Let me start by saying that this is easily one of my favorite DIY projects ever. If you’re familiar with the Xterra, they come stock with a pretty decent roof rack. However, it’s not very wide and, while it’s strong, it’s really difficult to attach things to.
So, in order to have more flexibility and to allow for more attachment and strength, I built my own DIY roof rack out of Unistrut (AKA superstrut). I made a full video showing the measurements, steps, and ideas behind the roof rack, which you can view below.
There is info in the description of the video on YouTube, but here are links to the main components:
If you want to easily build your own version of this DIY roof rack, here are links to the items I used for mine:
3/8″ x 4″ x 5″ U Bolts (need 6): https://amzn.to/3aWHJg2 5′
Unistrut Channel Piece (need about 6 for Xterra, may vary based on your application-you can get this cheaper locally at a hardware store, but if having it shipped to you makes sense for the money, you can get it through Amazon): https://amzn.to/39Dyh3G
1/2″ bolts with channel nuts (better way to do what I did-I used 20 so you’d want two of these sets): https://amzn.to/3lFfHum
And here’s the video!