GX470/Prado 120 - Show me your rack!

[theferg]

Just a heads up for others, there is a install pdf available on their website, see page for 4 for the spacer diagram:

Install Guides - Prinsu Roof Racks

INSTALL GUIDES Table of Content AccessoriesDodgeFordHondaKawasakiLand CruiserLexusNissanOriginal Prinsu RackPrinsu LaddersPrinsu ProPrinsu Wind Deflector DecalsRoof RacksRZRSprinter VanSubaru Filter By Product Type View AllAccessoriesDodgeFordHondaKawasakiLand CruiserLexusNissanOriginal Prinsu...

prinsudesignstudio.com

Must be new, cause when I got mine, they had actually included a little card that said to go to that site for install instructions, but they had nothing up there for the 4Runner or GX. Only the Tacoma and Rav4 for Toyota. Nice to see they've added a good bunch of others.

 

[joabmc]

Late to the thread but didn’t see mine listed. Rhino Rack, Pioneer platform rack.

 

[Max Nguyen]

I noticed the SSO only has two mounting feet on each side compared to others where there are three, using all the factory mount locations. That is something to keep in mind for anyone making the decision. I also noticed Victory4x4 crossbars are Milled T-Slot/center bored. That is very convenient for those who want additional mounting option by having the screw thread facing up.

 

[subspd]

Home made.

 

[teejnut]

Home made.

Currently have an 8020 rack as well. How's the stability on the back part you added? How are you planning to use it?

 

[subspd]

Currently have an 8020 rack as well. How's the stability on the back part you added? How are you planning to use it?

So far it seems great. I want to add a small rear awning and light so it will be perfect for that.

 

[txgringo]

Damn it Bobby! Now I'm second guessing the purchase of the Victory rack for my GX. The adjustability of the bars and the number of bars are HUGE for my roof rack plans. I haven't unboxed it yet, but shipping costs would be too much to make it worthwhile to ship, so I may mount it up and see if someone traveling to the 4 corners area wants to buy an assembled rack...

Well after studying as many pics as I could find of roof racks for the GX, I decided to go with the Prinsu. The main points that won out for me on it are:

• The back end of the rack. The style and the position on the body that the rack ends. All the other racks (from the pics I could find) do not end near as far back as the Prinsu does and they all seem to angle back in towards the rack (seemingly in an attempt to match the angle of the rear body) and it just doesnt look right to my eye. The Prinsu comes ALL the way back and doesnt have that same angled end.
• The number of crossbars, the uniform spacing of the crossbars, and the position of the rear-most crossbar. Most all the other racks (of this low-pro style) have non-uniform spacing between the bars. (This seems to be a result of the style of mount feet used--others use actual mount feet and the bolt positions on top of the GX are not uniformly spaced. The Prinsu mount feet are built into the sides and therefore the crossbar spacing is independent of the mount feet.)

 

[Mahalol]

Damn it Bobby! Now I'm second guessing the purchase of the Victory rack for my GX. The adjustability of the bars and the number of bars are HUGE for my roof rack plans. I haven't unboxed it yet, but shipping costs would be too much to make it worthwhile to ship, so I may mount it up and see if someone traveling to the 4 corners area wants to buy an assembled rack...

I do agree that the crossbar spacing isn’t bery even, especially in the rear. I do wish that Victory had either made longer slots to add more crossbars if desired. It does leave a slight void in the rear. This is my Jerry can base. Ideally, 3 bars would have been optimal for a solid base. However, the back and forth adjustment of the cross bars really limits this. I didn’t have any issues with 2 full 5 gallon cans on the trail.

To answer another person’s question about the mounting feet and spacers, Victory does not use any type of spacer. They use a separate steel L bracket.

Overall, still fits my needs. Definitely a learning curve and you have to be creative to figure out how to make it work for you.

 

[GrizzlyClint]

I’m now looking at racks. We want to eventually put a tent up there. I’m a little obsessed with two things: US sourced and manufactured goods and strength/quality. I know it’s hard to satisfy both.

