Super frugal solution for car top carriers

[Dadof5girls]

We're new here as we've only had our 3500 for a few months, but we purchased it for our family of 7 to take some epic road trips.  The first trip, out to Glacier National Park, required a large amount of cargo, as you can imagine as we were coming all the way from Michigan.  I already had a good car top carrier from our Sienna days and it seemed the perfect solution for sleeping bags.  I didn't like the cost of an aftermarket solution and all I needed to do was fasten the car top carrier, so here's what I did:

The part list is:

1 1/2" galvanized pipe strap - Qty 4

1/4" hex bolt, 1" length - Qty 8

1/4" hex nut - Qty 8

1/4" plastic washer - Qty 16

Total cost = @ $9 (car top carrier was $100 or so, but had it previously)

I cut the bolts down about 1/2" for length purposes, as they were a bit too long and put a washer on each side of the frame.  I tightened with a 7/16 socket and a 7/16 wrench to hold the other side.  Here's the final product:

I could have used something stronger than the pipe strap, but I had a few laying around, so just went with it.  They bent a little bit, but nothing major and we made it 4500+ miles with it on there and no issues.  They are removable, which is nice, so I don't have to keep them there (because my wife doesn't like the look of them).  They will probably go back on when I attempt to hoist a Christmas tree up on top of the monster this winter. 

 

I might have missed something in this post, but thought it might help someone else out that is looking for a cost effective solution.

 

 

[mk1_62]

It might be easier to use aluminum flat stock, lower profile and it should be stronger. It would still leave space under it to thread rope or straps. This is a great idea though.

[Mark Rogers]

That's a great idea!  Personally, I wouldn't trust plastic fasteners in an application like this, but I really like the overall concept.

[Dadof5girls]

Yeah, I hear you on a few tweaks that you could make. The plastic held up great aswe had a full carrier, went a huge distance, and were traveling at 75+ mph most ofthe time.

 

Mostly I had some stuff lying around and had a need. Cheap and dirty, but not a permanent reduction in gas mileage either.