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Prinsu Designs RoofRac FJ

44K views 97 replies 29 participants last post by  isancho 
#1 ·
Finally got my Prinsu roof rack installed. Purchased during a group buy at Tacoma World and had been collecting dust in my basement while I was on strike duty for the last 7 weeks.





 
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#40 ·
Finally installed the front runner dual jerry can mount and ARB awning.

For those wondering, the front runner jerry can mount does work with the rack. I had to adjust the spacing of the crossbars a bit and bought 1" 1/4 carriage bolts, washers and nylon nuts to make it work. Overall, I'm super happy with how it came out!
 

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#41 ·
sorry guys- I tried the GB here but can't due to forum rules and no interest in the FJ forums on Tacomaworld, so I am just going to buy one online.

Will the Front Runner gas can mount work with the Scepter plastic cans?
 
#43 · (Edited)
The use of the 80/20 aluminum extrusion framing system allows tremendous flexibility in mounting "stuff" to the rack cross-bars.

I mounted two Rotopax 2 gallon fuel containers to the top of my RTT, using some 1" square sections of 80/20 T-slot extrusions and angle brackets to hold the Rotopax mounts.

The Maggiolina Extreme RTT has some steel channels on the top that I attached the extrusions to, but they could just have easily been mounted directly to the rack's crossbars. Laying the containers flat provides a much lower profile than orienting them vertically, and as long as you leave adequate empty volume in the containers for thermal expansion of the liquid, there is not a leakage problem.



 
#47 · (Edited)
Here are some photos of the PrinSu rack with the Maggiolina Extreme mounted. I used (6X) 80/20 T-slot extrusions as crossbars, (3X) 1"X1" and (3X) 1"X2" under the RTT. All hardware is stainless steel, all nuts are Nylock type.

Here is the right-rear corner of the rack, showing my custom-made male/female "standoffs" supporting one of the rear mounting feet.


Here is one of the RTT attachment clamps. The stock Maggiolina mounting plates were not long enough to straddle the 2" crossbar, so I fabricated some longer plates out of 1/8" stainless steel. Rubber 80/20 "tread-strip" is used on the top surface of the crossbars and between the crossbar and the lower clamping plates to isolate everything from any metal-to-metal or metal-to-fiberglass contact and possible rattling or squeaking.



Here is one of the 1"X1" crossbars, showing the angle bracket used at the ends of the crossbar so every crossbar has four fasteners securing it to the sideplates. The 1"X1" extrusion itself only has provision for a single 1/4-20 fastener through the hollow center bore.



Here is another view of one of the rear mounting plates, and at the far right is another attach point that prevents the RTT from sliding forward even if all four of the primary mounting clamps should somehow loosen. There are a total of six attachment points between the RTT and the rack.



Here is one of two 80/20 handles that are mounted on the sideplates at locations that, when standing on the AllPro sliders, make it easy to pull yourself up to access the RTT latches and properly stow the canvas material when collapsing the tent so it doesn't become pinched.



Here is one of two 80/20 handles that are mounted on the rear crossbar to provide a grip when standing on the bumper. (The rig is really dirty, have been using it as a DD for the last two months without a wash.)

 
#53 ·
Here are some photos. The UHMW (ultra high molecular weight) HDPE (high density polyethylene) block can be hard to see from pics. It is basically a very dense hard black plastic that you can work with just like wood (saw, drill, sand, etc).

I previously had StornCo adapter mounts that one of the early forum members made himself in a machine shop and then a bunch of people on the forum asked if he could make and sell them. The idea was to make a mount adapter that screwed into the 6 factory mount locations with flush screws and then use the off the shelf Yakima towers to bolt into the top of the adapter. You could then use any of the Yakima round bars, accessories, etc.

I had Yakima Towers and round bars on the FJ for years. When I purchased the Prinsu rack, I took that same idea and executed it with UHMW. In fact, I used the StornCo mounts as a template for drilling holes in the blocks of HDPE that i cut. The idea being that HDPE while very dense and hard is a bit more flexible than alum blocks.

The third picture shows the StornCo mount. I measured it and show those dimensions on the picture. Length is 4 7/16". Width is 7/8". The centerline to centerline distance for the two larger inner holes that go through the roof and hold the OEM rack is 2 3/16". You can ignore the two smaller outer holes in that those were used to secure the Yakima tower to the StornCo mount.

The thickness of the StornCo mount is 1/2" but I made my HDPE blocks about 3/4" high to get the rack sitting just above the roofline. I had to spend some time sanding the HDPE blocks getting the right thickness.