I like these two but have zero experience with racks so I post here. I like the Sherpa but like I said I know diddly squat about this stuff.

https://apacheoffroad.com/product/sso-lexus-gx470-aluminum-roof-rack/

https://apacheoffroad.com/product/rocky-mountain-racks-the-quandary-gx470-roof-rack/

 

[McDuff123]

I’m now looking at racks. We want to eventually put a tent up there. I’m a little obsessed with two things: US sourced and manufactured goods and strength/quality. I know it’s hard to satisfy both.

I like these two but have zero experience with racks so I post here. I like the Sherpa but like I said I know diddly squat about this stuff.

https://apacheoffroad.com/product/sso-lexus-gx470-aluminum-roof-rack/

https://apacheoffroad.com/product/rocky-mountain-racks-the-quandary-gx470-roof-rack/

As some above posters are discovering, the ability to adjust the spacing of crossbars should not be overlooked.
I’m sure there are others, but on my Prinsu, every other crossbar rides in a slot that is several inches long. The crossbar can be secured anywhere in that slot.
If you need 2 bars extra close or extra far apart, no problem.
It’s saved me a few times already...for example, mounting my rotopax where they just clear the RTT. If I had nothing but fixed, equally-spaced attachment points for the crossbars, I couldn’t make that work.

 

[Dr Sonar]

I’m now looking at racks. We want to eventually put a tent up there. I’m a little obsessed with two things: US sourced and manufactured goods and strength/quality. I know it’s hard to satisfy both.

I like these two but have zero experience with racks so I post here. I like the Sherpa but like I said I know diddly squat about this stuff.

https://apacheoffroad.com/product/sso-lexus-gx470-aluminum-roof-rack/

https://apacheoffroad.com/product/rocky-mountain-racks-the-quandary-gx470-roof-rack/

Well I'm in the same boat as you and I'm gonna order a Sherpa so if you're in no rush I'll let you know how it fits in a couple weeks?

 

[GrizzlyClint]

Well I'm in the same boat as you and I'm gonna order a Sherpa so if you're in no rush I'll let you know how it fits in a couple weeks?

That would be cool. We are in no hurry.

 

[jdevtac]

This is my diy 8020/extrusion rack:
SherpaEquipmentCo “Quandary” feet
Various tnutz/8020 parts
Uses 1x1” as the outer frame, then 2x1” crossbars
Crossbars attach to outer frame via these brackets that go on the end of the crossbars (EFD-010-1/4-20) Double End Fastener Assembly | TNUTZ | TNUTZ
The outer 1x1 has drilled access holes to tighten the button head M6 machine screws on the ends of the crossbars
Also added some slot covers all around

 

[DRANGED]

I thought and thought about racks!
Analysis paralysis (have a thread on it too somewhere).
Given Prinsu, fromtRunmer and so many others with the extruded aluminum, I figured I could confobblecate my own for less than a pre-manufactured one, but what tends to be the problem is getting good joint pieces and corners. The prefab aftermarkets have that covered. I was looking at a 80/20 and the generic extruded aluminum setups to but couldn't come up with good corner pieces for joining cross bars and side rails.
Blah blah blah blah blah blah long story short, it all started with the base (towers, feet, rails, whatever) gamivitti was the stat, then other kits/set-ups had rails but they dont sell them separately, then I found out about the Rhino-Rack backbone (siderail/feet/tower) set up through rhino rack and researched and discovered they have a backbone for The Prado 120, which is our GX470 shell. u.s. rhino rack site does show a backbone prado150 for the GX 460, but not the backbone for the 120 / GX470. They do in fact have the backbone for the 120 / 470, RTpb2 is the stock number, and I worked with rhino rack for about 6 months on it. I ended up with the backbone setup for side rails which mounts to the three fixed positions in the factory roof moumts providimg one long mounting rail vs the three feet of gamivittti (which was where i startedy searching) and the 84 by 49 pioneer platform.
I ran it as they mounted it for a while and eventually took it off redrilled a couple holes and moved the entire platform forward about an inch so that it centered better and the wind fairing moved off of the front of the sunroof glass.

 

[prospeed]

Here’s mine to add to the list of many vendors. Just finished testing it! Thanks guys!

