I decided after seeing all that was avaliable I would have a roof rack made up for my Gem. I decided my rack is going to be a mounting location for my Light Bar and in the future mounting location for a Solar Panel.
I took the roof off my car and brought it to the Fabricator
Send pics of the new rack and mounting tabs. I have tried to buy one from several locations that say they sell them but since they never respond I am going the custom fab route also.
I am also going to have to fab up a rear rack also.
One of the things that we were planning on doing is makeing a REAL rack the most popular roof rack for the E4 mounts to the very thin and flimsy roof Pannels. We are making our rack mount on the sturdy outer hoops. This way the rack will be a bit wider and have a solid mounting location.
I looked at that also. Seems cheap to mount into flimsy fiberglass. Almost a guaranteed FAIL if you actually use it… I want to load paddleboards and kayaks on mine as we use it to drive from the house to the boat dock. In a perfect world I will design mine to accept my Yakima racks…
I guess I can see the mounting problem. There is nothing to grab onto with the frame. The way that they handle it for the Dayang/Jonway/whatever vehicles is almost like a compression joint (for lack of a better term). I had trouble finding a good picture of the roof/luggage rack, but the rear bench rack works the same way …
Here another side shot. The main frame is gonna be 1-inch round. The lower section is gonna be 3/4 round. The way it’s gonna mount is drill and tap into the thicker aluminum main bars.
Very nice! Lindsey is talented. Maybe he should knock out a couple at the same time for resale.
I was going to suggest the same thing. Not that I need to say this, but you won’t get a quality build like that out of China. The rack that shipped with my Zap/Jonway was garbage. The weld joints were poor, some of the assembly pieces were drilled incorrectly, etc.
That wouldn’t be a bad Idea. It’s just bad timing right now. My fabricator buddy of 30+ years has to pack his bags and move out of town. The property his shop is located on has gone up in value so much he can’t afford the new rent and to stay in town. This was one of the last projects I was able to slide under his “to do” list. When he gets re established out of town in a few months down the road I’ll be able to see about getting others made. One thing is I didn’t feel like “stocking” roof racks for potential customers down the road. Please don’t take this the wrong way but there seems to be not a big market for anything expencive when it comes to GEMS. The customer base seems to be made mostly of DIY people that are more set up to Make somthing themselfs they buy somthing pre made. When these things are finished and painted they are gonna be in the $500 range so that would send most people packing right there.
JAT but maybe you could take pre-orders for a few with a non-refundable deposit and deliver in “n” weeks OR one of the NEV accessories shops might wish to carry his racks. Don’t know what the market would be. Also don’t know if these are all custom builds or if he built a jig to allow subsequent units to be built faster and cheaper. A jig would be faster and cheaper to mass produce but if it’s all built to order probably not much less than what you paid unless you got the “Friends and Family” discount.
What year is yours? If ours have the same roof dimensions, could you get another one made exactly the same? How much? That one appears to be stainless. I would be happy with DOM. I would paint it to match my car. Let me know plz.
My rack is tig welded from 4130 CHROMOLY. It’s not stainless but it looks like it. I asked Bill what he wanted $ to make another one and he said he would need to know that (Your Roof) was the exact same as My’n I’m guessing they are close but no 2 gems seem to be exact. If you were willing to Possabley bend or have to tweak in the event your roof is slightly different then I think he would be agreeable to make you one.
My car is a 2002.
I haven’t picked up my rack up Yett but it’s gonna be in the $500 range. It still needs the light bar tabs welded on. And then I have to paint it. I have a local guy that is gonna powder coat My’n black so im guessing he is gonna charge $50-$100 to powder coat it.
I just bought 17’s for mine so I need to hold a little while before spending anymore on it. Wife was a little upset about the rims. BTW 245/45/17’s look like they will work with a spacer on the front and a very slight body lift on the rear section. I will measure this exactly and let you know. I do want a roof rack but need a rear rack more. I do want to see yours powder coated.
