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Thread: 4th gen roof rack

  1. #21
    So after more than 100 man hours I'm 99.9% done! Finally! I spent the past week prepping, painting, wiring, soldering, heat shrinking, and box finishing. This project took way longer than I thought it would...I figured 1 weekend, maybe 2 and I'd call it good.

    Ok, here we go.

    Here's the finished box. The foam I got from the trash bin at work, but I think it's a little too thin.





    This is the original box that I kept in the cargo area and all the stuff that went inside it.


    Obviously, the air compressor and water won't fit and the first aid kit will remain in the truck so it doesn't get too hot. It'll be interesting to see how hot it gets in the box during the summer here in AZ.


    Here are the T-nuts I made for the rail. It looks dang near factory.


    I ended up getting an ON-OFF-ON switch from OTRATTW. http://www.otrattw.net/CONTURA-V-REA...PZCRR-1A4.html







    It's wired so that the down position will activate the rear lights only when in reverse and the red switch LED will illuminate. The center position is completely off. The up position is manually on and the green and red switch lights illuminate. It's also always hot so it doesn't need the key in the ACC position.

    Finally, the finished product:
















    Now for the 0.9% work left to do.

    I'm not quite sure what to do for wire management. These pictures are a little old because I have since fully encased all the wiring in split loom tube, so don't be alarmed. Anybody have any ideas on how to restrain the wires? For the wiring on the frame, I'm thinking of just adhesive ziptie pads. For the rack, I can't do that because they're plastic which won't hold up to the sun, not to mention the adhesive in the sun and rain. For up there, I'm thinking of stainless steel safety wire just wrapped around the rack and wires. Any suggestions?





    Oh, and I didn't put the dog box up there yet because I still have some finishing to do on the sheet metal.
    -------------------------
    Steve
    1993 4runner, SAS, 3.0L, Auto Tranny
    2007 4runner, stock. For now.

  2. #22
    For the rack, use SS zip ties. They will look the part and keep the wire secure.
    2005 Lexus LX470 - Stock for now...

    1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 V6 4x4 + a bunch of goodies. Lifted, Locked, Illuminated and Armored. Winner,"Best Offroad Truck" - 2010 Pismo Jamboree. It's been upside down and still drives me to work.

  3. #23
    Standing ovation for you!! Looks very clean and the design makes a nice addition to the runner.
    98 3rz 4x4 5spd- Monstalined, 99 Talls, 4.30 E-locker, Extra Lights
    In Progress:
    Tundra/Rear Disc Brakes w/parking brake
    Roof Rack/Rear Ladder
    Sliders
    1st Gen Rollbar Shelf

  4. #24
    Steve, as always, looks very professional!

  5. #25
    Would you entertain the idea of running the wire through the interior? I'm not sure where you tapped power but running the wire down the kick panel, under the door trims, behind the rear quarter panel plastic to the back is pretty easy. My first go runs with coax was done this way and for the most part I just pushed the wire under the plastic without removing the plastic.

    I'm not sure if you mentioned it earlier but how to the wires make it to the roof? if you run the wire to the rear inside, then up the D pillar you can snake it through the door or drill a small hole to exit right near the lights. Your exposed wire/loom will be very short and probably not even need to be tied down. Did you run wire through the tube between the lights? If so this cleans it up as well.

    Most of my electronics are powered from a Blue Sea block under the stereo. My rock lights for example run from the block, under the center console on top of the tranny tunnel and out through the shifter hole in the body. The lights are all over but the main wire I loomed and zip tied to the cable housing of the parking brake all the way to the rear axle, then over the spare and I was at the back. It looks almost factory and is up out of the way. This method reduced the amount of drilling and sealing had I run it a different way.

  6. #26
    Thanks all.

    SS zipties sound good...I'll have to price them out.

    The wires go through the firewall grommet and then along the frame rail, but now that you mention it, it probably wouldn't be too hard to route it somewhere else and ziptie them. However, at this point, I'm burned out and don't want to do much more work on it. Maybe later.

