Body Mount Roof Rack Early 4runners

[Howard70]

Hello:

Mark asked about the roof rack on our '87 4runner after I posted some shots of the truck on the "random rig shots" thread. Here's some more information & photos:

Early 4runners have a fiberglass top aft of the "normal" pickup cab. The fiberglass top seems really strong, but might not be up to supporting much weight on rough roads. When we started looking for options for carrying more gear in our truck in the late 1990's we were lucky to encounter the guys at Stout off road fabrications in Albuquerque (no longer there, but Steve Hinken keeps up the good work at Hinken Specialty Fabrications, http://www.hsf4x4.com/index.htm, in Los Lunas).

They designed the base rack with 6 attachment points on the body and worked the legs to follow the window lines of the top. The also built a full length (47 x 84") tray supported by the base and extending over the 4runner's cab. We used to sleep up there without a tent when camping in the desert.

Currently we don't have the full length tray mounted. We're using a Yakima Load Warrior mounted sideways at the back with shovel and Hi-Lift mounts on it. One spare tire is carried forward of the Load Warrior and a gutter mount Yakima crossbar sits at the front of the cab. We can carry two single bikes plus a road or mountain bike tandem, the spare tire, shovel, jack, the mystery white tube (more later) and some light gear in the load warrior with this configuration. The truck has 3" lift & 800 lb capacity rear springs so all that rides well.

We vacillate a lot between using a trailer or a roof rack or keeping everything inside. The loaded rack does put weight up high, so we avoid extremely tippy spots with it. Gear in the roof rack stays much cleaner (especially bikes) than stuff in a trailer on dusty roads. On really long trips we'll carry the bikes on the top with the jack, one spare, shovel, and tube; then carry NATO cans with fuel, water, and other heavy stuff in the trailer (M416 w/ spring over axle & 6 lug Toyota hub conversion).

The 4 cylinder 22RE wasn't pulling all that very well until we re geared to 4.88 running 31x10.5x15 BFG ATs. Perfect power off the pavement with the trailer and all, but highway cruising is limited between 65 and 70, although the 22RE honestly hums along at 3700 when we need to go faster with a tailwind.

What's in the mystery white tube? You'll have to ask Chuck Hatchcock. He's the only one I've seen post about what we carry in that tube!

Howard L. Snell

 

[Grim Reaper]

Thanks for the information. I originally intended a full Exo Cage on my 86. Part for roll protection part for roof top storage.

Stories of loss of MPG and the wind drag reducing hwy speed have scared me some. If you can't do 70mph here you impeded traffic (they don't call it the Atlanta Autobahn for nothing).

Well lack of storage space has me back looking at some sort of rack again. Considering the top already has stress fractures at he top corners where it meets the cab I too have big concerns about how it would hold up with weight. I was tossing ideas like what you have done.

Just curious why you put the tire on the roof? 31 should fit no problem in the stock location. That would be 65lb of weight moved below the CG. I actually think I will be buying a 33x9.5 (I run 33x12.50's) as a spare so I can keep it in the stock location and put some sort of skid the protection on ledges.

Is there any sort of internal bracing?

I have seen some people install a rub rail and braced it off the roll bar. (see truck below)
Something like this one. I like the one on Steve Sasaki's (owns Powertank) 4Runner. Can't seem to find a picture but his is a a little tighter to the body. Them make a rack that will nest on the rails that can be removed when I am just bopping around town and in parking decks.

Post up some more stuff on your 4Runner. Looks like you have it really well set up.

 

[jnelson4x4taco]

its killin me! Whats in the tube chuck?

 

[Howard70]

Thanks for the quick reply. Some additional observations:

Thanks for the information. I originally intended a full Exo Cage on my 86. Part for roll protection part for roof top storage.

Stories of loss of MPG and the wind drag reducing hwy speed have scared me some. If you can't do 70mph here you impeded traffic (they don't call it the Atlanta Autobahn for nothing)..

The drag is real. Put three bikes up there and drive into a stiff headwind - you'll think you're going backwards. The loss of power & MPG hit was greater with the 4.56 gearing. Since going to 4.88 we're better able to cope with headwinds. On a long trip with two bikes and the trailer loaded we averaged about 14 mpg - 1000 miles pavement and 300 miles dirt with 50 of that in low range. Not good mileage for a 22re but fair compared to other loaded expedition vehicles. This is our "rough stuff truck." When we have a long trip with lots of freeway we take the Tacoma (handles the rough as well, but since it's newer we baby it more than we should).

Well lack of storage space has me back looking at some sort of rack again. Considering the top already has stress fractures at he top corners where it meets the cab I too have big concerns about how it would hold up with weight. I was tossing ideas like what you have done.

Just curious why you put the tire on the roof? 31 should fit no problem in the stock location. That would be 65lb of weight moved below the CG. I actually think I will be buying a 33x9.5 (I run 33x12.50's) as a spare so I can keep it in the stock location and put some sort of skid the protection on ledges.

