OT - Land Rover Roof Rack - Welding Advice Needed

I know this is WAAAY off topic, but I don't want to ask this question on the Land Rover forums, 'cause I don't want one of those guys to snatch this auction and because the guy that owns this rack post there too.

Anyway. There is a Safety Devices Land Rover rack available on ebay. Safety devices was the English company that made the racks and roll bars for the Camel Trophy Land Rovers back in the day. These are SUPER nice racks. Safety Devices went of business about a year ago and these racks are no longer available new. If you do find one they are about $1200. This one on ebay is about 1.5 hours from my house and has a starting bid of $400. The problem with it, is that the DPO (HUGE DPO) cut it up so he could park in a garage and put a floor in it. Here is the auction.

<http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130017951303&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fmotors.search.ebay.com%3A80%2F%3Ffrom%3DR40%26satitle%3D130017951303%26fvi%3D1>

Here is company that makes "knock off" racks that look like the originals so you can get an idea of how they are supposed to look. Check out the photo of the Voyager Rack.

<http://www.northwestparts.com/DIIVR.htm>

If I buy this one, I would like to weld the bars that go back around the top. I'm just wondering how hard it is to weld and bend 1" pipe. I'm also wondering if all the Fab stuff I would have to do would offset the lower price of this one. The knock off Voyager racks are $739 + $175 shipping for a total of $914. Buy the time I bought, new piping, sand blasted this one and possibly powdercoated it, would I bet better off just buying a knock off?

Now Carl or other Discovery owners out there, I have DIBS on this one. I'll be pissed if you bid on it!!!!

BTW - here is an updated photo of my Landy.

No answers to you question John, but I thought that I would throw this in for any LR or other SUV owners in my area.

I have a full length safari rack that I am never going to use again. It is steel with oak floor slats and alloy supports that sit on the rain gutters of the vehicle. It needs cleaning and perhaps some black paint, and I would re-stain and re-urethane the oak to make it look nice, but other than that it is in good shape.

I have about a zillion dollars in it but if someone wants to run up the mountain and pick it up they can have it for $150 or less. ;-) No way to ship it as it is too large.

Jack

Yes, shipping of these racks is a major PITA. That's why I was excited I found this one somewhat close by.

The reason, I'm interested in this one too is that it's a genuine Safety Devices rack. I'm just not sure I can bring it back with out spending more than it would cost to buy a knock off.

John, I don't know much about the LR market but it shouldn't be too hard or expensive to find a local machine or fabrication shop that could make some bends for you. As long as you give them the angles, radius and stock they should be able to bend it up for you at minimal labor cost. Try fiding a local race shop that makes roll cages - they have the equipment and expertise to do the work in short order. Then you can just weld up what you need.

Make a few phone calls to get an estimate or two.

Good idea Mike.

I would really like to get this rack. But I don't want to get in over my head! (been there, done that... it's in my garage!)

One thing right off the bat- the rack is made of tubing, not pipe. Pipe is the stuff that you run water and gas to your house though. Tubing is a whole different animal. Pipe is thick, tubing is thinner.Pipe is rough inside and out, tubing is smooth. Welding tubing is more difficult than pipe, more like welding sheetmetal. You cannot just gob some metal on it and grind the excess off and have it be strong. Seems to me you want a roof rack to be as strong as you can get it bending tubing is also a PITA. Do it wrong and it kinks. People who bend and weld tubing for a living have all the right tools to do a good job. I doubt that you will be able to do the same quality work.

Now, that said, I suggest that you buy it and use it like it is until you have found a local source of the same sized and thickness tubing that you can buy 40' of to play with. After you have used all 40' up deciding what you can do, then tackle rebuilding the rack. The idea here is to NOT learn on your expensive rack

A third option is to build your own rack from scratch just the way you like it. I would bet that you could do that pretty easily. After all you have taken a pig's ear and turned it into a silk purse allready. The learing process will be the same, but the rack will not be as forgiving. BTW, If I was going to build a rack, I'd use TIG instead of MIG or even braze the pieces together with a torch and brass rod. I am not a fan of MIG welds on something you can see. Good luck!

Good advice as usual Gerry. I appreciate it. Good point about tube and pipe. I've bent conduit, but as you said, pipe is a different critter. Also, most of the welding I did was out of the way and hidded, so it didn't matter if the seams were ugly (and most were).

I'm leaning toward buying it and seeing if I can't bring it back to original. They are kinda hard to find. I ALWAYS need a good project! Thanks man!

Go for it, John! If you don't try you'll never know what more you can do!