DR350 Jed Clampett Tail Rack

On my last trip into the woods I was caryying to much crap on my back and it got to be a real pain after a couple of hours. So I decided I needed a better tail rack so I could get stuff off my back and onto the bike. There were some nice ones to purchase, but it was either wait 4 weeks or buy one for a DRZ/DR650 and modify it. Forget that, I got myself a little bit of steel and used the existing rear tail frame as the basis for a rack.

It’s not as pretty as the CNC cut aluminum ones, but it sure works great. When you build yours you can adjust to suit your needs. I put holes in the top so I could attach my wolfman toolkit.

To do this, you’ll need a welder, a grinder and a hacksaw. If you dont know how to weld, find a buddy, or hunt someone down in your neighbourhood. There are lots of people who have welders who LOVE projects like this. Really.

You will need the following material:

2′ of 3/4″ thin wall steel tubing
2′ of 1″ x 1/8″ steel flat bar
3′ of 1/4″ steel rod
6 pack of beer for the neighbour with the welder

Here is the bare DR350 rear frame

First cut off the signal lights

Cut up two pieces of the 1″ tubing to the width of the rack. These will go across the fender.
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Cut up four pieces of the 1″ flat bar. You will have to cut one end on an angle to mate with the steel subframe on the bike as shown.

Here is where it gets tricky, welding it together. Here is what I did:

Make sure the ends of the tubes are 100% square
Make sure the flat bars for either side are identical in shape
Weld the tubes to the flat bar
Do a test fit to the subframe – as mounted on the bike
from here you might need to:
- splay the flat bars
- grind the angle
- twist the flat bars (especially for the rear piece)
Once you have a nice dry fit, then weld it up and test the fit. You might want to just tack it together and test the fit first though.