at a pawn shop today for zero dollars, and it seems like it'd work much better than the ammo can haphazardly filled with sockets.

Most of the tools I'm putting in the bag. I added a lot to what the ammo can had, and I'm pretty confident with the contents of it now. I also carry a 3/8" drive socket set in addition to all of this.

All packed up. Ditched the stock zipper pull lanyards and such for a bit of paracord. The larger pieces keep the zipper from opening and make it easier to open when wearing gloves.

Still playing with the layout, but you get the idea.

Going to move the fire extinguisher to the back of the center console I think, so that's temporary.

Whole trunk. The idea is that I can fold the seats down and camp in there without moving a lot of crap around. I'd like to do some expeditioning things where I'd stay in my car, and I think it'd work well for that.

[gjohnsoniv]

Very, very impressive. I like the idea and the execution.

[Caster]

I love it. Very well done. BUT, Is it just me, or does having that AR pointed at the back of my head make driving a little nervous....I know it ain't loaded.....right....are you sure?

[Guest alloyguitar]

Haha, well, the roof dips down, so, if it did go off due to whatever circumstance it'd go through the roof and out the sunroof. Worst case you'd get a bit of schrapnel in the neck.

...Buuuuuuut I'd never keep it loaded in that configuration.

[Guest Scramasax]

Revisited this post. Good looking DIY job. Several suggestions I'll offer from experience. Duluth trading has quality jumper cable bags. I have one with cables,ductape,fuses,electrical tape and basic electrical tools in it. Another has snatch strap,tree loops,sand wedge, clevises, and block/tackle. Two Blackhawks leg rope bags, one with 200" of green line and the other 200" of gold line. Both have harness set ups for two people. Separate bag has gloves, shoes pitons, rock nuts, pitons, carabiners and straps. Folding ten foot ladder. Anything that can be contained from tangleling or clanking is. Organization and speed in deployment is the goal.

You might think about adding bars to the rear seat window and the back window. If you choose to sleep in the truck you will need to have ventilation.

Cheers,

ts

[daddyo]

I am amazed at your ingenuity and creativity. Outstanding idea.

I have always envied people who can make something from nothing.

[Timestepper]

I am amazed at your ingenuity and creativity. Outstanding idea.

I have always envied people who can make something from nothing.

I think I've had it backwards all these years - I keep makin' nothin' outta' somethin'...

[Guest alloyguitar]

Thanks, guys. I've been meaning to take updated photos of this. I'd been planning a rear window rack as well, but haven't gotten around to making it. Lately I've been making a stock for a stevens model 35 22lr I picked up cheap.

Started with a block of wood. Ended up with this thus far.