New Front Runner Rack Mounting System for 100 Series...

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

B

badlander

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Sep 2, 2010
Threads
55
Messages
1,136
Location
Sarasota, Florida
it's really just a different mounting system, I'm sure it's improved. I see a marked difference in design in the FR product and the rest of the competition. It's light and well designed.

Wouldn't even blink.
 
Hopefully you can still buy the old style. The new design loses the option of having 4 feet as well as the ability to have a side-loaded under mount table. Why mess with such a good design?
 
OregonLC said:
Hopefully you can still buy the old style. The new design loses the option of having 4 feet as well as the ability to have a side-loaded under mount table. Why mess with such a good design?
Click to expand...

Weight is better distributed by virtue of my more contact with the mount to the rack itself. Fewer moving parts against the rack.
 
It's it also now shorter? Seems like the old rack was 84"? This one is showing 76". Barely enough room for a RTT.
 
El Cid,
How long is your rack? Shorter concerns me.
 
El Cid said:
Weight is better distributed by virtue of my more contact with the mount to the rack itself. Fewer moving parts against the rack.
Click to expand...

Apparently so, although I do like the tracks on my v1 1.4M for other purposes.
 
IIRC they have (had?) a longer rack platform for the 70. But that would probably require old style feet for the 100. It was in the 90" range.
 
Thank you climberoleg. I'll be anxiously waiting to see your pictures.
 
I have the new one.

The tray disappointingly is 8 inches shorter than the previous gen. My Columbus RTT sticks over the front.

The wind deflector that comes with the system forces high pressure air directly into the sunroof. Do not use it. It probably worked on the old tray as it would be hitting air on leading edge of the roof.

The install of the new rails is a bit fiddly but once on and attached to the tray it's very sturdy. It mounts in a (front to rear) 2-3-2 bolt pattern. Meaning the front two bolts are in the Lexus position, the rear two are in the Land Cruiser position and the middle 3 will need to be uncovered if you have a Lexus or at least one addl hole needs uncovering if you have the 3 tower land cruiser rack... you'll need to remove the drip channels and modify them or not use them.

Check the last page of my build link for a couple pics.
 
Last edited:
RobRed,
Thanks for the pictures in your link. Although the new design looks nice on your truck I don't think the 8" shorter thing is going to work for me. With a 58" long RTT that doesn't leave a lot of room left on the rack for fuel/water cans, chain saw, and the rest of my gear up there. I may have to find a last years model instead of the newer one. I wonder why they went smaller? Makes no sense..
 
They had both versions on their website for a while. You'd think this big of a change would be accompanied by a new product announcement with chiming bells and much ballyhooing.
 
If I had to guess, the new tray size works on a lot more vehicles - less SKUs to inventory. The new mount being 2 piece (4 total) makes it smaller to ship and simpler to produce with a lot less parts.

The quality seems very good but the 8" is something to consider.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom