Roof racks? and a Rambox measurement question...

[Couchsachraga]

I toss a canoe on the roof occasionally and am trying to figure out what options exist for the 2019 Ram (mine should be here in 10 days... next possible canoe trip with family in town is 12 days...). Are there points on the roof we can attach rack rail or brackets, or are the only options a bed mounted rack (a few for Rambox trucks), or the type the hooks in to the door opening?

Also... if someone happens to have a Rambox... that is the "rail" measurement (top of bed) before and after (bed just behind the cab to ram box lid, then after the lid to the end of the box) the ram box lid? I have an interesting idea for that space if it is big enough....

Thank you for any and all measurements /ideas!

 

[MrHankbot]

I too have a pair of kayaks I will need to transport along with a camper and a few bikes. Looking forward to seeing what people are/planning to use.

 

[Couchsachraga]

For those wondering my plan - there are times when a truck bed is what I need, but a lot of the time it is just a place to keep things out of the weather, particularly larger items (skis, items for tractor or snow grooming equipment that are broken to bring down to the house for repair), and all these will fit under a tonneau cover (usually). I have an "expedition" rack that is a wonderful platform for even larger items (dogsled, whatever). My thought is to attach brackets to hold down cross bars that I U bolt to the rack (I have it set up this way now with Yakima control towers so it can go on / off the roof in around a minute). If the space before and after the ramboxes is big enough I'll make a plate to go under and over it (sandwich the bed) and bolt the "landing pads" on to the truck. Different and spacing and rails and I'll be all set to go (the rack is 4' wide, so will fit between the ramboxes when they are open .

Right for the roof of the truck I'm thinking the appropriate Yakima "Core" racks XL (80" wide for two canoes). The question is whether the black strip on each side of the roof is hiding any points to attach landing pads from the factory (as many companies seem to do) or if to put anything up there I'll need the gutter less attachment type.

Another option would be to put rails up there, which I'm OK doing if there are factory attachment points, but anything the requires drilling I'm not going to do quite yet.

 

[202snowman]

I toss a canoe on the roof occasionally and am trying to figure out what options exist for the 2019 Ram (mine should be here in 10 days... next possible canoe trip with family in town is 12 days...). Are there points on the roof we can attach rack rail or brackets, or are the only options a bed mounted rack (a few for Rambox trucks), or the type the hooks in to the door opening?

Also... if someone happens to have a Rambox... that is the "rail" measurement (top of bed) before and after (bed just behind the cab to ram box lid, then after the lid to the end of the box) the ram box lid? I have an interesting idea for that space if it is big enough....

Thank you for any and all measurements /ideas!

There are no attachment points in the roof on my limited with the pano roof.

 

[Couchsachraga]

Awesome looking truck!!

Thank you for the roof shot - unless those black strips are hiding something (and I'm guessing no, though I wonder why they are there...) it'll have to be the type the clamps to the vehicle via the door openings.

 

[Edwards]

The top of bed rail before RamBox is 4.5" (steel, plastic cover is just short of that) and between RamBox and end of bed is 5 7/8". I also just posted pics of the inside of the bed sides with the RamBox removed if that helps conceptualize: https://5thgenrams.com/community/threads/how-to-adjust-remove-ramboxes.2530/

 

[Couchsachraga]

That is a very helpful post, and I appreciate the dimensions too. The landing pads I have are 5"; there may be shorter ones as the space needed to actually attach the racks is smaller.

 

[BostonBlueRam]

I have been researching tonneau covers that can accomodate bed racks (crossbars across the bed). Here are two that I found (both don't support rambox vehicles, only w/o rambox)

1. American Roll Covers
2. Retrax XR Series..

Both come with and/or accomodate Yakima and maybe Thule rack setup.

I literally just bought the Retrax XR series cover because there is a special promo going on right now where if you buy the cover they will mail you a free Yakima JetStream cross bar system, the towers, bars, and locks for FREE!!

The deal ends tonight at midnight though so if you going to do that, you better get on it!
https://www.retrax.com/p-37773-retraxone-xr.html#!year=2017||make=DODGE||model=RAM 1500

 

[Couchsachraga]

Looks like a great system if you don't have a ram box

I have lots of Yakima round bar parts and such around; if I can use landing pads (and I think I can now) I should be in good shape. I'll post images when it is all set up (of course, first I need the truck!)

 

[NewtoMOPAR]

Great post. Couchsachraga ...curious to see/hear any updates. Hoping to get my Limited in a couple of weeks. It will have Ramboxes, so I am curious to see how folks are transporting their 'stuff'. I have a canoe and SUP that I need to put on a rack...

 

[Couchsachraga]

I fabricated brackets that bolt on between the tonneau rail and bed that are an inverted "L" shape so the Thule "feet" are bolted to them. Yakima feet appear to long for the front. This allows an expedition rack on back (6' in my case, as I already had it). Great to have the (covered) bed for gear and large objects, and then a second layer up top for whatever else fits.

Canoes are too long, of course. I just ordered Yakima Corebars (80") with the feet and clips that hold on by the doors. Not my preferred option, but as Ram didn't include captured nuts or places that feet bolt down it is what we have to work with. It is actually one of the bigger disappointments with the truck so far (which shows how great a truck it is overall ).

I'd thought about a "back rack" of some sort, then a canoe carrier in the hitch, but that makes getting in to the bed tough.

Here is an image of the expedition rack (with the tent on it.. first time out in years (we used it a lot before we had kids... now we have a pop up...).

