[1904K9]

So I am a little disappointed about the fitment of my rack. I had to shim the brackets of my center mounts for my new baja rack to get it to mount solidly in the center (AND YES, I KNOW THERE BRACKETS LABELED "CENTER THAT ARE JUST FOR THE CENTERS). Basically i had to "rig" the rack a little to get it to fit, which I normally wouldnt mind if i was buying a random rack from craigslist and trying to get it to fit...but after paying over $550 for a rack specifically designed for your vehicle, youd expect the fit to be pretty close to perfect. Im contacting bajaracks and will update this thread with how it plays out.

With all 4 corner mounts secured, the labeled center mounts were too short and didnt match up with the bracket on the rack.

The bottom of the mounting brackets (the part that sits flush with the rack rails) were not all flat. 3 were flat, 2 were slightly curved, and one was visually curved.

Gap between the center mounting bracket and the rack bracket (drivers side little over 1/2"). What will happen if you try to tighten the mount if its gapped like this is it will pry the rack rails up off the roof, damaging the roof and breaking the silicone seal along the rails.

Gap on passenger side (~ over 1/4")

This is how i made it work. on the drivers side, I uses a piece of weather stripping on the rack mount and 4 thick washers for each bolt. this filled up the almost 3/4" gap. The passenger side took a piece of weather stripping and 2 washers for each bolt to take up the gap. Also the gap on the drivers side was so big that after shimming it with the washers i needed to use longer bolts.

I also want to clarify, I took off all the mounts and tried ever position combination imaginable to get it to fit without washers with no luck, even though the directions state that the 4 corners are all interchangeable.

Not the biggest deal in the world, but it was disappointing when your paying next to top dollar (i guess a gobi would be top dollar lol). Ill update this wen I hear back from Baja

[gannonrt]

Thanks for putting this up there for those that looking at racks. I'm guessing the Whitson Metalworks will follow this one closely

[drabbits]

in pic's 3 & 4 it looks like you could put the mount (use a rag to protect paint/coating) in a table vise and bend the mount up to the angle of the top rack mount. ?
those are some lazy sad looking welds.
+1 on Whitson's work.
yet, if you're in LA, I could help you.

[theizzardking]

yeah i'm thinking to much heat......
makes me feel great for being a whitson Guinea pig, for being one of the first few mine was perfect.....for what you paid op, i would expect better than shimming the mounts to fit....

[1904K9]

Thanks for the suggestions. And thanks drabbits for offering to help. I have a bench vise and was considering doing this but the gap is so big that even bending it flat, there would be a 1/2" gap between the two brackets ( instead of a 1/4" @ the outside edge and 3/4" at the inside edge. The issues is with careless measuring and welding. I measure the "riser" part of the bracket and theyre all slightly different lengths. Plus its just the principle of it, if you pay this much for a rack, you shouldnt have to beat on it and bend it in a vice.

[98OzarksRunner]

I have one arriving today. Had I seen this last week I probably wouldn't have ordered mine. I'll post how mine goes on.

If mine doesn't fit, it's going back.

[98OzarksRunner]

Mine fit fine. It does look like your bracket needs to be bent up a bit.

[1904K9]

just my luck mines was f'd up lol glad yours fits tho, they look great wen theyre up. Post a pic up!

[98OzarksRunner]

Originally Posted by 1904K9

just my luck mines was f'd up lol glad yours fits tho, they look great wen theyre up. Post a pic up!

Sorry so long. Just now got a few pics. Here's one. BTW, I lost about .8 MPG with the rack.

[WeAreSLO]

Originally Posted by 1904K9

just my luck mines was f'd up lol glad yours fits tho, they look great wen theyre up. Post a pic up!

Reviving this thread to ask how contacting Baja went. I just received my flat rack today and have the same issue with there being about a 1/2" gap between the "Middle" bracket and rack. I like the height of the middle brackets and want to contact them to get 4 of those and send them the outside ones back.