Easy, Inexpensive DIY Roof Rack using Superstrut/Unistrut 

I understand the system. I thought long and hard before deciding to assemble the rack in this way. Ultimately having a flat surface on top and the availability of mounting holes that don't require the actual unistrut nuts won out. I have some new gear going onto the roof soon which will require me to reconfigure the rack somewhat and I'll revisit what makes the most sense in terms of orienting the strut pieces. Thanks for watching!

"Boxer" from Black Rhino Wheels, 15x17 +15

New 10' piece of superstrut in Canada costs 86$, galvanized. Sold out at the 8 home depots in my metropolis... Gr.. What the heck. No used pieces sold on craigslist or FB marketplace..... Very frustrating.

I live in Europe and noticed it is surprisingly expensive, probably because galvanization. You can use aluminum profiles, which are probably going to be expensive as well.

Update: It cost me 600$ Canadian for the unistrut materials & fastners from Home Depot.

@@proxyicarcus you guys are getting robbed. I can get 3m (9-10ft) galvanised for like £20

Oh no! Call around to electrical supplies, I got mine for $37 a piece in my Canadian metropolis and all the fittings are cheaper too, especially in bulk quantities. ​@@proxyicarcus

Noted. For the record, everything mounted up there has lock washers except for the Superstrut connections. When assembling the strut structure, my understanding was that, thanks to the design of their construction, the compression of the two strut channels creates an outward tension that prevents the nuts/bolts from backing off. I can't cite a source for that - that was just my own conclusion after looking at the strut-specific hardware sold, and from watching numerous videos building assorted structures and contraptions using Superstrut/Unistrut. My real-world experience after 5 months, approximately 5,000 miles, and countless bumps, jiggles, jostles, twists, flexes, and every other possible movement on rough trails and obstacles as well as hours and hours of the wind of high speed travel, is that even without any sort of locking aid, nothing has budged in the slightest. I check and recheck the rack before and during every trip. The struts themselves remain absolutely firmly unmoved. The only thing I ever need to tighten down up there, interestingly, are the items which are mounted with lock washers. Nothing's falling apart. Nonetheless perhaps I will create some kind of test assembly, one with locking aids, and one without, and see if it makes any difference.

@@softroadingthewest any thoughts or changes after 7 months? I'm inspired to DIY. good channel

I have since reconfigured it slightly to accommodate a different awning setup (and painted it all black, looks MUCH better) but I'm still using it with no issue, and the modularity has proven useful for some later additions. I check the connections regularly but everything has held very well.

@@softroadingthewest thanks for the update! I see that modular building encourages altering and checking clamp force - never had any doubt but its nice to see.peojects evolve. GG

Hey George, thank you, these are useful tips. I did see some superstrut square washers at the store and they looked much more appealingly solid than stacking up regular washers & fender washers, but I couldn't find any that would fit inside the channel. My store didn't have a huge selection of fittings so I probably should do some poking around online. The current configuration is temporary...I do plan to cut down the length of the cross pieces once I know for sure how I was to keep everything, and then fit some end caps. I'm not terribly tall though and fit underneath the jutting ends, so I at least am not in too much danger. Probably should hold off on inviting my basketball player friends along until I've tidied that all up though. 8^D Oohhh...I had no idea about the paint on galvanized metal. I've painted a few random bits and pieces of galvanized before but nothing that was subject to any real abuse. I did get a can of flat primer in addition to paint hoping to help it adhere, but I suppose that doesn't change much...I mean, it's still just paint, right? Hmm, maybe I'll check into the bed liner stuff instead... Thanks George!

Tractor paint will fix those galvanized woes. FYI. I use it on my harbor freight trailer and galvanized u bolts for the spare, swivel mount and its shaft.

@@MarsOG310 great to know

Wrap the bars? Can you please give more details?

Yeah, for sure! That exactly what I was planning to do, get one more short piece of strut to put across the front of mine for mounting lights. If you already have a basket though there might be better ways to mount directly onto it, I dunno. The main problem with the superstrut is that the holes are *pretty* big...it's a little tricky to get smaller bolts mounted cleanly. I had to use two different washers in a few places in order to get things (hopefully) secure. 8^) Good luck, let me know what you end up doing. And thanks for watching!

Thanks Jon! I'm certainly not the first to build a roof rack out of superstrut, though I may be the first to do it this cheaply, LOL. And yeah, as much as I liked the rugged "overland-y" look of the basket, ultimately function has to win out...a box makes so much sense in so many ways. I'm thrilled to never again have to muck about with ratchet straps in the cold dark early morning, pre-coffee, trying not to be late to meet trail buddies. And maaayyybe regain an MPG or two as well I hope...this turned out reasonably streamlined...