 

[Subystar]

I fabricated brackets that bolt on between the tonneau rail and bed that are an inverted "L" shape so the Thule "feet" are bolted to them. Yakima feet appear to long for the front. This allows an expedition rack on back (6' in my case, as I already had it). Great to have the (covered) bed for gear and large objects, and then a second layer up top for whatever else fits.

Canoes are too long, of course. I just ordered Yakima Corebars (80") with the feet and clips that hold on by the doors. Not my preferred option, but as Ram didn't include captured nuts or places that feet bolt down it is what we have to work with. It is actually one of the bigger disappointments with the truck so far (which shows how great a truck it is overall ).

I'd thought about a "back rack" of some sort, then a canoe carrier in the hitch, but that makes getting in to the bed tough.

Here is an image of the expedition rack (with the tent on it.. first time out in years (we used it a lot before we had kids... now we have a pop up...).

View attachment 14700

I would love some up close pictures of how you did this. I was going to settle for no rambox because I need to regularly mount 2 bikes over the bed of the truck. I don't want to just put them in the bed because then all my other gear is available for anyone walking by. Now it looks like I can have my cake and eat it too!!

 

[Johntof]

Just bumped in to this.

 

[NewtoMOPAR]

Just bumped in to this.

Just bumped in to this.

Johntof - I believe this won't work with a Rambox, yet … hopefully soon, though. Getting ready to order my truck with Rambox and Pano-roof. Have to get a canoe and SUP on the truck and looking for solutions, too....

 

[Couchsachraga]

Yakima makes racks that will work for the roof, and you can fab brackets for a rack over the box. Images later tonight.

 

[Couchsachraga]

My apologies for the delayed reply - I don't get e-mail notification of new posts all the time, and don't always remember to check my notifications.

Here are Yakima racks on a 2019 Ram, panoramic sunroof, Ramboxes. Also the brackets I welded up to accept Thule landing pads (the Yakima are too long - which is too bad, as I have lots of Yakima gear but no Thule other than boxes!). I used 1" square tube and picked up caps at the hardware store. I welded on a piece of plate, which is sandwiched between the BUG tonneau rail. At some point I might try welding directly to that shelf. Right now there is 1 bolt that goes through the rail (normal bolt that holds I to the bed), through a hoe drilled in the bracket I made, then in to the truck bed as usual. So far it works well, but I do think it would be stronger if welded directly to the rail instead of being a separate bracket.

I'll add that now that I've had Ramboxes I can't imagine having a truck without them.

 

[subkron]

That is way cool, I was looking to fabricate something as well. Do you have sketches or a cad model of your brackets to share?

 

[Couchsachraga]

Here is how I fabricated them - and then below how I might do it next time:
-bent some 1/8 flat stock so the top 3/4" or so was at 90 degrees to the rest that hung down a bit further (I did measure at the time, but do not have the measurements. If you remove the tonneau rail you'll see that you need the "inverted L" to clear the top of it and the bottom to go down far enough so you can drill a hole through it (using the same bolt / hole as one of the rail fasteners). I do a bit of blacksmithing so I just heated it up in the forge and bent it around. Those with a modern machine shop can use other methods
-Welded some 1" box to the top of the inverted L, making sure it would clear the ram boxes (they need to be offset a bit, particularly the front one)
-Slid the bracket behind the loosely tightened rail in to position and marked through the existing hole in the rail where the brackets each needed to be drilled, then drilled the brackets (1 hole in each)
-test fit, then cleaned them up, painted them, drilled for the Thule brackets, and installed caps from the hardware store
-Refit and tightened

So, what I might I do next time?
-Weld a bracket directly on to the tonneau rail, potentially using angle instead of box. The downside is of course corrosion on the screws that hold the bracket in, so I'd make sure to use stainless (which they may already be). This would mean a stiffer platform and a lower profile (you just need it high enough for the screws to clear) but would be permanent (to the BUG rail, not truck).

 

[subkron]

OK, got it pictured in my head, nice and simple, thanks! Just a few follow-up questions when you get a chance.

Does the top of the 'L' rest on the plastic Rambox cover to keep your bracket from rocking front to back?

Did you encounter any interference or binding with he rail components since the tonneau rail at those ends would be spaced from the truck by the 0.125 material thickness? Did you shim all the other fastening points by 0.125" to keep the rail straight?

What if instead of a drilled hole the bottom of the L was notched to be as wide as the rail fastener? You would only need to loosen the fastener and then just slide the bracket on/off without trying to align the hole?

I am looking for a system to carry a couple of canoes when needed but then removed when not. I was thinking a rack on the cab and then something - like the bracket you have - at the rear to accept a rack system (looking at oakorchard style #2). The top 'L' would be sized so I could bolt on the off-the-shelf system. The tonneau I have is the Truxedo LoPro and there is a gasket that I would need to remove to mount this bracket and replace when the brackets are removed. Not a big deal.

Thanks

 

[Couchsachraga]

I left some space between the "L" and the plastic out of habit.

The rail is a bit more flexible than your might expect - it tightened down fine without spacers. That said, I did squeeze some mini cell (closed cell) foam in there (I have it in sheets) to help keep water out.

Given the ability for it to still bounce and move I wanted it bolted in. Aligning the bolt is easy (it is a type of body bolt that self-centers a bit).

If you are looking for one rack on the cab and another behind I'd look at the hitch mounted "T" racks for simplicity sake.

Yakima LongArm Truck Bed Extender Rack Extension | REI Co-op

The Yakima LongArm Height Extension attaches to the LongArm Truck Bed Extender in the vertical position and adjusts to match the height of your cab's roof rack to offer a long, 165 lb. load capacity.

www.rei.com