ARB Roof Rack Mounts

[LandCruisers4Life]

I knew the rack was gutter mount. I have no problem making mods to put it on.

I just got all the stuff I need together after going to 3 different stores. I'm getting up early tomorrow to cut and fabricate everything I need to put it on. All I need to do is get my welder out and get busy measuring, cutting and welding. I even get to keep the sunroof wind deflector

[roscoFJ73]

Ive seen a couple of references in this thread as to how american 100 series roofs are different to 100 series in other markets.
How can they be that different that they affect the fitting of a roof rack?

I was watching a dvd and ARB says they import any 4wd if its not availble in oz for exact design and fitting requirements.

[LandCruisers4Life]

That's right, and I have trouble buying their bullshit they were trying to feed me over the telephone. They brought an FJ Cruiser over to Australia to work at building specific parts for it. I don't think they are telling the truth.

[Trunk Monkey]

Originally Posted by roscoFJ73

Ive seen a couple of references in this thread as to how american 100 series roofs are different to 100 series in other markets.
How can they be that different that they affect the fitting of a roof rack?

As was stated earlier, the front mounts for the US luggage rack are narrower than the mounts for accessories out of the US. There are captive nuts in the roof but they're covered by a plastic strip that runs along where the feet sit. So, they're the same roof, just the forward two nuts get covered in the US and the luggage rack uses the rear ones.

[LandCruisers4Life]

I uncovered the gutter and the captive nuts in the front were the last ones on the gutter.

Forget all that now, I am way past that point. I have already taken care of the ARB mounts. I took off the paint, and welded all holes shut, ground back down flush and re-drilled the holes in the proper spacing.

The front mounts are now re-painted and mounted on the front of the Cruiser.

Yesterday I fabricated 3 cross members (joists), and am fitting them up with the side rails today to see where I need to make my welds on the side rails. The base of the inti rack will sit on the side rails, and I need to measure and mark where I want that. This is to take into consideration for the wing on the rear hatch when rear hatch is in the up position. I should be done with the fabrication and give it all a final paint job before bolting it to the roof of the vehicle. After that, I will be able to bolt the Inti rack directly on top without a problem.

[LandCruisers4Life]

I got the entire sub frame fabricated to mount the Inti roof rack. I found a flaw in the Rack itself. Whoever made it in Venezuela made the rear most cross member a bit too short. So the rack is the same width from the front, through the middle, and then tapers slightly towards the back end. I found this when I set the Inti on top of my SQUARE sub frame. So..... that is another issue to deal with. Not that big of a deal, but I found it interesting.

I decided that I am going to weld plates to the side of the sub frame, and bolt the rack frame to those plates. The rack frame will sit right down on top of the sub frame, between the mounting plates. In turn, the rack will be bolted right to the sub frame via 12 bolts (3/8") with Nylock nuts toward the inside. I thought I would be done today. Not the case..... However, a good job often takes time.

[1loudLX]

you should have just made your own rack from the get go. would have been easier, haha

[Boston Mangler]

See my other post on Portal

If i am not mistaken, the 80 body (which is what your rack is designed for) tapers to the rear of the truck.

Guessing the issue is not a "flaw" but a design difference!

Carry On.........

[Trunk Monkey]

Aren't the Inti racks aluminum?

[LandCruisers4Life]

Yes the base of the Inti is aluminum. The side rails, and light cage are light weight steel. The Inti rack is very light.

The thought crossed my mind about building my own rack already. However I payed $1265.00 for the Inti so I am going to make it work!

[hoser]

Originally Posted by Trunk Monkey

There are captive nuts in the roof but they're covered by a plastic strip that runs along where the feet sit. So, they're the same roof, just the forward two nuts get covered in the US and the luggage rack uses the rear ones.

Originally Posted by LandCruisers4Life

I uncovered the gutter and the captive nuts in the front were the last ones on the gutter.

I believe the australian spec LC's use the set of captive nuts that are aft of the B-pillar while the US LC's used the nuts fore of the B-pillar. LC4Life, if you would have uncovered the rear side gutter cover, you would have found the other set. But since your rack is a full length rack, I'm sure you would have opted to use the most forward mounts anyway.

The US LX470 used both sets of captive nuts depending on the year as seen here.

[Greg B]

Originally Posted by LandCruisers4Life

Yes the base of the Inti is aluminum. The side rails, and light cage are light weight steel. The Inti rack is very light.

The thought crossed my mind about building my own rack already. However I payed $1265.00 for the Inti so I am going to make it work!

Wow! So with the ARB mounts and the rack, you are upwards of $1500 for this rack? Man, with all the fab work you are doing and the cost, this must be a killer rack. I haven't seen this rack yet, do you have a pic or a website I can see what this rack looks like?

Edit: Also, how do they weld steel rails to an alluminum base? I've always heard that you should not have alluminum contacting steel directly because the two different materials will react against each other and corrode. Is this not true?

[Trunk Monkey]

Originally Posted by Greg B

Edit: Also, how do they weld steel rails to an alluminum base? I've always heard that you should not have alluminum contacting steel directly because the two different materials will react against each other and corrode. Is this not true?

You can't weld steel to aluminum, just bolt/rivet/glue. You're talking about a dissimilar metals reaction, which can be a real problem. The e-brake levers in the 60 and 80 series (not sure about the 100) are aluminum with a metal pin holding them in place, very common for corrosive issues and binding up. So, you'd have to really coat one of the metals or both (paint or powder coat) to prevent this from happening.