I started by ordering a 1" x 1" by 48" block of HDPE off Amazon and worked from there. Unfortunately all that I have are a belt and vibrating sander and mitre saw. You can cut the HDPE just like wood, but it becomes challenging to safely hold or clamp the HDPE while sawing or sanding (with a belt sander). If I had to do it over, I would see if I could order a 3/4" or 7/8" width of HDPE that is 3/4 to 7/8" high and start with that.

If you arent a do it yourself sort of person and dont have the tools/knowledge to make your own mounts - one other idea that I had while looking at the 80/20 inc site (and I believe FJ_test referred to this at some point) is that you can order directly from 80/20 various sizes and lengths of T-Profile framing. It can be cut to specified length and you can add access holes or counterbore holes as specified. They have a 20 mm x 20 MM (little bit over 3/4" square) that you can get in anodized black (just like Prinsu does). You could order 6 of them about 4" or so in length with counterbore holes where the bolts need to tie into the FJ roof. Or, you could even use the access hole to secure them to the FJ roof using their tnuts and then secure the Prinsu rack to the 80/20 piece using T-Nuts.

See link here

https://8020.net/shop/20-2020-black-fb.html

Or you could find a machine shop that will mill you 6 alum blocks that are 4 7/16"L x 7/8" wide by 3/4" high with holes for the 8mm bolts to go through that have 2 3/16" from centerline to centerline. Keep in mind that the underside of the alum block has to accommodate the little plastic risers protruding up through the FJ roof so they might need to machine a little shoulder on the underside (that is what StornCo did).

All this stuff makes sense in my mind because I have worked on it in person. Hopefully some of what I provided and described will make some sense to you just looking at it on the internet.
 

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#54 ·
it also occurs to me when looking at your pictures is that you could look for alum, steel, nylon, brass, copper, etc spacers that fit the 8mm bolts tighter and have larger outside diameter than what Prinsu provided. That would give you a larger shoulder to set the rack on and might keep the spacer from migrating like yours is doing now (e.g. if the 8mm bolt just barely fits through the inside diameter of the spacer it is less likely to move around as much as it is doing so now).

The internet is a great wide world of hardware. My bet is you can probably find something right off the shelf that might work better than the spacers you are using. Perhaps start with Grainger and see if you can find if they offer a variety of 3/4" high metal spacers that have an inside diameter just slightly larger than 8mm and an outside diameter of no more than 7/8" .
 
#60 ·
Hello everyone, I have a bitter experience with Prinsu:

April 18th: I ordered a Prinsu rack, the website said 4w lead time.
May 11th: I sent an email to Zach asking if everything was in time, he confirms the shipment for the following week.
May 19th: I sent an email to Zach asking if everything was ok as I heard nothing. no answer
May 23rd: I sent another email asking if everything was ok, he replies telling me he was waiting on the powder coat, ok, **** happens.
Jun 1st: I sent another email asking for updates - Zach replies that he should have my rack back from the paint shop the same week.
Jun 2nd: I ask when I should receive it. Zach confirms I should have it by the end of the week.
Jun 9th: I email him asking if there were news.

Jun 9th: I receive my tracking number.
June 14th: Rack delivered.

Now the fun part begins:
I am installing the rack that weekend, I notice immediately that those round spacers does not have enough contact space and they are not aligned with the slot, it's annoying but I fixed it adding some steel spacers, the wind deflector sits very high too, leaving about an inch and a half of opening from the roof.
While installing I notice that my left side bar has cracks on the bent foots, I snap a couple of pictures and I send them to Zach asking if those were good or not, they are way deeper than the anodizing, it's not just cosmetic.

Zach replies saying that those are no good and that he will send a replacement - Jun 18th.

Jul 20th-27th: I ask for a status - no reply

Aug 7th : I ask for a status to Zach
Aug 7th: I contacted CBI asking informations, they reply that they will look into it.

Aug 7th: After I contacted CBI, Zach gets back to me telling me that it will ship the same week. CBI gets back to me telling me that Zach should ship the following day.

Aug 16th: I email both CBI and Zach asking for a status again - nothing so far.


Now, I was always kind and relaxed, but now my patience is over, I payed like everyone with good money on day 1, it's 16 weeks after and I still don't have what I payed for.

The rack is installed but I do not trust to load it with my RTT and my camping gear while doing 75mph on the hw so it's pretty much unusable.
The wind noise is unbearable, I read online and I am trying to find some solutions like trying to close the open profiles on the bars and I will probably have my metal shop remake me a wind deflector that actually deflects as the Prinsu one is just garbage.
When you buy a Prinsu for the FJ, take into consideration the extra money to actually get it to work as it is supposed to, and plan months in advance, everything is pretty standard parts but the guy won't have stock, not even a single part, all the business risk is on the customer.

At the end, I would have preferred to get a Baja Rack, heavier but way more silent and by now I would have gone camping multiple times already.

