building my own roof rack, Blind Spot Monitoring question....

[JimL]

I am building a substantial rack for our Hobie Mirage kayaks. The rear mounts are at the "body mount bolts" under the rear corners of the body. There are vertical uprights (1" heavy wall square tube) that pass near the front edge of the rear tail lights. Anybody know if this will interfere with the BSM system?

My rear mount attachments are 1/4" "cold roll" steel plates, shaped to exit between the rear fender end and the bumper wrap-around (plate exits through the gap with no vehicle frame contact). It is critical to NOT connect a rigid roof rack to the rear area of the frame and to the body-side mount bolts just ahead of the front doors. All the driveline and road noise would be transmitted into the body cowl and into the dash area....which would be bad!

Anyone that knows more about the sensors....please speak up.

Thanks, JimL

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[JimL]

So....just took apart a tail light and it looks like a flat plate that is under the side (area that is slanted back slightly). It looks like the forward edge is far enough outboard that it won't get a good "look" at the rack vertical support.....but it might be close. It is almost against the back of that flat area you see from the outside. This could be a big problem for the aftermarket rack builders if they don't know what is going on. We can all watch this with interest....especially if I screw up!

I will get some pics tomorrow of my lower rack mounts, in the Jeep. The upper part of the rack is built, but I still have to add "bolt onto" tabs for securing the kayak carrier (which comes off as a unit with the kayaks, and hangs from the garage ceiling on an electric winch....nice to have 11' sidewalls in the garage). The scary part is yet to come....when I drape my welding "fire blanket" over the Jeep so I can tack weld the uprights to the rack. I did the same thing on my Tracker, years ago, and only ruined the windshield. This time I will be more careful.....I hope.

JimL

 

[JimL]

Test drove with the rack today after building the front mounts that anchor to the cowl side bolts. Those bolts go through an aluminum spacer that is in the plastic cowl piece (that is how it comes equipped), which allows tube extensions to mount the rack plate solidly and clear of the body. I have no problem with the Blind Spot Monitor.

No holes drilled anywhere to mount this rack and it will be strong enough to walk around on since all the tubing is .120" wall. I have a JD Squared bender that handles the heavy stuff just fine (just manual operation).

I will take some pics and show the mount method, once I get things cleaned up and paint the rack with Hammerite. This has been a tricky build because a lot of welding has to be done with the rack positioned on the roof, which is hard work getting my heavy weld blanket in place. All of that is done, now, and no paint or glass damage (Hooray!!)

JimL

 

[MotorCityJK]

The key with these is keeping metal out of the field of view since they're radar based. Figure on something like a 150° field of view starting at the radar unit's face. Can see through simple plastic but typically doesn't like sharp features.

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