RAM PROMASTER VAN BUILD - DIY ROOF RACK

[@ron-almog]

Love it, love it! Engineering at it's best! I hope to follow your guidelines soon. thanks for sharing this!

[@LifeIsShortDIY]

Thank you for your feedback, and you are welcome. The real credit goes to Dave from Van of Action. The brackets are his design and they work GREAT! One more point I should add, I have had a few question my use of rivets in the build. This is a solid unit, no hesitation on my part, and if I was to build it again, I would do it exactly the same. Indecently there were no design changes necessary to address unwanted wind noise. The unit doesn’t seem to produce any wind noise at highway speed, and we also have not noticed a negative impact on fuel economy. You literally forget the solar panels are up there. Good luck with your build! Cheers Dwayne

[@VanOfAction]

Dwayne .... What a thrill it was for me to be told about your roof rack. A member of both our communities shared a link with me. Thank you so much for the kind words …. But more than that I love your absolute joy at 11:03 when you had it half done !! I remember exactly how that felt - and you really made me smile. I’m so happy it worked for you as well as it worked for me. Clearly you have more experience working with metal than I do - I always try to build in the ability to change and adjust things so rivets were not a consideration. Thanks for sharing the cost, do you have any idea about the time it took ? And lastly, I imagine it would only be helpful to others if I shared your experience with my community … can we talk about that >>> Happy New Year and I hope the storm wasn’t too hard on you. Be well … Dave

[@LifeIsShortDIY]

Dave, it is a real pleasure to hear from you. We have been following your channel for a while now. We like your approach and transparency. I do have some experience with metal, mostly from manufacturing aircraft parts, not as a profession, just as a hobby. What I find so very interesting to van building is we all bring solutions to the table from our own world of experiences. Whether you are a plumber, carpenter, metal worker we all have our own ideal methods of solving a problem. I like this more than anything else about KZbin. You get good ideas from others and we all benefit from the experience. I built the roof rack in 9 days; June 15th - 23rd. These were not full days, I generally work 2-3 hours a day on the van, sometimes a little more. That time period also encompasses video editing. So the build time would be less. Of course you are welcome to share my experience with your community, absolutely. Happy New Year to you as well, and yes, Lin and I did get caught in the storm. We were traveling at the time and ended up having to overnight in Gananoque - unbelievable driving conditions. Possibly the worst we have seen. Dave, I hope our paths cross, either when you’re out at this end of the country or we’re out that way. I really appreciate you dropping us a note, and keep up the good work! Cheers, Dwayne

[@bukit2361]

Great video! I did a similar project but bought steel brackets with hardware on Amazon 6 for $100. I used two 10' x 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 1/8" steel angle for $60. I used 3 large 41"x 69" x 1 1/4" 360 w panels. The panels themselves provide the structure between the rails. I used 3/8" bolts to bolt the angle to the brackets and 5/16" bolts to the panels 4 each.

[@LifeIsShortDIY]

Sounds like an excellent design.

[@rebbar64]

That is nice!

[@LifeIsShortDIY]

thank you.

[@RoadThruGrace]

I love your “Life Is Short DIY” channel name. I’m hoping you see this as it’s been at least a year since you uploaded your video. My desire is to obtain my own Dodge Ram ProMaster within the next few months. I truly love this video that the KZbin algorithm placed in my feed. My question has to do with the rivet gun(?) - does it require a lot of upper-body strength to get the rivets installed? p.s., I’ve subscribed too. 😊

[@LifeIsShortDIY]

Hi, thanks for your question. That is a difficult question to answer as strength is relative. I asked my wife how she would answer this question, as she has pulled rivets as well, and she says it takes hand strength, not upper body strength. A few thoughts come to mind. Many will assemble their aluminum roof racks with bolts instead of rivets, so that might be an option for you. Another option would be to use a pneumatic rivet gun, which uses compressed air to pull the rivet. They start around $60 on amazon and go up. If you can borrow a rivet gun, I would try it to see what works best for you. Thanks for the feedback and good luck with your project. Dwayne

[@ThePincola]

Hi, very interesting video. However, I can't understand the measurements because we use mm in Italy. I was able to understand the measurements for the aluminum, but I don't understand those for the bolts. Could you please explain what size the bolts correspond to? How many mm is the head, and how long is the screw? Thank you, Claudia

[@Dan645ci]

thank you, i i have purchased the sections, not sure about the bolt size and the drill bit size to make the holes for the bolts, if you would help please,

[@sunseeker8457]

Now all Dave has to do is to paten this before someone else does and sell a truck load of them!

[@LifeIsShortDIY]

No kidding

[@edempryamo]

Какая толщина этого профиля? В миллиметрах подскажите пожалуйста.

[@michaelcoverdale3374]

Great video and awesome hack... I was just looking for those clips. Is there a reason why you didn't mount the rack inside the clips for a lower profile?

[@LifeIsShortDIY]

Hi, thank you for the feedback and question. You actually need a little space underneath the solar panel for the electrical connection. I didn’t think this all the way through at time of install, but by the time I got to the wiring, which I captured in video 15, charging System, I realized that I had it right. Just the right amount of space to make everything work. I wouldn’t change a thing. The clips are designed by Dave from Van of Action. He does great work. Cheers Dwayne

[@jordanhanson316]

How on earth did you get a grip of the bolt head though, this method can’t be properly tightened

[@cgauthier5094]

Nice work !! I was wondering, what is the rivet diameter you used ? Thanks in advance....Just found in your vid ! Realy nice work !!

[@LifeIsShortDIY]

Thank you for your feedback.

[@cgauthier5094]

Hey Dwayne, any idea when you plan to install an awning ? I'm working on sketchup design and am scratching my head ? any autocad design in mind ? cheers

[@LifeIsShortDIY]

Have you picked e model or brand?

[@gregnorman3183]

I'm concerned about the strength of pop rivets vs bolts and nuts

[@jamesgardner9832]

Pop rivets keep the skin of planes on their frames.

[@FlyingCameraGuy]

I couldn't help but notice the Rv6 in the hanger. Is that yours? We had one for years.

[@LifeIsShortDIY]

yes. are you no longer flying?

[@FlyingCameraGuy]

@@LifeIsShortDIY no I'm not 🙁. I have very bad sleep issues and I won't get in the plane tired.

[@LifeIsShortDIY]

@@FlyingCameraGuy I understand. I'm sorry to hear that. I don't talk to many about how fortunate I feel to own and operate an rv6. As you would know, it is a privilege to fly this aircraft. Kindest regards. Dwayne

[@FlyingCameraGuy]

@@LifeIsShortDIY We loved our RV6 and flew it all over the country.

[@jamesbrunner6202]

What thickness tubing are you using

[@LifeIsShortDIY]

1/8” Cheers

[@ollydogtravels9465]

@@LifeIsShortDIY nice job

[@StevenDavisPhoto]

does anyone make these brackets for sale? i can make them but dont really want to.

[@LifeIsShortDIY]

Hi Steve, this is definingly a product that some tool-equipped manufacture could mass produce and spit out in quantity with very little gear up time. Having made them, I would pay up to $10 a bracket if they were available to buy. Having said that, I wouldn’t pay any more as they are super easy to make. Cheers