Yet Another DIY Dam Thread......

[FJ-JJ]

Well, I had these parts laying around, so decided to use them.
Yakima Bar and Dam mounts, Yak fairing was cracked
Thule Air Dam/Fairing
I wanted a super low profile, and only wanted the bar to hold the dam, not be load bearing. I used info gained from my mountain biking background to figure out a way to attach nuts inside the tube, a neat little thing called a Star Nut, that slides into a cylinder then won't come out under load. It has a threaded nut in it's center. First I beveled the tube ends on a grinder, to better fit the Rack profile. then i went to a local bike shop, and had them set one nut in each end. You can do this yourself, but its easier with the right tool...
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Here you can see the bolt in place, and the bevel.

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Then I located the spot on the factory rack where I wanted the tube to live, and I drilled a hole big enough for the head of the bolt to go into from the outside, but just big enough for the shaft of the bolt on the inside, held the bar and threaded the bolt through the rack, and into the star nut. tightened both sides and presto!!

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Then I mounted the dam/fairing.

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[LandCruiserSteve]

Dam good work. Looks great!!

[undertow]

Wow clean look.
great imagination.

db

[FJ-JJ]

s hot from underneath

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and final front

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[rbc24123]

Looks good. Has it helped with wind noise? How about fuel economy?

[RavenFJ]

Oooohhh fer the love 'o' Pete, now I gotta......Oops, nevermind, don't have a rack. Good job, carry on....

[FJ-JJ]

Freakin' rack still roars as far as I'm concerned, but it is quieter, but it may also be the Revo's making more noise than the Stock tires. I did both at the same time, so hard to tell. I'm getting 18-19 MPG, on it's first 1000 miles, so hopefully it'll loosen up and get a little better. By the way I don't care. I love this truck!!!

[FJR Colorado]

Truly cool and innovative.

What model Thule is that? Still available?

What could be even cooler is to use that Thule plexiglass as a template and cut a piece of aluminum to the same size. Then, paint it white and put a black FJ logo in the corner.

You said that tubing was from an old Yakima fairing... Is that stuff available at custom bike shops (like the one where you got the spider nuts)?

[firemanj92]

FJR Colorado previously said:

Truly cool and innovative.

What model Thule is that? Still available?

Try Thule 555 fairing. You should be able to find at a LBS (Local Bike Store) as it is no longer made. Only found one bike shop online with some availability.

What could be even cooler is to use that Thule plexiglass as a template and cut a piece of aluminum to the same size. Then, paint it white and put a black FJ logo in the corner.

You said that tubing was from an old Yakima fairing... Is that stuff available at custom bike shops (like the one where you got the spider nuts)?

Yakima and Thule crossbars can also be found at your LBS or REI. The "star nuts" are used to secure the fork to the stem of a bike also at LBS.

Hope this helps-J

[FJ-JJ]

Fireman is right, the fairing is an old one, probably 5-6 years old. Good luck finding one. They are out there, but will probably be covered in dust.

If I were to fabricate my own, I'd probably make it long enought to slightly overlap the factory rack, I may be getting some noise from the ends. I may throw some tape over the joint to see if it makes any difference, then if it does figure out a wing or extension to the fairing


The Yak tube however is a standard 48" bar, that I cut down and then beveled.
You don't need to go to a "custom" bike shop, just go to a real bike shop, (a good mechanic at a mass merchant like sports authority or walmart might know what a star nut is, but any true bike shop will have a little tray of them on their parts bench.) It's a standard issue item for any store that has to replace a modern bike fork, suspension or otherwise.