 

[Sleepy]

I went with a combination of parts to fit my specific needs. I wanted to carry two canoes on top and wanted as far a bar spread as possible. Helps keep long canoes stable in high wind. I wanted the bars to be able to slide so could also use for cargo box, hi-lift, treds, bikes, etc. I used front runner rails and figured out hardware to make them work looking at instructions from other GX racks. The crossbars are from a canoe rack I already had made by Spring Creek. Really strong aluminum bars and have removable extensions to widen the bars.

I also can easily remove the cross bars and run a naked roof. I love the versatility I have with it and it was not very expensive.

 

[Max Nguyen]

Here’s mine to add to the list of many vendors. Just finished testing it! Thanks guys!

View attachment 2442669
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any way to make the crossbar slot longer? The reason is because i want to add more crossbars and want them to be better spaced out evenly. Im looking for a rack where i can put a platform on the top to lay down during stargazing event.

 

[GX470LEXUS]

Show me your rack! Roof rack, that is...

So, I'm trying to decide on which roof rack I want to get for my GX470. On my first GX build a few years ago, I went with the Eezi-Awn K9 from Equipt, and while I did like that rack, I really like the looks of the newer style low-profile racks with the kinda closed-side look. However, I've found there doesn't seem to be a good thread anywhere that really has a good breakdown of all the current available racks. There is the GXOR wiki with a list of racks here: GXOR Mods - Roof Rack, but its def a good bit out of date now--there has been a good handful of new manufacturers making racks and they are not listed on there, specifcally all the low-profile ones, only the Prinsu is on there and i know of at least 5 of them offhand. There's also some that really don't have that great of photos on their site, so I can't tell if I really like them for sure.

So if you have one, post up as many pics as you can of it. I think it would be most helpful if you have shots from the front, a good straight on side shot (that includes the *rear* portion of the rack), a pic from the back, and perhaps a pic from above if possible. Better if the rack is bare (nothing packed on it) if possible. I'm hoping we can put a good visual list together here (and then perhaps we can also update the GXOR wiki and get it up to date as well.)

I'll try to put a running list here of racks folks post up:
Eezi-Awn K9 full-length Prado 120 rack - Lexus GX K9 Roof Rack Kit
Victory 4x4 Roof Rack - GX Roof Rack | 470 & 460 (03+) - Victory 4x4
LFD Off Road GX470 Roof Rack - LFD Off Road - GX470 Roof Rack
JW Off Road GX470 Roof Rack - Roof Rack / Full Low Profile - GX470
Sherpa Equipment GX470 Qaundary Roof Rack - Lexus GX470 Roof Rack | Sherpa Equipment Co.
Prinsu GX470 Roof Rack - Lexus GX470 Prinsu Roof Rack | 2003-2009
Rokmen Rok Rax GX470 Roof Rack - ROKMEN ROK RAX Lexus GX470 Roof Rack
Southern Style OffRoad GX470 Roof Rack - Lexus GX470 Roof Rack | Southern Style OffRoad
Gobi Racks GX470 Roof Rack - GOBI Lexus GX470 Stealth Rack With Sunroof Lightbar Setup
Gamiviti GX Roof Rack - Lexus GX Racks — Gamiviti

And here's my old GX470 with the Eezi-Awn K9 (long-gone and I can't find any more pics... :-/ )

View attachment 2250952

Hi there! Does ARB Still sell this front bumper for the GX470? I haven't been able to find it in my search for a front bumper. Any info is greatly appreciated.

 

[DRANGED]

Hi there! Does ARB Still sell this front bumper for the GX470? I haven't been able to find it in my search for a front bumper. Any info is greatly appreciated.

Yeah, ironman and Dobinson's have nearly identical ones too.

 

[McDuff123]

EDIT...sorry, wrong thread. Oh well...

Installed PowerStop rotors and pads, front and rear.
Drilled and slotted rotors, and the “Z36” upgraded pads for trucks.
Broke them in as suggested.
While the pedal feel remains the same (I wasn’t expecting it to change), the braking power has increased noticeably. I was actively doing medium-hard stops for the break-in.
Each time, I gave myself what I thought I’d need distance-wise to make my hard stop, based on my experience with the OEM brakes.
Each time, I stopped well short of the mark...
So far so good.