One of the first things I wanted to do with my LX was upgrade the roof rack to a platform system. I previously had a Tacoma and moving to the LX I knew I would give up some cargo carrying capacity.
I have a RTT that I use for Mountain bike races and future family outings. I also wanted to be able to haul a large piece of plywood or other lumber. Along with anything else too big or dirty for the inside of the LX.
After a lot of research and pricing options I decided I liked the look and functionality of the Rhino Rack Platform with the Backbone system. I priced it out online and contacted
Road Warrior Racks. They are right down the road from where I live and when I inquired about pricing they gave me what I felt like a fair deal. The two guys who worked there were helpful and I got the unassembled version in three days.
I read a lot on here about taking off the roof rack on the LC/LX. With fair warning about removing the bolts in tandem I felt ready to do this. The LX only uses two mounts for its roof rack and the other two mounts have cover plates. Honestly it took longer to clean the entire length of the channel then it did to remove the rack. When installing the Backbone system I left the bolts very loose to give the Backbone room to wiggle to help align the bolts with the nuts in the roof. One thing I also did was run the bolts down into the roof before placing the rails. That way I would know what level of force that would be needed to overcome the old thread sealer. I was very worried about cross threading.
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That night I worked to assemble the platform. I purchased the 84" x 56" platform. I took out all the parts and started to follow the assembly instructions. I wish they had torque specs. When assembling I torqued everything to the same level given the particular part, I used my judgement. Also to note, there are many different but very similar washers included. Make sure you look over every part and sort things before you start. Notice the thickness and ID of each washer and what it calls for in the instructions.
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I store my RTT on the ceiling of my garage using a 4 pulley system. I lowered that down to a cart and moved it out of the way. I then set the rack on two saw horses and used the pulley system to raise the rack above the LX. I was doing this install practically solo. I backed the LX into the garage and lined it up closely to the racks position and lowered it down onto the Backbone. A little bit of measuring left to right and got it lined up and tightened down. Front and rear attachment points were easy to get to. Middle was not the easiest. I would highly recommend using a ratcheting crescent wrench.
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Once installed on the vehicle you have to install these plates that attach the for-aft bars to the crossbars. It was easiest to just climb up there.
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I've had minimal driving with it since this weekend but it seems to be fairly quiet, very secure, and low profile. I was hoping to be able to fit my RTT and still fit in the garage but I don't think that is going to happen....
I'll continue to update this post as I add accessories and get more use out of the rack.
