After our great experience with Prinsu’s LC80 Roofrac that we installed on Dave’s 80 Series Land Cruiser, we decided to get another one of their racks for our 2008 Access Cab Tacoma.
The main reason we decided to go with the Prinsu rack for the Tacoma was due to its low profile design, lightweight construction, and because the unit on Dave’s truck has been nothing but 100% rock solid (even with it being a gutter mount).
The first thing that came to my mind after looking into the Prinsu Roofrac for my Tacoma was “do I really want to drill holes into my roof?” My initial thoughts were “HELL NO”, but after thinking about it over a few beers I figured “why the hell not?” FYI, unless you haven’t figured it out yet, Toyota never installed a roof rack on a Access Cab Tacoma from the factory so mounting holes are not drilled into the roof from the factory.
First you need to start with unpacking and assembling ACCESSRAC. The entire unit arrives at your front door IKEA style which means all assembly is required; this is great because it reduces shipping costs, but you’ll need to allocate about 20 minutes to put the whole thing together.
After you’ve assembled the rack you’ll need to proceed to the mockup stage. Taking your time here is crucial because you’ll be drilling 12 permanent holes into your roof. You’ll want to make sure you triple check your measurements and mark every hole to ensure proper installation. After we did this, we began drilling…
With the help of a very good friend, I was able to properly drill the holes into the roof without issue. The most important part the directions fail to mention is to make sure you save the beer for after the installation and to be careful not to drill through your headliner. If you take your time and are careful, you don’t need to drop the headliner. For the record we left ours installed and didn’t have any over penetration.
Next you’ll need to install the provided rivet nuts into each one of the 12 holes. To make sure each hole was sealed from any potential leaks, we applied Ford RTV silicone seal to each rivet nut before installing them. Ford RTV can seal chrome to wood, so I figured it must be good enough for my roof right?
After compressing each rivet nut, I applied more RTV to the top of the threads to ensure proper sealing, as a Toyota owner I’m not used to regular leaks, that’s just a “Jeep Thing” (sorry Alex).
After all of the rivet nuts were set, I had a friend help me position the ACCESSRAC over the top of the Tacoma. We made sure to get everything finger tight before tightening everything down, and to our surprise we actually drilled all 12 holes in the perfect location.
Prinsu Design Studio makes a very solid rack that could pass for an OEM option. Overall, I’m very happy with the ACCESSRAC and the tough look it adds to the Tacoma. Be on the lookout for the 6 month review as we outfit the rack with gear for one of the numerous trips we have planned for this year.
What size drill bit did you use to drill the holes?
The rivnuts provided by prinsu are 5/16. I used a 3/8 drill bit and it was a very tight fit. The rivnuts should go in snug. I suggest using a uni-bit to start off so you’re not going into your headliner with a regular drill bit.
Great thank you. I’m hoping to install mine next weekend.
I was like “this is awesome”, till the drilling holes in the roof part. :-/
It’s really not too bad. Since drilling the holes in the roof we haven’t had any issues with leaking or rust. We’ll have more details when we get to the 6 month review. Our only advice is measure 10 times and drill once.