Originally Posted by
Nightshade
These homemade rack will never, ever, hold much weight side to side due to simple inertia. ...
IMO these racks are more of a danger and trouble that they could ever be worth from a simple
engineering stand point. For this application it's welded rod or forget it.
I tend to agree with this, basically.
You see a lot of threads asking how to build racks (and especially trailers) out of "whatever junk you have lying around", but it's not going to hold together well, and it's most likely to fail while you're carrying a heavy load.
If you plan on never carrying anything
breakable, maybe that will work for you.
It won't for me.
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To be picky I would suggest using smaller steel tubing, not rod (heavier but not as stiff) or aluminum (difficult to weld well).
Also I would warn you that making your own rack is usually not a way to save any money. Even if you regard your labor as "free", the cost of decent materials and welding will cost more than a store-bought rack probably would. The main reason to DIY is if you can't buy something that will work for what you want to do.
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