Haha, yes indeed. I have in fact reconfigured this a bit and now have a conventional awning mounted there, which covers those ends. :-) Thanks for watching!

ROFLOL...

Noted. For the record, everything mounted up there has lock washers except for the Superstrut connections (even though a bit of research indicates that lock washers have generally been proven to be ineffective and possibly even detrimental). When assembling the strut structure, my understanding was that, thanks to the design of their construction, the compression of the two strut channels creates an outward tension that prevents the nuts/bolts from backing off. I can't cite a source for that - that was just my conclusion after looking at the strut-specific hardware sold, and from watching numerous videos building assorted structures and contraptions using Superstrut/Unistrut. My real-world experience after 5 months, approximately 5,000 miles, and countless bumps, jiggles, jostles, twists, flexes, and every other possible movement on rough trails and obstacles as well as hours and hours of the wind of high speed travel, is that even without lock washers, nothing has budged in the slightest. I check and recheck the rack before and during every trip. The struts themselves remain absolutely firmly unmoved. The only thing I ever need to tighten down up there, interestingly, are the items which are mounted with lock washers. So...no need to be disturbed. Nothing's falling apart. Nonetheless perhaps I will create some kind of test assembly, one with lock washers, and one without, and see if it makes any difference.

Check out AvE's videos on lock washers. Totally ineffective.

Found the sparky

Was totally a Star Wars Reference I got ya bruh 👍.

That's awesome! I'm still super happy with my setup (which I've since painted and it looks much nicer now). Just the other day I scored some more pieces of Superstrut for next to nothing at the reuse-recycle center and have an idea brewing for a new project...love this stuff! Thanks for watching!

Sorry about that. 8^) It was on my way.

🤣😂🤐

🤣

Thank you! And yeah, we still haven't got around to shooting the awning video but we're planning to tackle it this weekend! Thanks for watching!

Putting my sleeping platform and kitchen into the back takes just a few minutes, then it's just a question of tossing my sleeping bag back there, throwing in food & water, tucking the chain saw in somewhere. At this time of year when I'm out on the trail frequently, I tend to leave the traction boards & shovel mounted. I only put the Rotopax on the roof on the morning I leave on a trip, otherwise it stays safely stowed in the garage. Most of what's in the roof box stays up there permanently because I never know when I might need it and then I don't have to even think about it when prepping for an outing. That includes the rest of my recovery gear, camp chairs, my DIY awning components, an extra tarp, my compressor, etc. Tools also ride permanently in the car so I never have to think about packing them along (and/or possibly forget to bring them). Part of my goal with this whole roof setup was to make departures fast and easy. I often like to leave very early in the morning, especially if I'm meeting buddies off in the central Oregon or something, but it was impossible for me to put everything in my previous roof basket the night before because it wouldn't fit in the garage, and I didn't want to leave it on the street that way. So I'd have these terrible starts to the day, fumbling around trying to hurry strapping crap to the roof before I've even had any coffee...LOL. This setup fits in my garage ready to go, so in the morning I can just throw in the cooler and my camera gear and I'm ready to roll.

softroadingthewest we currently have an ‘11 Chevy Equinox and a Yakima Skybox (21ft³) that we purchased years ago when we had a Dodge Grand Caravan, then it was on top of a ‘05 Suburban, but it’s really too big for the Equinox. It “fits”, but the rear hatch doesn’t open all the way and with it mounted the rig is too tall to fit in the garage, or any parking garage. The Equinox is also a bit too small for us, and it’s “all wheel drive” is very sorely lacking, it fails in every metric except for sucking fuel. I really wish we’d sold it and kept the ‘Burb… Anyway, thanks for responding. I only just found your channel and while we’re not likely to get anything as small as a Subaru I’m learning new things, as well as future places to explore, watching your videos. Really like your videography style, you seem really comfortable in front of the camera. I tried to make some videos showing how I do some of my woodworking several times and I can honestly say it’s much harder than it looks. I have huge respect for those who do it well, like yourself. Keep up the good work, maybe someday we’ll bump into each other on the trail. ✌🏼

Yes, that's always a concern with steel. The Unistrut is galvanized and seems to be pretty resistant to rust, although it does want to rust a bit anyplace the galvanization has been cut through. I've since very thoroughly painted the rack so hopefully that will help keep things protected. So far I haven't had any issues, and I live in one of the wettest parts of the U.S. :-)

Doesn't whistle at all (which I admit surprised me, it sure looked like it would make some noise). The crossbars with nothing on them actually make way more noise than the crossbars with all this stuff on them.