    This is how it's routed for now, but it might change later.


    And here's the schematic.
    -------------------------
    Steve
    1993 4runner, SAS, 3.0L, Auto Tranny
    2007 4runner, stock. For now.

  7. #27
    Update: I've tried a few things to cut down on the wind noise and have found a solution.

    My thinking is that the noise is coming from the one lateral cross member right in the middle of the thing. It's not the box because I've test driven it without the box and the wind noise is still there. So, to smooth out the turbulent flow I mocked up a laminar flow inducing co-planar platen. Or in other words, I duct taped a big sheet of cardboard to the top of the roof rack. Actually, it only covered about 10 inches aft of the cross member.

    At freeway speeds, it seemed to make a difference so I went back to the garage and duct taped more cardboard to the front of the cross member. Back to the freeway. On the on ramp at 50 mph, it seemed quieter yet. Then 55 mph, then 6...fooomp! I hear the cardboard rip off. Dang it, that was a good piece of cardboard too.

    About a month went by and I was too lazy to work on it anymore, until yesterday. Yesterday, I thought about it and because of more laziness I decided I didn't want to attach aluminum sheet to the rack because that would mean I'd have to remove the roof rack so I can gain access to the bottom for drilling and tapping. Instead, I went with the fairing idea.

    That was a lot easier since I only had to drill and cut a few things. Here it is, works like a charm. I can hear a little buffeting up there, but much better than before. Plus, I think it completes the look of the rack, something was missing before.

    -------------------------
    Steve
    1993 4runner, SAS, 3.0L, Auto Tranny
    2007 4runner, stock. For now.

  8. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Robinhood4x4 View Post
    Update: I've tried a few things to cut down on the wind noise and have found a solution.

    My thinking is that the noise is coming from the one lateral cross member right in the middle of the thing. It's not the box because I've test driven it without the box and the wind noise is still there. So, to smooth out the turbulent flow I mocked up a laminar flow inducing co-planar platen. Or in other words, I duct taped a big sheet of cardboard to the top of the roof rack. Actually, it only covered about 10 inches aft of the cross member.

    At freeway speeds, it seemed to make a difference so I went back to the garage and duct taped more cardboard to the front of the cross member. Back to the freeway. On the on ramp at 50 mph, it seemed quieter yet. Then 55 mph, then 6...fooomp! I hear the cardboard rip off. Dang it, that was a good piece of cardboard too.

    About a month went by and I was too lazy to work on it anymore, until yesterday. Yesterday, I thought about it and because of more laziness I decided I didn't want to attach aluminum sheet to the rack because that would mean I'd have to remove the roof rack so I can gain access to the bottom for drilling and tapping. Instead, I went with the fairing idea.

    That was a lot easier since I only had to drill and cut a few things. Here it is, works like a charm. I can hear a little buffeting up there, but much better than before. Plus, I think it completes the look of the rack, something was missing before.

    Glad you have been able to cut down on the noise with yours. I have not been so lucky with mine. I think it might be one of those things with having a full length rack lol. I have thought about a fairing at the first crossmember though.
    98 3rz 4x4 5spd- Monstalined, 99 Talls, 4.30 E-locker, Extra Lights
    In Progress:
    Tundra/Rear Disc Brakes w/parking brake
    Roof Rack/Rear Ladder
    Sliders
    1st Gen Rollbar Shelf

  9. #29
    I had a lot of wind noise with my rack and found a couple of solutions. Similar to Robinhood, I used a piece of styrene between the front of my rack and the first cross bar. I have a mesh rack and simply covered that entire section, and the noise is gone. What also helps is to look at your side rails and find the small arrows. If you can move the front of the rack back to this point, your noise should be gone - tougher with full-length racks, of course.

  10. #30
    The roof rack works.





    -------------------------
    Steve
    1993 4runner, SAS, 3.0L, Auto Tranny
    2007 4runner, stock. For now.

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