100 Series Roof Rack Brackets

RotorHead04

Observer
Im building a roof rack for my 100 LC. The rack was the easy part, now I need brackets to mount it to the roof. Has anyone out there build their own brackets, or bought some to adapt and make work. Pictures and input would be greatly appreciated. I can't wait to get the factory one off and mount mine. Thanks!

IMG_1542.jpg
 

ricardo

Observer
I'm no expert but is only six ritnuts on each side of the roof..

I'm kind of confused my self in between getting a "Rail" (The water a moisture becomes a issue)..

I will say try to spread the load as much as possible and make the biggest, softer "feet" that you can get to spread the load (I have seeing some supports that are only a inch wide made of metal plate, but Rivnuts and rigid mounting mounts don't get along so well..
 

jhawk

Adventurer
I ran a six foot stick of 1X1 angle iron down the roof channel, bolted it down in all six spots and used this as the base. Once you have that your options are open. I'll try and get better pictures later.

Jim

IMG_0160.JPG
 

ricardo

Observer
I ran a six foot stick of 1X1 angle iron down the roof channel, bolted it down in all six spots and used this as the base. Once you have that your options are open. I'll try and get better pictures later.

Jim

View attachment 364210

Wow and not of your rivets have pop out...??

Only Toyota can do that..

Did you pre-bend it..??

Amazing, and I was so worry about it over torquing, surface/stress risers cracks, nightmare scenarios..
 

oliverlove

Adventurer
From what I understand wider feet are a bad thing. There are many documented cases of roofs being damaged and bent by feet that extend onto the roof itself instead of the rain gutter supporting the weight.

I am talking specifically about Baja Racks, and have no experience with others.
 

TrekboxX

Supporting Sponsor - TrekboxX
Maybe try Mike at Bump it Offroad. I don't know if he sells just the brackets, but they are very aerodynamic and very strong. He might be able to make them to your liking as far as height. Great guy.
 
64cb4bec125f019ae0ba5cfee198d6ac.jpg


Another thumbs up for Gamiviti mounts. 6 feet used to mount up my frontrunner slimline rack.

62e911f5bb512608b0f53f6672579b58.jpg



1999 Land Cruiser
 

altaboy

Observer
BryanBowie:

Wow. the thule/gutter interface is my stumblint block. I have a ghetto on my 60 that 1) has a thule hullivator rack on 1/2, 2) a home desperate security door as a cargo platform on the other 1/2.

Two questions:

1) I see 4 mounts on each side. typical 100's have either 2 or 3 factory rack pads per side. What did you do with that 4th mount foot?

2) Looks like you "through" bolted the thule to the Gamiviti. Can you confirm with detailed description of that interface?

3) not sure how the gusseted ARB brackets are use. Need some insight on that.

I bought some "surplus" discontiued full lenth 100 series curved captive nut style rails (can't remember manufacturer). Am trying to do the interface with this as it would spread the load along entire length of 100 series roof channel. But, if I can get your system to work (thule through bolt might be an issue for me), I might go that route.

Thanks!
 

BryanBowie

New member
BryanBowie:

Wow. the thule/gutter interface is my stumblint block. I have a ghetto on my 60 that 1) has a thule hullivator rack on 1/2, 2) a home desperate security door as a cargo platform on the other 1/2.

Two questions:

1) I see 4 mounts on each side. typical 100's have either 2 or 3 factory rack pads per side. What did you do with that 4th mount foot?

2) Looks like you "through" bolted the thule to the Gamiviti. Can you confirm with detailed description of that interface?

3) not sure how the gusseted ARB brackets are use. Need some insight on that.

I bought some "surplus" discontiued full lenth 100 series curved captive nut style rails (can't remember manufacturer). Am trying to do the interface with this as it would spread the load along entire length of 100 series roof channel. But, if I can get your system to work (thule through bolt might be an issue for me), I might go that route.

Thanks!

No problem, I'll try to answer as best I can.

1- I have four Gamiviti mounts, even though you see two or three feet on the factory rack, when you pull it and remove the channeling there are four mounting locations. I chose to run four so I could use four bars because I'm thinking about putting a Rhino Rack mesh platform horizontally on the front two bars. You'd be fine with three, my awning is only mounted on three of the bars.

2- I did through-bolt the load bar to the Gamiviti plates. I ran through-bolted bars on my AWD camper van for a long time along with the ARB awning through-bolted on L brackets I bought from the hardware store and never had any issue. So for these it's a sandwich: They're stainless 3/8" bolts and there is a washer on top of bar, then one underneath followed by a lock ring then a lock nut. All stainless. In the photo you don't see that I used u-bolts as well on the brackets. Check photo below and you can see them. That's what I'm running and testing right now, if there's too much vibration having the awning away from the Gamiviti mounts then I'll move the brackets in some.

3- ARB brackets are well made. Zinc plated and powder coated and robust. I ran cheapo hardware store L brackets on my last setup that I had drill extra holes through because back then these ARB brackets didn't exist. I bought them from @flyingwil at Sierra Expeditions, they're only 10 bucks a piece. Also the awning mounting holes are vertically oblong so you have about a half an inch to move it up or down on the bracket which was nice.

It's a solid option to a full rack if you either don't want to spend the money or need the width like I did. In the end if I have to I'll get a thinner cargo box and just buy a full rack but I'm hoping this works out. Also you can find Thule bars cheap on Craigslist usually or local bike shops, I got mine on sale at one.

Good luck!
mounted copy.jpg
mount crop.jpg
 
Last edited:

altaboy

Observer
Hi BryanBowie and thanks for getting back to me.

OK: so I am using thules like you to use as a foundation for custom rack.

Like you, my "rack space" is divided in half. But unlike you, it is divided lengthwise. check out this picture: 20141224_131222.jpg

Looking at your mounting, I take special note of that Thule through bolt. This won't work for me because the Hullivator surfboard rack (well, actually a modified kayak rack) base rests on top and sides of the thule cross member for the full width of the hullivator rack (or 1/2 the length of the thule bar). The protruding bolt head will interfere with this situation. see this photo: 20160913_121005.jpg

I guess I could have the bolt head rest on the inside surface of the thule bar (requiring a hole in the top surface large enough to pass bolt head through).

Option I am chasing is to use those 100 series specific captive nut extrusion mentioned above, then purchase from amazon 2 sets (8 total pieces) of Thule 542 Artificial Raingutters (note that they can be used in the horizontal plane) and bolt these to the 100 series specific extrusion. I will use washers to initially handle the elevation mismatch (roof curve forward/aft). Once dialed in, I can have metal (aluminum) blocks made to replace the washers.

Bonus is that these extrusions will distribute the rack/contents load over the whole length of the forward/aft factory roof reinforcement....at least hopefully.

All this hassle to preserve my existing (and semi-well thought out & trail proven) compo cargo/surfboard (and paddle board) rack set up. Tried to find similar from all the rack vendors...the thule bar interface was the big stumbling block.

I'll keep an eye on this thread in case other design ideas appear...........good luck and excellent "thinking outside the box"!
 

LandCruiserPhil

Expedition Leader
I ran a six foot stick of 1X1 angle iron down the roof channel, bolted it down in all six spots and used this as the base. Once you have that your options are open. I'll try and get better pictures later.

Jim

View attachment 364210

Excellent idea

If 1" angle worked Im sure 1" tubing would also.:victory:

This a great way to distribute the weight and give you options to build off of for a super low cost.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,527
Messages
2,875,534
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top