Buy american they said...
 
#62 ·
bricke ... look at post 57 and the link i provided. There are larger diameter alum spacers you can purchase that might allow rack to sit flatter. Someone had posted about that the spacerswerent wide enough to fit flush on bottom of rack...another member provided an alum spacer company. I then did a sort of those that are proper i.d. (inside diameter) and up to 3/4" wide. Also if you get the height of the rack right, then you can drill another hole on the side to hold the wind deflector about 1 inch further down. This allowed me to get mine very close to the roof. Lastly, if you use these t-slot fillers it can reduce the noise or vibration that I was getting (i didnt have excess noise, just a vibration like a giant tuning fork at certain speeds)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EZVOZYC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Sorry you encountered so many problems and an extensive wait time. Hopefully CBI will get it resolved. Any idea if the side piece that was cracked was damaged in shipment?
 
#63 ·
@bradleydelliott here is the stainless steel tamper proof hardware that I used for the Prinsu Rack. I ordered most from Bel-Metric and some from Grainger:

to bolt the side rails to the roof:

BelMetric: (12) SBT8X60 SS Button Head Tamper Proof Torx SS (60 mm length)
BelMetric: (12) WL8SS SS 8mm inside diam lock washers
BelMetric: (12) WC10X25SS SS 10 mm ID thick flat washers (with 25mm diameter)

to bolt rear brackets to side rails:
BelMetric: (4) WC10X25SS SS 10 mm ID thick flat washers (with 25mm diameter ~1" and 4mm or 1/8" thick)
BelMetric: (4) SBT10X30SS Button Head Tamper Proof Torx SS
BelMetric: (4) NSHEAR10SS Tamper Proof Shear Nut SS
BelMetric: (4) WSH10SS SS Schnoor Washer

to bolt crossbars to side rails:
Grainger: (2) boxes of 25ea Tamper-Pruf Machine Screws 1/4-20 by 1-1/4 length (Grainger Item Number 5JE72). Rack requires 40 bolts for crossbars.
BelMetric: (40) WC8X21SS SS 8 mm ID thick flat washers (with 21 mm outside diameter ~13/16" and 4mm or 1/8" thick)


here are some pictures:
(note that i did not yet remove the shear nut from the 10MM bracket bolts to make it tamper-pruf...took more leverage to do than i figured). Secondly, you will need to buy safety torx nut driver bitsts unless you already have some. The size needed is indicated by BelMetric. They also offer them for sale, but the Grainger price was way cheaper for their insert bits.
 

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#64 ·
Here are pictures of the Prinsu rack with the SS Tamper Proof Hardware and the thicker washers (which may not be to everyone's taste) but there is no bending of washers using the extra thick ones with wide diameters.
 

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#66 · (Edited)
I have 10 rails. An 80/20 rail goes under the front wind deflector and you use the 10 black zinc t nuts (inserted into the 80/20 rail), 10 short black zinc 1/4-20 screws and 10 black zinc lock washers and 10 black zinc flat washers.


8/25/17 Revision. I went back and looked at my original invoice for Prinsu. It came with 8 crossbars for the original configuration from Prinsu. I paid for two extra crossbars ($40 ea) which explains why i have 10 crossbars.
 
#70 ·
Yep may not be right for everyone. Probably want to be a DIY sort of person with this type of rack in that you may need to solve some problems or may need to think through and come up with attachment hardware etc.

The Frontrunner racks are aluminum like the Prinsu but they seem to be well designed for strength and offer lots of accessories....and as you know you pay more for that. There was a Frontrunner group buy at Toyota 4Runner Forum - Largest 4Runner Forum that I turned people onto here at the FJ forums. I think two members ordered them. You might look for that thread and see what there experiences have been so far. Frontrunner group buys are few and far between, but seem to ship quickly.

Seems that each roof rack has their tradeoffs and you have to find what is right for you and your budget. Only knock that I have seen on the Bajaracks are they are steel and there have been some powdercoat and rust issues. But dont take my word for it, research here at the forums and read through forum members experiences.

Make sure you review the updated roof rack thread for all the various roof rack options.
 
#79 ·
bricke....just to clarify the Prinsu crossbars are 1" x 2". If you look at 80/20 and the t-slot profiles in the 10 series that is what is used in the Prinsu Racks. I believe Zach would get his crossbars from a local supplier in Utah and it wasnt produced by 80/20, but they are exactly the same dimensions as what is in the link for the 80/20 crossbars. You can see all the dimensions in the link:

https://8020.net/shop/1020-s-black-fb.html

you could shop for square u bolts that have inner dimension that accommodate the two inch width of the crossbars and then use some kind of plate as discussed by FJ_test.
 
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