Roof rack conversion 90 - 120 Help needed

[birdboy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close birdboy]

Hey guys,
I've got a big OL alloyrack from my old girl which i've had for years and love.
Obviously it now won't go on the 120 without some mods but not sure if its possible? I've never had a roof rail type setup previously - always just the old gutter mount style. Rack is approx 1200 x 1800mm
The mounting arms that sit in the gutters are simply held on by one bolt so hoping there might be something out there to convert it??
Only other thing is that it seems like the mounting point for the middle mount on 120s isn't in the centre whereas this rack is?

Can't get any answer from OL or TJM so any help would be most appreciated.

Attached are a couple of pics.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Do you have roof rails? The NS ones? Otherwise your best bet will be buying some Rhino feet and bolting these onto the roof and then working out how you can make it fit. I have a 1.8m Jarram rack that I custom fitted to my 150 NS rails. It is doable.

[birdboy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close birdboy]

Do you have roof rails? The NS ones? Otherwise your best bet will be buying some Rhino feet and bolting these onto the roof and then working out how you can make it fit. I have a 1.8m Jarram rack that I custom fitted to my 150 NS rails. It is doable.

Thanks mjrandom!
I don't have any roofrails at this stage - just the plastic trim covering some bolts.
What are NS?
Any chance of pics of your custom job?

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

North and South, the factory rails that run lengthways. Pics in my build, I put two new rails in the Jarram rack to mount up with the Rhino clamps that fit the NS rails. What you need are the three pairs of a Rhino feet (or Toyota who are sometimes cheaper) and then fit the rack on and see whether you can fit the Rhino rails into the rack or under the rack.

Are you going to leave the roof rack on all the time? With the Rhino feet make sure the holes into the roof are well sealed with a neutral Sikaflex or a Silicone. If you are planning on removing the rack regularly your best bet might be to get some factory NS rails (come up now and again here) and do a similar thing to me. Only you lose some capacity. The roof is good for 100kg if you use the six individual mounts. That 100kg includes the mounts and rack. Mounting on the NS rails that drops to 75kg, again inclusive of the weight if the rack and fixings.

Another option is to get the ARB fitting kit (~$180) and fit that yo the roof and then mount the rack to that. Again not really a good option if you fit and remove the rack often. On my 120 I used the ARB kit and an older smaller Jarram rack I had for the 90. It was fitted to some custom made aluminium blocks mounted onto the roof which allowed me to fit and remove the ARB mounted rack without disturbing the blocks. I wouldn't suggest anyone do as I did. I was happy to do the engineering and happy with the loads but not for everyone.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

We only run the roof rack when we go away camping or take the kayaks on the car (usually use the trailer). So we have to have a roof rack system that is fitted easily and quickly. The roof racks are on pulleys in the carport which is high enough to allow me to fit the rack and kayaks or gear and still have clearance to drive in or out.

Here is the old rack on the 90 series supported from the gutters, it is a 1450 x 1250 Jarram rack from about the 16th century


I made these blocks up and screwed them into the roof and then could mount the ARB mounting kit and old rack onto the 120 without disturbing the roof seals


Here is the old rack on the 120


Worked a treat


This shows the extra rails I fitted to the new Jarram rack




In position on the NS rails on the 150




Modified to suit the solar panel and shovel and axe once the gear and sack has been removed


So it is definitely doable just depends on your resources.

[birdboy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close birdboy]

Thanks mate!
Definitely don't want to leave it on all the time. Big increase in fuel consumption on the old one so only for trips. In reality probably only gets used once or twice a year and then its on for a few weeks.
I reckon i'd rather have just feet than rails if possible. Is the weather proofing only an issue when the Rhino feet are in place?
Thanks for the link to yours.
Do you think those Rhino feet with the top cut off would do the trick? I'll have to look into the ARB ones too thank you.

[birdboy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close birdboy]

Another thanks! Sorry posted my comment above before seeing your latest reply!

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

The Rhino feet come in two parts so you can fit the lower section permanently (well as permanently as any mod we do) and then fit the top sections when you need them. This will be fine for water proofing as long as you seal it up properly. The Rhino system relies on small o rings so a bit of extra silicone is always handy. There are a few threads here where people have had leaks and the water ends up in the cabin, wetting seat belts and carpets.

