So about two years ago I installed an OEM roof rack on my Tacoma with the intention
of putting a light bar between the two rails. I never actually got around to doing that.
But today I have a Prinzu roof rack that has a built in slot for a light bar, so I'll probably
do it this time around. Anyway, today I'm going to show you how to install that. Let's
get started.
[Intro]
So I've already taken the OEM roof rack off of this and gave it to my brother-in-law to
make space for this Prinsu roof rack. This is what it looks like when it arrives. And
this is what it looks like when it's unboxed. We have the two main side rails that go on
either side of the cab. We have the wind guard. We have the weather stripping that goes on
the bottom of the wind guard. These rails support things across the top of the truck.
And then I believe this silver one is the one that goes behind the wind guard...along
with the light bar mount and all the hardware.
This video is not sponsored, I'm just doing it for fun. And one thing I am annoyed about
is they don't include written instructions in the box. It's always kind of nice - you
don't have to be on your phone the whole time. They do include the install instructions as
like a QR code, but it like costs two cents to put it in the box so I would recommend
doing that.
I'm going to build the rack here on this table, and then put the front and end piece so it
stays square. And then I'm going to lift it up top. I do have the sunroof on my truck,
so I'm going to space the rails on top so that the sunroof keeps on working after the
rack is up there.
I'm going to take the wind deflector hardware, and these are the little screw points that
slide into the silver rail and line up with these holes on the wind deflector. So I'll
slide this one all the way down here, and then once those are in I can set this on top
and loosely line up the holes like that, screw it in, but leave it loose enough that I can
slide it back and forth and line up the rest of the holes with their screw location. So
all the screws are just in really loosely right now and I can still slide this bottom
rail back and forth to line up all the holes. Once all the screws are threaded, then I can
tighten them all down.
I thought the weather stripping was going to be kind of like, uh, cheap, but it's actually
like a pretty good solid plastic layer on top with a metal liner that grips the air
foil, and then there's a soft rubber underliner that should keep it from scratching the paint
above the windshield.
Alright, so that is done. I'm going to set this in the truck so we can use it later.
Then I'm going to put some of these rails between the two sides so I can put them up
top and figure out where I need to cut little holes in this weather stripping for the bolts
down in the top.
So these rails do have a top and a bottom. The top is going to be right here where these
holes are. You can slide like little hooks and mounting points in there and then the
bottom does not have those cut out. So for the windscreen it was actually a Philips head,
but this is a t30. And, you know, you can get t30 little screwdriver heads like this,
or you can get t30 heads that are actual like full-on sprocket sets.
Alright, so I have the roof rack just kind of squared up. Got two rails in there so it's
still light enough for me to throw on top. I haven't gotten the rails exactly where I
want because I still need to line up for the antenna right there, as well as the sunroof
up top. But now we have probably the most complicated step of cutting holes in the weatherstripping.
So I have seen people just take off the weatherstripping entirely. I've seen people cut sections out
of the weatherstripping. But I think the most aesthetic and protective way of doing it is
just drilling a hole straight through the weatherstripping, and you'll see what I mean
in a second.
So here up top I just set this weatherstripping down in place after removing my old roof rack.
It pops up easy enough. Popping this off for the first time, it'll look like there are
no screw holes under here because the tape has been painted over the same color as your
truck. And so I've just poked holes down through that tape and then these are from my old rack
that I had on there. But basically what I need to do now is there's two holes here,
one in the middle, and then two holes here back at the very end. I need to mark where
those two holes are on this weatherstripping. So I'm just going to lift it up a little bit,
find the hole, put a knife mark up here in the top and then I'll know where to drill.
[Drilling sounds]
So after drilling a couple holes in this, I found what's easiest is that there is a
metal strip inside of it which makes it hard for the bit to go all the way through. And
so what I've done is I find my two drilling points that I've marked earlier, and then
just about a half inch or so beyond those, I can snip right through the part that I don't
need, making sure to get through that metal bit right there. Then do the same thing on
the other side about a half inch longer. Once that metal strip is cut between I can just
get rid of it entirely. That way I can drill through the strand, and I'm going to use the
razor blade to get underneath that. And now that that metal chunk is gone, we can just
drill straight through with the three quarter inch hole and make room for the standoffs.
I already have the metal spine cut.
[Drilling sounds]
Then I can tack the front end back in it's little clip just like that. And all the holes
line directly up with the holes underneath which is very convenient. So I'm just going
to take my razor blade, clean them up, stick the standoffs down in there, and set the whole
rack into place. One thing I'm also doing is adding copious amounts of silicone to these
holes because this is where water can leak directly inside of the cab, and we don't want
that. So the screws will go in here. And it's just important to get everything installed
before this dries.
Now it probably helps if you have two people to lift the rack up into place, but since
I'm by myself, I'm just going to take special care not to hit my truck with the rack as
I set it down. Alright, so I had to move a little bit quick to get the bolts kind of
situated inside of the silicone. Make sure I got it there before it dried. And now I
can center the rack on the truck and tighten everything down. Not too shabby.
Got it all squared up with the sides of the truck and the front of the truck. These rails
are installed so they don't interfere with the sunroof. So one thing that I would change
with the rack...I'm going to show how to install the light bar later... is that these metal
brackets right here and right here, are super close to the paint. So like if anything heavy
ever does get rested up on here, there's a chance that these could actually touch the
roof of the car and start scratching it. And, like they're both the same on the front. The
rear – not so much. Probably because the cab narrows as it comes forward a little bit.
But yeah, I feel like these should be cut back a little bit so that they're not as close
to the roof of the car.
Alright, we are done. I decided to evenly space them along the back side but leave a
little gap for my sunroof. And...pretty sturdy! I weigh about 200 pounds and if I stood on
one, it would bend and touch the roof. But if I stand on two...200 pounds can shake the
whole truck and it's still sturdy. Makes me wonder if I can actually put Not A Wheelchair
up there. Let's give it a shot.
Not too shabby. I mean I'd have to put on the parking brake and make sure it's super
secure, but it fits. I would have to adjust these bars a little bit so that the wheels
stay elevated off of the truck. Right now it's sitting over the sunroof so I'd have
to switch those bars together to help out. I'm not saying I'm actually going to do this.
It's probably not super safe up there, but it looks like the rack could handle it if
I ever need to transport more than one rig at a time.
I'm going to save mounting the light bar for another video because the whole wiring of
it and everything is fairly complicated and this video's already long enough. If you want
to know more about my bumper or the wench, I will leave the links for that right over
here on the side. And let me know if you have any questions down in the comments. Thanks
a ton for watching. I'll see you around.