[LandCruisers4Life]

The sub frame is steel, and the rack itself is aluminum. Both will be coated

With rack, steel, mounts......... probably more like $1800 involved, along with my time and welding/fabrication.

A labor of the heart I guess?

[LandCruisers4Life]

Greg here is Alvaros install video.

la cabra 4x4

Keep in mind that my rack is just like this one, but I took the gutter mounts off and my rack will sit down in a sub frame which will be mounted to the roof of my 100.

The rack will be bolted to the steel sub frame in several places on either side. RTV Black silicon will be applied to the bottom of the rack, and in between the rack and steel mount plates.

Just wait, you will see what I am talking about. I guess I better roll out of bed and get to work !!

[twstrchasr]

Wow !! This whole experience sounds like a complete PITA !! Ridiculous, say I !!

[Greg B]

Originally Posted by LandCruisers4Life

Greg here is Alvaros install video.

la cabra 4x4

Keep in mind that my rack is just like this one, but I took the gutter mounts off and my rack will sit down in a sub frame which will be mounted to the roof of my 100.

The rack will be bolted to the steel sub frame in several places on either side. RTV Black silicon will be applied to the bottom of the rack, and in between the rack and steel mount plates.

Just wait, you will see what I am talking about. I guess I better roll out of bed and get to work !!

Wow, that is a tall rack. I haven't seen a rack that big on a 100 yet, all the ones I have seen so far are low profile ones like the ARB and the African Outback. It will definitely change the look of the 100. Get busy and post up some pics.

That things going to howl like a banshee on the highway. On my D1 and D2, I had the Adventure rack from Safety Devices and it sounded like an F16 was following me around all the time. This rack reminds me of those a lot. Even though it howled a lot, I still loved having them on my Rovers.

At some point I would like one for my 100, but I have a nice garage to park in now and would hate to give that up. Someday maybe...

[LandCruisers4Life]

Originally Posted by Greg B

Wow, that is a tall rack. I haven't seen a rack that big on a 100 yet, all the ones I have seen so far are low profile ones like the ARB and the African Outback. It will definitely change the look of the 100. Get busy and post up some pics.

That things going to howl like a banshee on the highway. On my D1 and D2, I had the Adventure rack from Safety Devices and it sounded like an F16 was following me around all the time. This rack reminds me of those a lot. Even though it howled a lot, I still loved having them on my Rovers.

At some point I would like one for my 100, but I have a nice garage to park in now and would hate to give that up. Someday maybe...

haha... yeah well I like racks too. We also have the safety devices rack on our DII. We don't have a garage, so it's not a problem. My wife drives our sons Range Rover to school everyday to fit in the parking garage, and drives her DII on the weekends. How spoiled is that? When we first test drove the DII it had no rack, and I was hitting 90mph on the highway and not a sound...... We got the vehicle back from the dealer with the new rack and ladder and wow... howling like mad haha. We got used to it.

I expect a drop in gas mileage as well with the flat front end on the roof. The light guard sure looks cool though. I'm going outside and finish up the welding and start fitting the sub frame to the roof (marking where to drill bolt holes for the arb mounts). Then it's paint time.

I got up late again today. It's so easy to do when you're on vacation for 2 months!

[LandCruisers4Life]

Originally Posted by twstrchasr

Wow !! This whole experience sounds like a complete PITA !! Ridiculous, say I !!

It's actually pretty cool, because I am learning to build roof racks for the 100.... you might need my knowledge some time

[jgray]

that rack looks gangster... i've looked at all kinds of racks and was considering having one custom made or making one myself... keep us updated with pics... looking good...

[Dwon]

It sounds like you had the same problem I did. The instructions weren't clear enough. I almost did all the same things you did, until I took off the weather strips. The bolt holes are there and are the right separation width so no modifications need to be made to the ARB roof rack or supports. The support arms work if you get them in the right order. The middle two are shorter than the outer arms. It takes some experimenting on the rig to find the right configuration.

Bottom line is that the ARB roof rack fits great on the US 100s. The instructions are poor at best. It sounds like you went to a lot more work than you needed to. I almost did the same thing. I wrote a post about it last year.

[LandCruisers4Life]

No, I pulled up the weather strips. There was one other bolt hole and it was no where near my front mounting points. Trust me, I would have found it, so I did indeed have to go through all the extra work. There was no way these ARB mounts were going on my Land Cruiser with those hole configurations.


Regardless, the whole project should be finished today.

[LandCruisers4Life]

Sub frame is on...... It looks GREAT.. and very strong. I waited part of the day for a friend to arrive to give me a hand putting it up and bolting both sides in unison. It was not quite as difficult as I thought to get all 12 bolts to tighten up in unison. All bolts were threadlocked as well. Tomorrow morning I'll be putting some black silicon sealer over the bolt heads and mounting the Inti rack.

I took the cruiser for a test drive to 80 mph and didn't notice much except a slight bit more wind noise. I expect there will be a bit more once I get the inti on with the light guard on the front.

For a strength test, I got on the center cross member with my full weight of 205 lbs and no movement. Then I put my full weight on one of the side rails, and I noticed no difference either. Very stout.

[agomez]

you can do my ride next......