Yakima Load Warrior - Roof Rack Build

[Gordinho80]

Someone came across an old pic of my truck with the Yakima roof rack. Since the build was posted on the OS and the pics where hosted off my old domain, I decided to repost it here for anyone who was curious about it. I've since dismantled it and sold it all off.

So a coworker of mine sold me a BRAND NEW Yakima Load Warrior w/ extension for practically Nothing. I couldn't pass it up.

It was meant for his Ford Explorer, but he's since traded it in.

Here it sitting on top of my tiny kitchen table...




I'm going to mounting 4 of the Blazer Baja style lights on the front and 4 on the back as well. The front lights will have HID kits installed in them. I have the H3C kits from Hanh @ 3bspec. I opted for the higher 50w ballasts.

I will be mounting the lights themselves using aluminum plates, 3"x30", along the front and rear lower frame of the rack. I will secure the plates using 4 U-bolts per plate. I don't have any material yet, but I'm sure you are all bright enough to figure out what i mean.

I would appreciate some insight on a couple of things, all opinions, as stinky as they may be, are welcome...

1) I will be mounting the ballasts inside the rack somewhere, that's 4 ballasts up there that I would like to put into some sort of box, protecting them from the elements as well as from any gear I will be throwing up there. What suggestions do you all have as far as a product, material, etc to incase the ballasts? I don't want the box to be very visible, hopefully almost completely out of sight from the ground...

2) I am debating on whether or not I should get some vinyl cut out to place on the front of the fairing. If so, what I should do? I've thought about doing the Chevrolet logo, thought about Trailblazer logo, even thought about doing a sticker like Roadie's windshield decal... Suggestions?

Thanks all... I can't wait to get this set up finished.

UPDATE:

So I am still undecided on how to mount the lights to the rack. I was thinking of using a 30" x 3" metal plate, secured to the rack via U-bolts, leaving about a 1" overhang outside of the rack, that would be the mounting point for the lights. I wanted to do aluminum, but have not been able to find a plate that is 3" wide. Widest I've seen is 2". I wanted to avoid drilling holes through this rack, but I'm getting pretty close to just biting the bullet and doing just that! This biggest thing with that option, is that I wont be able to use the fairing. Not that it's going to do much, if anything, with the 4 lights in front of it.

Until the lights are mounted, I can't even begin to figure out how to mount the ballasts and what to put them in. I have the lights set up with the HIDs in place already, the leads are running out and give me about 8" of wiring. I still need to silicone the hole to prevent water from getting in there. I had to drill the holes larger, to fit the HID plugs...








SO... Should I just suck it up and drill the holes in this thing?????

UPDATE:

finally mounted the lights... pics only show 1 rear light, but there are 3....






i have someone making an aluminum box for the ballasts and relays. It will measure about 2"x6"x20-24". Intentions are to mount it UNDER the rack. I am running conduit or PVC pipe along the underside of the rack as well, to carry my wiring. All Wires will be feed up the rear cargo area. Running 8awg power and ground, as well as the 3 wires to act as the signal wires from the switches to the relays...

UPDATE:::

Relay and Ballast Box built, painted, and mounted... now its the finishing touches

ITS FINISHED!!!!

Update with a teaser pic.... spent some time in a shop yesterday... had access to all sorts of useful tools and materials... came up with this...



It needs paint and a couple of other little tweaks... but its SOLID! I based my design off of the stock Yakima mount, which is something like $80 BTW... This build cost me $20 in hardware... labor was all me...

So after seeing JD's thread on his Baja Rack... I knew that I had to update my load bars, was tired of the 1" round crap and the original Yakima Mounts... which are available if anyone needs a set...

I started looking at my set up again and figured out a different way of securing the load bars to the rails. See if you can figure it out from the pics...





OH... I also finished up the Hi-Lift Mounts.... pay no mind to the BELL bike lock, its temporary...

Figured out the mounting of the load bars yet?????? Here's a better pic...



And then some overall shots...

The noise issue that I had complained about in the past was not related to height of rack or the shape of the load bars... my noise issue was because I had mounted my lights to the rack's lower bar, the fairing flared out at the ends a bit. While driving, the wind would push them against the rack causing them to tap. I had since secured them back with plastic ring clamps...

notice the white ring in the upper right of this image... that is pulling the fairing tips down and securing it from flapping...



aside from all of that, the rack is awesome. I've since had to transport my old wheels/tires... threw one of them up there for the haul... no issues!

The Hi-Lift mount is SOLID!!! I'm really happy with how it came out. It holds the jack up there very well. Next will be a shovel mount, shovel, and some boards... wish I had a shovel and some boards yesterday.... LOL

[HARDTRAILZ]

Thanks for reposting this. I have the same basket and really like the light placement.

[SaltWaterDrinker]

Do you remember the dimensions on this? 44 by how long?

[navigator]

I think it is 39W X44L. You can also get an 18 inch extension.

[HARDTRAILZ]

Simple google search....

44x39x6.5
extension makes it 62x39.

[SaltWaterDrinker]

That was what I was looking for;

a 44x44 one threw me. Sorry..

[Cody_S]

You know, I've never thought to put HID's in the roof lights, that's an awesome idea. Well done