A little while ago I thought it would be great to install a Light Bar.
Unfortunately, that meant there were consequences for my roof racks, and top basket.
I started with a cheap black roof basket from TradeMe , but I soon decided I wanted a custom roof basket / roof tray made from alloy.

So, let’s start right off with the cheap black basket, and the light installed:

It does the job!
It doesn’t look pretty, but oh well. 🥴
But .. it rusts .. like, 3 months later, I’m starting to see rust …. that sucks!

So, I hatched a plan, that involved my friend Bipin, some designing, and some welding.

The Roof Cage Design

The design was simple enough.
Made from 32mm alloy pipe, I wanted a tray with two sides.

SIMPLE

Alas, nothing is ever simple.
Making the basket was easy for Bipin, and his uncle.

And I mounted my light to a cross bar.

done!

Or so I thought.

The Wind!

So, with a circular tube in the wind .. you get wind noise … lots of noise …
The moaning and the groaning …
The whistling …
And more moaning …

More moaning than a ghost having an orgasm 👻🍆💦

So, I guess I have to make this thing aerodynamic?
Actually, what I need to do is break the wind (not a fart 💨)

So, my first attempt was an acrylic “spoiler”.

It worked to re-direct the wind over the top, but often the wind would get behind it, and it would start rattling on the roof.

I also couldn’t figure out a way to keep the spoiler off the roof, it simply wasn’t strong enough to hold its own weight; it needed to be supported top and bottom.

The next step was to call Bipin.

Bipin !!! 🆘🆘🆘

The Solution

We discussed.
We did some small road/wind testing.
And we decided that simply “breaking” the wind should be enough.

Well I could do that by re-relocating my lightbar to the front, and putting in a spacer using 32mm alloy!

SOLVED!

The Conclusion

I’m super happy!
I think it looks pretty bad ass!
And it fits in with my white/silver themed truck!

And here’s a video walk about: