Hey guys. So somehow my rack does not line up with my mounting points. Am I missing something?
I can't scoot the rack back because I'm as far forward as possible on the rear and the front mount sits on the cross bar not on the mounting plate. See pics. Anyone have any ideas on how to get this installed?
Hard to tell from your pics, but I think you aren't using the mount holes for the furthest front mounts......I think someone covered this with an LX, maybe @Ramathorn15 ?
Hard to tell from your pics, but I think you aren't using the mount holes for the furthest front mounts......I think someone covered this with an LX, maybe @Ramathorn15 ?
I posted a response before I saw you responded. Got it and I'm good to go! Thanks for the post with the picks it was helpful. I will post up soon as soon as I have this done.
What are you doing Thursday night? Toyota Trail Riders (TTR) is having our monthly meeting. It occurs the second Thursday of every month at Papa's BBQ on Northwest Hwy and 35.
Meeting starts around 7 but people usually get there early to hang out. I'll be there.
Correct. The LC/LX have a "hidden" fourth mounting point. When utilized, this gives greater shock-load distribution. Most LC/LX either have the 4 or 6 foot mounting factory racks. But, they all have the "hidden" 4th mount to increase the total feet to 8.
In the included image, you'll see the "4th" mounting points just aft of the sunroof.
Evidently, the additional mounting point is on every single LC and LX J100 series from '98-07. I've gotten this confirmed from the folks at Gamiviti and seen it in person on my 98 LX and a friend's '04 LC.
My '98 LC uses the 4th mounts. It's a longer rack than the LX, so it uses the 4th, but the 3rd is unused. All of these trucks have 4, but only 3 (or 2) are used by the OEM racks.
Roof racks were port installed, and for the most part, the LC racks are longer than the LX racks, but that's not always the case. A quick google image search will turn up long racks on LXs, short racks on LCs, and even short racks with only 4 mount points. Lots of variation in the racks, but the LC and LX mount points seem to be identical and remain consistent from '98-'07.
You'd need to take the whole rack off, then remove the gutter cover to get a peek. Below is a pick of mine. The hex bolts on the right are just temporary plugs, and then the unused mount points are on the left. Cap screws painted the same color as the body like they left the factory that way.
That explains this response I received from BajaRacks on why their LC rack wouldn't fit the LX.
"Thank you for contacting BajaRack! We are in process of making a LX470 version, but we are so busy that we do not have a timeline for that project at this time.
However, as you know, the LX470 shares the roof with the 100 series Land Cruiser. The difference (with respect to roof racks) is that the roof racks use the same mounting points for 2 of the 3 pair (all mounting points are present in both vehicles). The LX 470 uses a different third pair of mounting points for its OEM roof rack and only exposes those 3 pairs.
In order to use our LC100 racks on your LX 470, you would need to expose a different 3rd pair of mounting points. So, you could try to figure out a way to cut and attach part of the trim to cover up one pair of mounting points, or you can obtain the 100 series Land Cruiser trim kit and put that on your LX470. Does that make sense?
We put the warning that our LC100 series racks are not compatible with LX470 to bypass those customers who would not be willing to do the extra steps necessary to install our LC100 rack and would complain about fitment.
Please let me know if you have any further questions."
Not always. My 98 LX has the "longer" rack with 3 mounts (uses the forward pair of mounting points..."A/C/D") vs the others I've seen that are 2 mounts (B/D) and shorter (using the aft pair of mounting points and covering the forwardmost "A" mounting point and covering the middle "C" mounting points).
Mounting points (front to rear): A/B/C/D
3 mount racks use....A/C/D
2 mount racks use....B/D
I believe the 98 and 99 LXs had the long racks, but Lexus went with the shorter racks on later models to reduce wind noise. At least, that's what I've read on the subject.
