Gamiviti Install on LX470 Help

[cruzerDave]

@cruzerDave I'm definitely getting the fairing for sure. Couldn't dream of not having it. One trick to consider...and it works INCREDIBLY well on racks.....wrap a shock/bungee cord around the bars that span the roof....it breaks up the air flow and reduces whistle and wind noise to a minimum....in fact, better than the fairing in most cases without the increased drag and lowered fuel efficiency.

I am SO buying a bungee today now, thank you!!!!

 

[geanes]

I am SO buying a bungee today now, thank you!!!!

Here's the scientifical explanation

"The wrapping around the bar breaks up the turbulent (but organized) Von Karman vortex street being shed by a cylinder. The street consists of long vortices shed alternately from the top and bottom of a cylinder. This is what causes the noise - it's only audible when the vehicle speed and cylinder diameter is such that the vortex shedding frequency is audible (e.g. at low speeds, you usually can't hear anything). Spiral wrapping on the cylinder effectively disrupts the organized vortices, stopping the noise."

Hooray science!

 

[Lowbudgetlc100]

make sure you put some silicone when you bolt the mounts to the roof. or it will leak

 

[geanes]

make sure you put some silicone when you bolt the mounts to the roof. or it will leak

Yeah, I was planning using RTV silicone and neoprene bonded washers as well to be extra safe. I'm really digging the thread that Ramathorn did on his install of the Gamiviti...step by step instructions with really good photos.

@Greenbean ....check out the link....really good photos of the setup of the Gamiviti with closeups of the towers.

Ramathorn15's LX470 build

 

[TexasCharley]

Reviving this thread to see pics of your rack installed @geanes . Plan to mount mine this weekend. Also going to see what it takes to mount up my old sliders and rear bumper off the '99LC to the '06LX.

 

[ChuckB]

Just catching up on this, as this is one of the racks I'm interested in.

Looking out the window from my office at my '04 LX and it has the B/D setup.

 

[PcCruiser]

@PcCruiser ... that is one sharp looking rig! How are you liking the Gamiviti? I'm about to order the Expo++ with 4th plate kit and sunroof cutout.

@PcCruiser are you running the AHC still or did you go to a regular lift?
Truck looks identical to how I want mine to look! Good job!

Sorry I never responded to these. Love the rack! If I could only pick a single mod to do to a 100 it would be the rack.

As far as ACH - yes I killed ACH and put on a traditional lift. ARB springs and torsion bars, Icon CDC vavled remote resi shocks and Total Chaos UCAs.

Man I need to do my build thread still. Got a snorkel on and all my LEDs since the pictures in this post.

 

[geanes]

Reviving this thread to see pics of your rack installed @geanes . Plan to mount mine this weekend. Also going to see what it takes to mount up my old sliders and rear bumper off the '99LC to the '06LX.

Here you go. There are a few tricks to mounting the Gamiviti rack. First, loose fit the feet/towers to the roof (do NOT tighten them down). Second, use RTV silicon on EVERY bolt (use liberally or you'll stand the chance of leaks). Third, there is an adjustment bolt on each tower that allows for vertical positioning (lightly tighten those). Four, lay rack on towers and position (MUCH easier with 2 people). Once positioned, level and than tighten all bolts. It's a pretty clean process, especially if the factory rack isn't rust bonded to the roof. My factory rack at the rear passenger position was practically rust welded to the roof. Took some PBBlaster and a good wire brush to clean and prep before installing the rack.

 

[JPS]

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.

View attachment 1465389

Any problem opening the rear hatch with the spoiler/roofrack?

 

[geanes]

Any problem opening the rear hatch with the spoiler/roofrack?

I don't have a spoiler on mine. However, I have a Yakima Megawarrior mounted on top of my Gamiviti rack and it extends about 6 inches beyond the rack over the hatch. I can open my hatch with no issue. I would imagine that the first gen spoiler (black wing) would be fine, but that the later spoilers (BIG wings) would be an issue.

 

[nakman]

I don't have a spoiler on mine. However, I have a Yakima Megawarrior mounted on top of my Gamiviti rack and it extends about 6 inches beyond the rack over the hatch. I can open my hatch with no issue. I would imagine that the first gen spoiler (black wing) would be fine, but that the later spoilers (BIG wings) would be an issue.

