did you ever have any water intrusion issues? It seems like each additional washer below the rack is an additional water entry point. Meaning, one solid spacer has 2 entry points (top and bottom). 4 stacked washers would have 5 entry points.
Prinsu 200 Series Rack INSTALLED
- Thread starter jdlc1406
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
did you ever have any water intrusion issues? It seems like each additional washer below the rack is an additional water entry point. Meaning, one solid spacer has 2 entry points (top and bottom). 4 stacked washers would have 5 entry points.
None in the 2+ years I had it on. I ended up trimming the spacers and used the least amount of washers possible. The original Zach made racks came with a bag of parts including many washers likely sourced from Ace Hardware.
Rather than buying extra washers and spacers to get the ends to touch, just cut the middle 4 spacers to be shorter. That will get the rack lower buy a few mm and save a few pennies. Mine were aluminum as supplied with the rack, easy to cut.
I don't know what they ship with now, but four years ago Zach was shipping with black oxide (or black zinc?) fasteners. When three of us put racks on our 4Runners, we replaced all fasteners with stainless, and had an assortment of aluminum spacers from McMaster-Carr. Not a single leak to date, and ours required drilling front holes for the full length racks.
I'd get one again, but first, I'm going to fiddle with using 80/20 crossbars on the existing rails when mine arrives.
I'd get one again, but first, I'm going to fiddle with using 80/20 crossbars on the existing rails when mine arrives.
Ive had my prinsu for about 2 years now and zero leaks. It gets regular year round use. One of the best additions to the cruiser.
Did that include the screws to attach the crossbars to the sides or just the bolts that attach the sides to the roof? Is there a lot of history or concern about the screws rusting?
FYI, the instruction guide I downloaded yesterday does say the spacers are aluminum.
That can be a concern, though I switched to stainless fasteners for the crossbars and used anti-seize.
Permatex® Anti-Seize Lubricant – Permatex
All of the fasteners. I typically change any fasteners on aftermarket equipment to stainless, living in salty Ohio. And definitely use anti-seize as @Yossarian recommended on the fasteners going into the aluminum bits!
Hey guys, took my OEM rails off this afternoon. Only lost 1 bracket (so far), the back passenger side. Fortunately, the headliner back there is easy to take down and with my wife's help, I was able to get it back up and a bolt through it hold it in place temporarily. So, two questions:
- How do you hold the loose brackets in place while installing the rack? My initial thought is:
- Use a short bolt to hold it in place
- Place the rack on the roof
- Put a much longer long bolt in the 2nd hole
- Lift up the rack high enough to pull the short bolt out
- Install the real bolt/spacer combo
- Remove the long bolt
- Install the second bolt/spacer combo
- Do you remove the black bracket that is pre-installed in the 2 spots (LX570) that are not currently used? This is the bracket I'm talking about:
-
yes, those 2 brackets come out.
I had some standoff bolts that I hand on hand and stuck them into the captive nuts to keep them in place. Was able to slide rack over the stand-off since they don’t have bolt heads. Toothpicks or branches could also work
So, got the rack installed today. Not the easiest to do by yourself with loose brackets but I got it done.
I used the Permatex stuff. Very messy. I just hope I pushed enough in the right spots to keep water at bay. How long does that stuff take to “dry”? Want to wash and wax the roof really well before I put all the crossbars on.
I used the Permatex stuff. Very messy. I just hope I pushed enough in the right spots to keep water at bay. How long does that stuff take to “dry”? Want to wash and wax the roof really well before I put all the crossbars on.
Last edited:
Installed the prinsu on my heritage over the weekend. well over 2 weekends because i had to have the dealership replace one of the brackets. My stubborn ham handed personality wont let me do research before i start projects. one question, what to do with the "Drip Moldings", leave them off, silicone them back on?
i do like the fin/yakima solution mentioned in previous posts, i'm going to give that a shot in the next few weeks and report back.
i do like the fin/yakima solution mentioned in previous posts, i'm going to give that a shot in the next few weeks and report back.
Last edited:
wiseinvestor
GOLD Star
Looks great! fwiw, according to my Wikipedia YouTube research.... I think the deal on the gutter covers is as follows. Don't silicone them into the gutter. You can silicone them together at their ends if that helps keep them in place. Many run without them. If you run without them, keep an eye on the drains so that they don't get clogged with debris. ymmv. Rack looks really good.
Ive had my Prinsu on for some time and haven't used the gutter covers at all. No issues.
Thanks @wiseinvestor and @Cruisin911 .I appreciate the info!
@Cruisin911 I see you are in Colorado. Do you get a lot of leaf debris in the fall that might lead to the clogged drains @wiseinvestor is referring to? I've heard about the clogged drains issue but not sure how that could happen and lead to leaks. Not doubting that it could happen or questioning other folks input, just really don't know where there are drains that could get clogged and lead to water intrusion into the interior.
I have had my Prinsu on for 6-8 weeks now and no leaks that I've noticed. Have removed all of the gutter covers that were still attached. I think about half were already gone. Really want to keep it that way and willing to do any preemptive work.
wiseinvestor
GOLD Star
Truth is I don't know. I have read that it is the seam where the body is spot welded and glued together, and that the black plastic is a cosmetic coverup. I have also read that without them debris can accumulate in the channel next to the windshield. Even with my tongue and cheek response... I probably should not have commented since I don't really know for sure.
@BigMF I haven't had any issues. Truth be told, stuff seems to just blow out of the rails better than it did with the channel pieces in there. They seemed to trap stuff more so by having them installed than not. I'll probably pull the rack off this spring and clean it out and report back.