Good luck with your build, and thanks for watching!

It is a gem of a resource for sure! I'm always happy to have an excuse to go poke around there. :-)

Thanks! If you just need to mount x-bulls without all the other stuff, be sure to check out Jordan's video ( ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aI5nf3w2s2w.html ) for an even easier solution that doesn't require messing around with the superstrut components.

Yeah my first pair of chills came with a bag but sometimes they can get pretty muddy when you loan them out. You just don't want that mess in your rig. In my case a full size van. I think I can modify to hang on the rear door hinges.

Thank you!

It's great stuff! I can't believe I hadn't discovered it before. Thanks for watching!

Gotta love Eugene!

Nice! I really like how versatile this material is. I have some more pieces floating around the garage and I keep eyeing it and thinking to myself...hmmm...what am I going to do next with this stuff? :-)

There are some cool videos for this where you can make entire rack out of unistrut. Also there’s Aluminum if you wanna save some pounds.

This stuff is so great to work with. I used it again to build a roof rack on my next rig: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vyfX-HKxjK8.html and have also used it as structural framework for cabinetry inside my current camper. Good luck!

Worth a try! Good luck and thanks for watching!

Thanks Dan!

Haha, oh man, I've got nothing of interest to show there. Video production was a totally unexpected and unplanned evolution of my whole softroadingthewest project and I've just been making do with what I already had on hand. For many years I've made part of my living doing still photography, so I already owned a decent (but not really video-oriented) mirrorless camera & lenses, which capture the bulk of my footage. A lot of it though is just my aging iPhone 6 handheld out the window (jump to 19m40s of my East Klamath Lake video, LOL). I did JUST start using my (new-to-me but used) 3rd gen iPad Mini to capture some POV driving shots, but that's really just a lucky by-product of mounting it for nav purposes using the cheapest solution I found on Amazon, LOL. A few of my videos do include some GoPro footage, but those were all borrowed GoPros (I'd love to have one though, they are great, especially the Hero 7 Black). If I had only an iPhone, I think my next investment would be some sort of DSLR or mirrorless camera and a lens or two, I think that gives you more potential to capture interesting, "cinematic" shots. Coupled with a tripod (or someone along to take shots/drive the car) and some patience, that will let you capture compelling drive-by trail scenes, as well as nice B-roll. I'm admittedly biased though by my history with "real" cameras - I'm attached to the look, the ability to swap out lenses, and the overall control. I'm sure there are some channels creating very nice content with GoPros only. For me, the look of GoPro footage is so close to the look of iPhone footage (tiny wide-angle lens, tiny sensor, zero bokeh) that a "big" camera makes more sense to me as the next logical step. That said...man...the ability to be mounted anywhere, take abuse, get wet or even go under water...a GoPro is not a terrible choice by any means and I want one bad. 8^D Plus then of course one day, a drone! Anyway, I doubt I will make a video about shooting videos anytime soon as I feel like such an under-equipped newb, but I hope this at least helps a little. Frankly I think you're doing a *fantastic* job with just the phone...it's really true what they say, it's not the camera, it's what you do with it.

You may feel like a noob, but you shoot like a pro! Thank you for the advice! I’m going to stick with the iPhone for awhile. No budget to invest in camera gear for my hobby. My “sponsor” limits my trips to one about every 2 mos and she’s not loving my random, miscellaneous Amazon purchases.

@@madeinjapanoverland1843 LOLOL...I hear you. 8^)

I don't see why not. That's what I did on my subsequent rig. I haven't had the Forester in years and can't quite picture those side rails, but I would think some kind of u-bolt looping under the side rail then passing up through the holes in the unistrut. Take a look at what I did for my truck roof rack (after this Forester was totaled by a red light runner). The specific u-bolts I used for my truck's side rails would not work on the Forester, but same general idea to clamp unistrut crossbars down and then build up from there: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vyfX-HKxjK8.html

Well, it's only been a few months, but so far, no. It's galvanized so it seems to be pretty resistant to rust. The exception would probably be any place where it's been cut...I've noticed any spots where the galvanized surface has been damaged, it can look a little rusty. My intention all along was to paint it anyway, and I've actually finally just got around to doing that (video update coming...eventually) so hopefully that will offer a little extra protection. The stuff is so thick and heavy though that it would take a LOT of rust damage to ever compromise its strength. I'm sure it will well outlast the Curt roof basket I had on the car previously. Thanks for watching!

That stuff is electro-plated with "gold-guard". It"s usually used in industrial buildings to hold the plumbing & electrical to ceiling. I worked at a warehouse, they made that on one side of building. I was in that dept, shipping it. Wish I would've kept some of it!

Interesting idea!! They do seem to be formed in a way to make them as rigid and resistant to bending as possible, but I've never tried (nor have I ever used a pipe bender) so who knows!

Haha, yep, that is spot on. Nine times out of ten, I leave Bring empty-handed, not having found something that works for whatever project I'm doing (although it's always fun to poke around anyway). I could not believe my luck at not only finding a handful of the smaller Superstrut, but having the pieces already be at more or less the length I was envisioning. Doesn't go that way very often. 8^D Thanks for watching!

Nice, good luck with the build!

No Loctite or welding, I planned to take it back apart and reconfigure it (though that hasn't happened yet, heh). Just lock washers in places where it was feasible to use them. I do check it pretty religiously, and so far haven't had anything budge in the slightest. On a daily basis, I don't drive around with my shovel, traction boards, and Rotopax mounted up there...the rack just runs bare. Which means I'm up there handling it every couple of weeks when I load it up for a trip and take stuff back off afterwards, and rechecking all the connections is part of that routine. Thanks for watching!

softroadingthewest nylon washer nuts or whatever they are called might work too

Go into a Home Depot and take a look at the material (should be with the electrical conduit) to get a feel for it, but my sense is that it is FAR stronger than my crossbars. In fact my (cheap, aftermarket) crossbars are sagging slightly in the middle and I'm planning to just replace them with super strut. I don't know the numbers on what it can hold - and obviously this isn't the intended use for this product - but it's seriously heavy-duty stuff. I would suspect it'll easily handle well more weight than your roof rack is even rated to carry.

Check Home Depot: www.homedepot.com/p/Superstrut-1-4-in-Nylon-Strut-Cone-Nut-Gold-Galvanized-5-Pack-ZCM1001-4-10/202077349 I usually shop at a different locally-owned home improvement store that I like much better than Home Depot, but they only carry the spring style unistrut nuts. I much prefer the nylon-wrapped ones and go to Home Depot just to get these. :-)

Finding some used material definitely helped keep this very low budget, though even buying the material new, it still comes to quite a bit less money than a platform from Rhino Rack or Front Runner...granted, not nearly as nice looking. 8^D Thanks for watching!

@@softroadingthewest I just completed my rack, which you inspired. The full rack will cost more than a cheap budget rack, but it's much stronger. It was a fun build. It's like putting together an erector set (shows you how old I am). The best part is having the option of designing and customizing the rack to your needs, plus you can always change it if you need to. I would encourage to do the same - Thanks, Dan

No. I mean, I *did* actually do some additional work on this, and shot video of it, but it ultimately the content didn't seem all that interesting or adequate to build a whole video. Basically, I did end up taking it apart and painting the pieces - looks MUCH better painted black - and reconfiguring things slightly for my current awning setup (which also ended up mitigating those cross struts sticking out to the side). It's now been a year and 4 months and it has held up great, has stayed firmly secured together with no loosening at all, and I continue to be satisfied with this solution! Sorry the follow up wasn't there, hope this info helps a bit. Let me know if you have any other questions! :-)

None whatsoever. Everything is snug and firm, there's nothing to rattle. The only thing that makes noise is my DIY awning because there are a couple of pieces of loose-fitting electrical conduit inside that PVC pipe housing. The rack itself is silent and has not budged in the slightest over more than 5,000 miles of both high speed highway and freeway travel, and countless hours of bumpy twisty flexy forest roads. I really wasn't sure what to expect when I put this together on my roof but it has outperformed my expectations. I remain thrilled with how well this has worked out.

No leaks. I give an update on it in my recent overview of the gear I use, here's a direct link to that spot in the video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QHpaeYmhd3U.html

The strut seems to be designed to maintain tension against the nuts/bolts. I check them before every trip but I've never had a single one loosen even slightly, despite countless hours of constant jostling on rough roads. The wing nuts on the traction board tie-downs are the only things I've had vibrate a little bit loose.

Yes. I'm short enough to be safe, but it would be advisable for anyone taller than me to adjust the length of the cross struts accordingly. :-)

Which hardware? The strut is galvanized, and any parts I used were galvanized. I never ran into any issues. In fact this worked out so well that when this car was totaled in an accident two years ago, I used all this to build a rack on my replacement vehicle. I have a video about that actually: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vyfX-HKxjK8.html After a couple years on my Forester, it was then on my truck for nearly two years. I've only just deconstructed it a couple weeks ago because I'm getting a cabover camper, but I've once again saved all the same pieces to use in some future project. :-)