Actually no, even the big spoilers are not an issue. same with the 200, runner... all good. will try to remember to snap a pic next time I see one.. until then just trust me this hatch opens all the way

yeah I know, not an LX. or a 100. kinda balances out, like not signaling to make an illegal left turn? ok carry on.

 

[Alpinus]

The OPs OEM rack is an example of a 3-mount rack that uses B/C/D.

Below is a drawing I did for @reevesci when he was designing his 100-series racks. He's probably done enough of them by now to speak to all the different varieties. I added the A/B/C/D convention from this thread if it helps.

View attachment 1466068

Hi
This diagram (attachment) is great!
I have a 2003 LX470 with factory roof rails, 4 mounts B and D. I want to put a flat rack with six mounts/feet. So my question is, do I find any C mounts under the plastic covers?
Thx in advance!

 

[nakman]

Hi
This diagram (attachment) is great!
I have a 2003 LX470 with factory roof rails, 4 mounts B and D. I want to put a flat rack with six mounts/feet. So my question is, do I find any C mounts under the plastic covers?
Thx in advance!

They won't be under the plastic, but you will find the bolts down there under that rubber strip you'll remove, after you take the factory rack off. You are most likely using the set of mounts in front that you won't use when you upgrade to a larger flat rack.. the next set is about 11" further forward. So you'll take the bolts out of the front ones, then use those to plug up your current ones. Then remove another couple of bolts for the center towers. Once you get that rubber strip off, it'll all be clear.

edit: those forward LX mounts at the back of the sunroof are the extra 4th towers we do when doing 4 per side.

 

[Alpinus]

Thanks for that! This is the answer I was hoping for. Now it's time to see what's under those rubber strips

 

[MuseChaser]

@nakman @Ramathorn15 @geanes and any and all interested other parties with experience..

I'm in the throes of mounting a Gamiviti full rack with front taper and can't get the front high enough; there's only a millimeter or two between the bottom bar and the middle of the roof in front of the sunroof, and any weight on the rack pushes it down on the roof. I emailed Tim last night for some help, but the situation has just gotten a little more pressing because my wife's car just started acting up so she needs to take the LX in a few hours. Can't take the rack back down myself (had my son help lift it onto the roof yesterday.. wife's too short, and son doesn't live here).

Here's the details of what I did, as I wrote to Tim..
- begin paste -
I've run into a bit of a snag installing the rack. Hopefully, it's because I've made a mistake someplace that I'm not aware of.

The issue is that the front of the rack is very, VERY close to the roof, as in a millimeter or two. I can easily press the rack down, with maybe 5 to 10 pounds of force, and have it make contact. Loaded up with almost anything, it'll rub and damage the paint. Another symptom is that it was extremely difficult to get the rack-plate-to-tower bolts in on the left rear corner plate. No matter how I lined it up, the slots and holes didn't match without a great deal of force ( even with all the adjustment bolts and hex bolts from tower to roof loosened) when using symmetrical patterns... the outer two slots of the tower plate were too far out to use on both sides, and the inner two didn't line up, either. I finally just horsed the last bolt in, but I'm worried that I might now be applying too much side load on the hex bolts to the roof. Anyway, it's assembled symmetrically now.

For the sake of clarity, here's all the details re/ how it's mounted:

1. Using the A/B/C/D nomenclature for mounting points with A being forwardmost, the towers are at locations A/C/D. The OEM rack was mounted at locations B/D.
2. I reused the factory dogbone-shaped rubber piece at mounting point D between the tower and the roof, and not the neoprene bonded washers you included. I used your washers at locations C and A, as there were no factory dogbone rubber pieces there. I removed the entire gutter channel liner.
3. The rack is mounted as far forward as the mounting plates at location C will allow; the bolts from rack to tower are in the aftmost slot, and there is no way to move the rack forward; the towers have also been slide forward as much as possible in their slots before tightening the hex bolts to the roof.
4. Per your last email and your website, the towers have been assembled so that the upper piece is on the inside (towards the center of the truck) on the rear towers, and on the outside on the front and mid towers.
5. The front towers are at the highest of the four possible positions for the adjusting bolt.
6. The rear towers are at the second lowest. I'm not sure there'd be enough clearance to get the nuts and washers on if they were at the lowest setting, as the inner bolt is already very close to the upright portion of the tower.
7. The middle tower adjustments are loose right now, but look as if they are at their lowest point.
8. The roof mounting points at position C (previously hidden under the gutter liner) had three bolts each. I'm using the forward-most pair on each side; better weight distribution, they are level (the forward pair sits on a slightly raised portion of the metal roof, with the rearmost bolt slightly lower), and allows the rack to be mounted farther forward than possible when using the aft pair of the three.