When we designed the rack we were running an auxiliary fuel tank in the stock location with a heavy swing away spare tire carrier on a really heavy Kaymar bumper. Removing the bumper / spare carrier got rid of nearly 200 lbs of weight way behind the axle, so we moved the spare to the top. Since then the auxiliary tank rusted through and we've decided that we like the versatility of NATO cans better than an auxiliary tank (carry 'em when you need them, leave them at home most of the time), so we now have the stock spare location available, and we carry the main spare there. Many of our trips with this truck are long & remote (Arizona Strip, N. Rim of the Grand Canyon) so we carry two spares.

Is there any sort of internal bracing?

Backing plates inside of the sheet metal. The backing plates are slightly larger than the base plates in the photo. The rack/truck combo has seen 6 or so years of long 40 - 55 mph washboard stretches, the occasional hard hit from a surprising washout, lots of low speed moderate flexing, but no heavy duty rock crawling flex. There are no signs of stress around the mounts, so I'd say the base/backing plate combination is working well.

I have seen some people install a rub rail and braced it off the roll bar. (see truck below)
Something like this one. I like the one on Steve Sasaki's (owns Powertank) 4Runner. Can't seem to find a picture but his is a a little tighter to the body. Them make a rack that will nest on the rails that can be removed when I am just bopping around town and in parking decks.

We kept ours slightly away from the body so that we could remove the top without removing the rack. However, the top has never been off so that wasn't necessary. The off set does help keep branches away from the windows & top. I thought there would be some wind noise, but we don't hear it. I suspect most of the airflow back at the rack is already turbulent anyway.

Post up some more stuff on your 4Runner. Looks like you have it really well set up.

I've wanted to do a write up, but time escapes me! Thanks for the encouragement.

Howard

 

[kcowyo]

What's in the mystery white tube? You'll have to ask Chuck Hatchcock. He's the only one I've seen post about what we carry in that tube!

World's longest snake tongs? :box:


....beautiful photos BTW

 

[Ursidae69]

its killin me! Whats in the tube chuck?

Fishing poles. And I'll bet one of them is rigged to be a noose. :clapsmile Great lookin Runner Howard!

 

[Howard70]

Fishing Poles?

Well, Chuck's almost right....

Fishing poles. And I'll bet one of them is rigged to be a noose. :clapsmile Great lookin Runner Howard!

But calling these highly technical research tools "Fishing Poles" is like calling a Tacoma 4x4 a Luv Pickup! :truck:

They're lizard noose poles and at UNM you've gotta be licensed to use 'em!

 

[Scenic WonderRunner]

...........hehe

You guys are cracking me up!

Thanks for sharing the info Howard! .....well done!

Now.........did I somehow miss the info on the mysterious white tube thingy?

Um.....I guess you can eat lizards to survive if you are desperate!....:chef: ...:friday:


And THIS shot certainly belongs in the random dog thread!

Heck.........there is almost something for everyone in this thread!

 

[blupaddler]

Nice looking 4runner!

Care to expand on your auxillary tank and how it rusted out? Was it one of the Downey models? Or was the cause due to environmental factors?

Thanks again.

:smiley_drive:

 

[Howard70]

Rusted Auxillary Tank

The tank we used was purchased from Northwest Off-Road Specialties, Inc. (http://www.northwestoffroad.com/) It may be similar to the Downey tanks, but I'm not certain. I can't find the name of the manufacturer, but it may have been Pacific Metals, or something similar.

The shape of the tank was fine and installation was easy. The filler tube installs in the rear wheel well. That isn't great since it gets really muddy there, but you could modify it to go through the side of the truck if you wished. As supplied the tank is a gravity feed extension of the main tank. Had we installed and used it that way, I suspect we'd not have had problems.

However, we thought we wanted independent control of the two tanks, so we installed an electric fuel pump as a transfer pump to move fuel from the auxiliary tank into the main tank. That worked OK. At the time the truck was also our daily driver and we found that we didn't fill the auxiliary tank very often due to the slight effort required to clean the dirt and mud off of the filler in the wheel well. Therefore the tank remained dry or with just a slight amount of fuel in it. I assume that slight amount of fuel absorbed water which remained in the tank and caused the rust which destroyed the bottom of the tank.

I don't think this would have been a problem if we'd used the gravity feed system because I assume there would have been some "feedback" from the main tank to the auxiliary tank preventing the auxiliary tank from remaining nearly dry. Also with the gravity feed system you would always be using the auxiliary tank and old fuel and the subsequent water wouldn't accumulate and promote the rust.

After removing the rusted auxiliary tank we found that for us the NATO cans were simple and provided less chance for failure. We use all "duel fuel" cooking stoves and lanterns so that our extra gasoline supply is also our fuel for everything else. We grew up with cantankerous "white gas" so fiddling with that stuff seems like a comfortable part of an expedition to us.

If I was currently interested in an auxiliary tank I would definitely consider a system like Scott Brady used on his Tacoma.

Howard L. Snell