The only downside is that the lower section looks like six little bumps on the roof, if you can live with that then all is good. The Minister for War said a big no to that. What does you roof rack weigh? I was happy to keep the NS rails on the 150 because the Jarram rack is very light, all up around 20kg so with the 80kg allowable on the 150 we have enough capacity. We don't carry anything heavy up there, mostly bulky stuff like sleeping bags and aluminium camping chairs. Before I bought the Jarram rack I was looking at a Rhino platform and those things are seriously heavy.

Without going to extremes like I did you probably won't be able to use the ARB system. The ARB mounting kit is mounted to the roof (ARB's sealing kit is much much better than either the factory system or Rhinos) and then the rack bolts to that. Again you can leave the kit on the roof if you are ok with that and just put the rack on when you need it. I never bothered to ask the Minister. I mounted the ARB kit directly to the rack and with the extra height of the spacers there was just enough room to put hands up under the rack to bolt it down. I used M8 stainless studs and dropped the rack on these and then fitted M8 dome nuts on top of castellated washers.

I had the ex 120 ARB frame at home here up until a month ago or so, I even put it up for giveaway on the site but no one wanted it so it now lives at the dump. Pity it would have been a cheap way to see if you could get it all to work.

I had to modify the ARB kit to suit my roof rack thus







Normally the ends are double the length with two slots. The reason I won't recommend this is because there is no warranty and no plan B if it doesn't work out. I bolted the spacers into the roof holes with countersunk stainless screws. The rack bolted into the M8 holes tapped into the blocks. I made the spacers up with a small milling machine and the factory roof isn't level so the holes are offset and angled into the plate.

[Shangus Find all posts View Profile Close Shangus]

6 rhino legs would be the way to go. All you need to do is get a length of unistrut to cut up and attach to the bottom of your rack and some channel nuts. Unistrut is what the rhino crossbars are made from so a couple of sections in the right spot and there would be no need to modify the legs your rack would bolt right on. That's also how the pioneer alloy trays attach to the rhino legs. http://www.unistrut.com.au/index.php?M1=1&M2=1
If you do go the legs option the toyota hd bars are exactly the same as the rhinos, probably made by em so it might be cheaper to get them from toyo.

[birdboy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close birdboy]

thanks again guys!
mjrandom - yes bugger you got rid of yours! When i first got the new car i just assumed it wouldn't go and forgot that the mounts were actually removable on the old rack!
I've seen a few Prados around with the 6 little bumps in the roof and I could probably live with it if need be.

If i used the unistrut in between the Rhino legs and the current rack that would potentially add extra height wouldn't it?
Would you have to run the unistrut the full width or would it be ok just for a short block where its mounted?

I think i have to go and have a look at how these feet mount into the roof etc so i can get my head around it a bit a bit more.

[birdboy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close birdboy]

http://www.davidstowe.com.au/Secure-...F2/i-Lh766M6/A

These are the bolts in the roof currently - are they likely to leak or are they ok like that?

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Undisturbed those original bolts are fine. It is usually when they have been removed and installed a couple of times the sealing washers start to give up.

Unistrut or Rhino rails will add another 50mm or so of height. The slimline or aero bars are thinner but usually curved, there are also other manufacturers like Whispbar. Easiest fit up will be unitstrut or the Rhino specific heavy duty bars.

You can get an aluminium unistrut that is only about 20mm deep. This is what my rails are made from for the new rack. It is expensive though, probably 2x the cost of genuine Rhino bars.

You will need to go full width in order to have enough strength to support the roof rack and all she will carry!

In this post you can see the Rhino feet and rails. Your rack would sit on top like this. The line about mid point is where the upper and lower part of the feet separate.



This 120 belongs to a member here.

Some info in here too.

http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...Toyota-HD-Bars

[birdboy Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close birdboy]

Thanks again MJR!
the difference with that rack compared to mine is that mine already has essentially the rails across the width of the rack so i was hoping not to have to buy rails as well and just the legs. I wonder if my inbuilt rails are the same width and would sit in the Rhino feet?

[Guest Close Guest]

The spacing of your rails will be guaranteed not to match that of the Rhino feet. I've measured it up a long time ago and they were pretty much random.

What you need to do is use one of your rails to line up with one of the Rhino feet. Then either add 2 new rails to suit the other Rhino feet, or if the new position is too close to the existing rail, then cut it off and weld a new rail in. This would ensure that you are not adding any more unnecessary height.

Edit: Here are the centre to centre measurements for a 120 :
484mm rear to mid
852mm mid to front
1336mm rear to front

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Jump on Rhinos site and download the fitting instructions. That way you can see how the bars attach. Measure up the centre to centre distances of the little frames on the roof and see how the bars line up.

Good luck.