I'd be happy to send pictures of anything specific you'd like to see. Have you run into this before? Any ideas how to get this mounted a bit higher in the front and/or farther forward where the roof slopes more? What about the extreme side load on the roof bolts in the back caused by having to really crank on the towers inward to get that last bolt in?

Thanks, Tim. The rack looks great and is built beautifully. Just gotta get past this last hurdle!
- end paste -

I was just out in the garage messing with it a bit more, trying to figure out what could be wrong. If the rear towers are assembled the way shown on the Gamiviti site and as I've done it with the upper part inboard of the part that mounts on the roof, the bottom-most height setting is not accessible becuase the flange that the rack sits on and is bolted to overlaps the bottom portion of the tower and prevents it going low enough to get at that lowest position for the adjustment screw hole.

The front towers (position A) are at their highest point, but if I removed the adjustment 1/4-20 bolt there's still room in the slots to go up enough to solve my problem, I think. I could put the bolt in BELOW the outside portion of the tower. Would that be safe... or a bad idea for some reason?

Any ideas what I'm not doing right? I've got two hours.. would be eternally grateful for any help.

Thanks!

 

[Ayune]

@MuseChaser I think the towers are different heights. If the tall ones are on the rear then that’ll tilt the front downward. I’ll check mine and update....

The middle towers should be loosely set at their lowest position, then see-saw the rack until it’s where you want it. Then tighten the front & rear, then middle last.

My rear:

My middle:

My front:

 

[MuseChaser]

@MuseChaser I think the towers are different heights. If the tall ones are on the rear then that’ll tilt the front downward. I’ll check mine and update....

THANK YOU!! Out in the garage now, messing with the rack.. checking frequently. They looked the same to me when I mounted them, but I'll look again. For now, putting the front top plate ABOVE the 1/4-20 bolt got me the clearance I need, but I don't know if that's "Gamaviti-approved" or not.

 

[Ayune]

THANK YOU!! Out in the garage now, messing with the rack.. checking frequently. They looked the same to me when I mounted them, but I'll look again. For now, putting the front top plate ABOVE the 1/4-20 bolt got me the clearance I need, but I don't know if that's "Gamaviti-approved" or not.

Check my update above. Its all about the middle towers, keep ‘em short & loose til it’s positioned.

Also, all my upper plates are outboard of the lower plates. And I remember having to slightly tweak the angle of the front bracket feet so they fit better. Hammer & wood block sort of operation.

 

[MuseChaser]

Gotcha, and thanks for taking the time to snap the pics and help out. My towers are of slightly different construction to yours; the inner and outer (top and bottom) pieces both have two large slots in them for the two main bolts, while yours look like they have two specific holes to choose from, at least on the outboard plates. You do have the same smaller hole in the center. On my towers, that's supposed to line up with one of four holes behind it on the other plate, and a 1/4-20 bolt (smaller than the two-per main bolts) goes there as sort of a adjustment lock on the fronts and rears. It's not used on the mids. I'll snap a pic of what I've got and post them in a sec. Right now, it looks like my idea of using that lock bolt beneath the outer plate on the fronts rather than through both plates is going to gain me the clearance I need. I've also moved my rears outboard as you did, rather than inboard per the Gamiviti site instructions for the rears... the holes line up better with the plates on the rack itself that way.

Back in a few.. and thank you SO much.

 

[MuseChaser]

I'm finishing remounting the back towers on my rig now... but in the meantime, here's the pic from Gamiviti's site.. these are exactly the mounts I have..
.