Did you buy the largest size clamps from FarmTek ? I'm thinking of buying their tubing as well...
I bought these:
105957 Quik Klamp Clamp-On Tees 1" (for 1.315" OD Pipe) (I just checked my invoice to be certain.) Buying the tubing from them is a great idea. I went to four or five hardware stores and finally settled for "close enough". What I have works fine, but if I had a do-over I would have gone with "perfect fit". I
think I have 1.25" OD Pipe. The set screws hold it fine and there is no rattling at all, but there is a teensy gap between the pipes and each fitting. I Plasti Dipped the works so it fills the gap pretty well. I'd see if FarmTek has U-Bolts to fit the pipe exactly, too. Mine are snug enough to stay on the pipe by themselves and I thinks that is helping the whole shebang stay together nice and tight. Of course, having the nuts on the U-Bolts nice and tight does much the same thing.
I'm going for the Rola basket from etrailer.com.
I almost bought that one before finally settling on the Rage Black Widow. I can't remember what my deciding reasons were, so it may have come down to a coin-flip. They are both very nice in my opinion.
Any cons to the install setup yet ?
Besides getting the perfect-fit pipe, I wish I had cut the pipe about 3/8" less in length. I cut the pipes to have as little play as possible and they ended up being a very snug fit. Having that extra 3/16" play at each end (3/8" divided by two ends) would have made the fittings a little easier to position over the existing roof rails. As deep as the sockets are on the fittings you will have plenty of overlap between the crossbar pipes and the fittings themselves, so the pipe doesn't have to go all the way to the bottom of the socket. The set screws will keep things in place so the whole works can't slide sideways anyway. If you have a good way to shave small amounts off the ends of the pipes you might shoot for a snug fit right off the bat and make adjustments as necessary.
I'd have the roof basket already on hand before you cut the pipe (I did, fortunately) because you'll want your crossbars to line up directly under a side-to-side bar on the basket. This allows your U-bolts to not have to sit at an angle. (See my second-to-last picture above.) The roof rails are not the same distance apart from the front to the back of the Jeep so if you cut them first and then needed to slide them forward or to the rear an inch or two to line up with your basket the distance between the roof rails will be slightly different. You'll also need to know exactly how far forward you want the basket to sit for the same reason. Once the pipes are cut (again, very slightly on the short side) you'll only be able to move them up or back a short way before the gap between the side rails becomes too large or small to go any further.
I did this seven months ago and have not needed to tighten anything down at all since, which surprises me. I figured the vibration of the road would necessitate some re-torquing from time to time. I suspect the cut pieces of heavy rubber gasket material I placed under the fittings to protect the roof rails are absorbing some of the shaking around they get when I hit a pothole or whatever.
I also used all stainless steel for the U-Bolts, washers, and nuts. As soon as it's warm enough they will be getting a layer of Plasti Dip but the pictures I took last month show that they haven't rusted at all as of yet. I also used lock-nuts on the U-Bolts along with lock washers to keep them from vibrating themselves loose. I got the right size U-Bolts and did not have to cut the tops off to keep them from sticking up above the bottom of the basket (see pictures), which has the added benefit of being able to tell at a glance if any are coming loose.
Overall, this ended up costing a little more than I expected. The fittings are terrific, both in quality and in function, but they are not cheap. I also went with heavier pipe and that cost more than the flimsy stuff. (I've seen some people use electrical conduit which looked too weak for my tastes.) Stainless Steel U-Bolts and fasteners were two to three times the price of the cheap stuff, but worth it. Plasti Dipping the crossbars was cheap and well worth it. And don't do like I did and drag your feet on the touch-up after you get the bolts tightened down or you'll have to wait all winter for a nice day to finish them off. :icon_lol:
